PREAMBLE
The White Sox have some obvious holes to fill with no exciting internal candidates to fill them. There are also redundancies in the linup of the plodding 1B/DH/OF(lol) variety. I'm seeking to fill some holes, cut some dead weight, make the lineup more dynamic and maybe even make another GM regret trading a middle infield prospect.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Lucas Giolito: $7.9M TENDER
- Reynaldo López; $2.8M TENDER
- Evan Marshall: $2.3M NON-TENDER
- Adam Engel: $2.2M TENDER
- Brian Goodwin: $1.7M NON-TENDER
- Jimmy Cordero: $1.2M NON-TENDER
- Jace Fry: $1M NON-TENDER
CLUB OPTIONS
- Craig Kimbrel: $16M ($1M buyout) PICK UP
- César Hernández: $6M DECLINE
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
Try to retain, extend qualifying offer, or let go?
- Leury García (Made $3.5M in 2021) LET GO
- Carlos Rodón ($3M) LET GO
- Billy Hamilton ($1M) LET GO
- Ryan Tepera ($950K) RETAIN 2 years $7 million
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Yan Gomes (one year, $4 million). We need a legitimate backup catcher.
No. 2: Noah Syndergaard (one year, $10 million). 4th starter, would be crossing my fingers that he stays healthy.
No. 3: Ian Kennedy (one year, $5 million). Veteran. Potential 7th/8th inning guy, was a popular deadline target last season.
No. 4: Rich Hill (one year, $2 million). Veteran starter depth/long relief.
TRADES
Propose trades that you think sound reasonable for both sides, and the rationale behind them. A good example of a bad idea:
No. 1: Trade Craig Kimbrel, Dallas Kuechel and Andrew Vaughn to San Diego for Adam Frazier, Will Myers and CJ Abrams. The White Sox would love to jettison Dallas' contract and need to move on from Kimbrel while making it look like they got something in return. In reality, this would be a bad contract swap with some highly regarded prospects attached to sweeten the deal on both sides. The Padres have been trying to get rid of Myers for years and need pitching. The Sox have too many big, slow 1B/DH types, and while it hurts to lose Vaughn, CJ Abrams would make it sting a lot less. We would get Adam Frazier to man 2B for 2022, and Abrams would be ready to contribute to the big league club by mid year, and would be the starting 2B of the future.
SUMMARY
Here’s the 26-man Opening Day roster:
LINEUP
SS Tim Anderson
2B Adam Frazier
CF Luis Robert
1B Jose Abreu
C Yasmani Grandal
LF Eloy Jimenez
RF Will Myers/Gavin Sheets
3B Yoan Moncada
DH Gavin Sheets / Will Myers
BENCH
C Yan Gomes
IF Yolbert Sanchez
OF Adam Engle
UTL Romy Gonzalez
ROTATION
SP Lance Lynn
SP Lucas Giolito
SP Dylan Cease
SP Noah Syndergaard
SP Michael Kopech
BULLPEN
CL Liam Hendriks
SU Aaron Bummer
SU Ryan Tepera
MR Garrett Crochet
MR Ian Kennedy
MR Jose Ruiz
LR Rich Hill
LR Reynaldo Lopez
PAYROLL: $172.75 million
I think these moves put us in position to win in 2022, while also having payroll flexibility starting next year. Will Myers should be a competent RF platoon with Gavin Sheets, and his contract expires after the year. At that point, the Sox can see what they have internally (ie. Cespedes) or look to the free agent market yet again.
Frazier underperformed in SD, but could be a major bounce back candidate at 2B/OF for us. He would be a free agent after the season as well, when the real prize of the off season, CJ Abrams, will be ready to assume full time 2B duties while wreaking havoc on the American League for years to come.
There is uncertainty in the back end of the rotation, so you could swap out Syndergaard with a more reliable innings eater, but I like the idea of Cease/Syndergaard/Kopech throwing gas back there. Rich Hill could piggyback with any of them to provide a different look, to say the least.
