BenwithVen’s Tickety-boo Offseason Plan

This will be the season where Jerry Reinsdorf finally realizes that his way of doing things just doesn’t cut it anymore.  Let’s hope I didn’t Jez it all up.

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-Tender
  • Jace Fry: $1M-Non-Tender

CLUB OPTIONS

Write “pick up” or “decline” or “rework” after the option.

  • Craig Kimbrel: $16M ($1M buyout)-buyout and be done with it
  • 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)-offer QO and wish him luck
  • Billy Hamilton ($1M)-let go
  • Ryan Tepera ($950K)-resign to 2/8 mil with 2 option years

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Marcus Semien 6 years/$126 mil. There and Back Again. The White Sox break the $100 mil barrier on a player they probably wish they never traded in the first place. Regardless, Semien is an elite bat and defender at a position of need.

No. 2 Joc Pederson 2 Years/$20 mil.  The man knows how to perform in October.  He also gives the White Sox a strong left handed bat who hits the ball extremely hard. It also sets up a platoon with Vaughn and/or Engel. Although, maybe the gains he made again lefties this year were real?

TRADES

No. 1: Trade Jake Burger, Micker Adolfo and Matthew Thompson to the Oakland A’s for Sean Manaea. Giving away one of the best managers in your franchise’s history is a heck of a way to signal a rebuilt. The White Sox should try and take advantage.  Neither Burger or Adolfo have a spot on the White Sox and Thompson represents a high upside play. Meanwhile, Manaea makes this one of the best rotations in baseball for 2022.

No. 2: Trade Dallas Keuchel to the San Diego Padres for Ha-Seong Kim.  While Keuchel makes more than double of Kim, Kim still has 3-4 years of control left for a team that doesn’t really have a spot for him.  Kim becomes the super utility player that he was meant to be, while a move to the NL in a bigger ballpark may be rejuvenating for Keuchel.

SUMMARY

If I did my math right, this roster comes in at $179 million.  The impact that Semien will have is obvious.  One question I have about this roster is what to do with Vaughn and Sheets.  You can platoon them at DH, but I do wonder if sending one of them down to AAA to get ever day ABs would be a good idea . However,  you can also rotate them out of LF/RF/1B depending on the match ups and if someone like Abreu or Eloy need a day off.  Collins has become something of a pet project for Jerry Narron, so I believe he’ll get one more year to show that he deserves to be back there. It doesn’t hurt that the pitchers like throwing to him.

Meanwhile, Kim can play anywhere in the infield and probably can learn the OF so he can take reps there as well.  If he can build some value, he can be a trade piece that can be used down the road.  Even if he doesn’t hit like scouts thought he could, he does have very good defensive metrics.

The starting pitching should remain strong, though Kopech will probably have to cede some starts to the triumvirate of Lopez, Lambert and Stiever. Hopefully, Crochet can be used like Kopech last year so the team can begin the process of stretching him out.

Overall, this an incredible strong team on paper and one geared to winning a world series. It comes in over budget, but honestly I had a hard time keeping the dollar figure where it is. Will Jerry realize that the only truly compete for a championship is to finally open his wallet and spend like he can?  Chance would be a fine thing. A fine thing indeed.

26 Man Roster:

C-Grandal
1B-Abreu
2B-Semien
3B-Moncada
SS-Anderson
LF-Eloy
CF-Robert
RF-Pederson
DH-Vaughn

SP-Giolito
SP-Lynn
SP-Cease
SP-Manaea
SP-Kopech

CL-Hendricks
SU-Bummer
SU-Tepera
MR-Ruiz
MR-Crochet
MR-Cordero
LR-Lopez

BN-Collins
BN-Kim
BN-Sheets
BN-Engel
BN-Gonzalez

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shaggy65

I really like the Keuchel for Kim swap!