PREAMBLE
The glaring weaknesses from the 2022 White Sox roster were lack of depth, ineffectiveness from their supposed best players, inability to hit right-handed pitching, inconsistent defense, and lack of power.
The goal here is to get some lineup balance and acquire pitching depth. So it's a slight reset.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Lucas Giolito: $10.8M - tender
- Dylan Cease: $5.3M - tender; offer a 5 yr/$75 mil extension that will be immediately rejected (thanks a lot, Spencer Strider)
- Reynaldo López; $3.3M - tender
- Adam Engel: $2.3M - non-tender
- Michael Kopech: $2.2M - tender & trade (sorry everyone)
- Kyle Crick: $1.5M - non-tender
- José Ruiz: $1M - non-tender
- Danny Mendick: $1M - tender
CLUB OPTIONS
- Tim Anderson: $12.5M ($1M buyout) - pick up
- Josh Harrison: $5.625M ($1.5M buyout) - decline
While this is not a club option, I'd like to re-structure Leury Garcia into a Bobby Bonilla deal so Sox fans can hate him for the next 20 years.
PLAYER OPTIONS
- AJ Pollock: $13M ($5 million buyout) — EXERCISED... and traded.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- José Abreu (Made $18M in 2021) - offer 1 year, $14 mil [2nd year team option, $16 mil or $6 mil buyout]
- Johnny Cueto ($4.2M) - no offer
- Vince Velasquez ($3M) - no offer
- Elvis Andrus ($14.25M) - no offer
It wasn’t the goal going into the 2022 season to let the Abreu/Sox partnership continue. He’s getting up there in age and the Sox have a 1B/DH logjam. However, Abreu was (at worst) the second-best hitter on the White Sox last season and has shown loyalty to the organization over the years. This is what I can offer him. I think he leaves.
Also, while these two are not impending free agents, I’m cutting Jake Diekman and Joe Kelly unless they want to play in Charlotte.
MANAGER
I’d like a head coach who can keep players focused & happy. Additionally, we need someone who can be forward-thinking and get creative with how and when to deploy people. Would guess someone from Tampa, LA Dodgers, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, St. Louis, or Milwaukee fits the mold. The only connection to the White Sox who fits this mold is Joe Espada.
Additionally, I would like Justin Jirschele to take over Joe McEwing's base coach/infield coordinator role.
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Kodai Senga (six years, $60 million (lets make the last 2 years $15 million team options, so really its four years, $30 million).
“Koudai Senga” on baseball reference if you want to stat count.
He’s a stud pitcher from Japan about to be posted. So we’ll see him on the Dodgers next year. Upper 90s fastball + a forkball. Highlights are on youtube. They’re fun. He’ll turn 30 in January so this might be a winning bid.
No. 2: Joc Pederson (two years, $20 million)
About 4 years late, so its on-brand for the White Sox. But I’d like a left-handed corner outfielder so we can keep Eloy at DH.
No. 3: Nick Martinez (two years, $16 million).
This is assuming he declines his player option with San Diego and takes the buyout.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Yasmani Grandal and half his contract to St. Louis for Connor Thomas
Yas has a partial no-trade clause so I have no idea if this would even work. The concept here is to buy AAA pitching depth from a team that would be willing to have Yas on a 1 yr/$9 mil deal. Cardinals could use a bridge between Yadier Molina and Ivan Herrera, so this was my target. Connor Thomas is the Cards' #24 prospect on mlb.com if you want a scouting report. I ran this and the trades below through the BTV simulator and it was accepted. So that's my attempt to convince myself that these are even remotely grounded in reality.
No. 2: Trade Jake Burger in a 3-team trade w/ Toronto and Oakland. Acquire Cavan Biggio and AJ Puk
I like Jake Burger but he doesn’t hit left-handed or play defense. I’m getting a starting second baseman who’s still in his 20s and can play multiple spots on defense, though he’s a super 2 player and Toronto has had him in more of a utility role because Whit Merrifield is no longer banned from Canada. AJ Puk is a big fastball/slider but often injured lefty bullpen piece with a few years of control. There are some other pieces in play so the actual deal looks like this.
| White Sox | Oakland | Toronto |
| Jake Burger (to OAK) | J.P. Sears (to TOR) | Cavan Biggio (to CWS) |
| Jason Bilous (to OAK) | A.J. Puk (to CWS) | C.J. Van Eyk (to OAK) |
No. 3: Trade Michael Kopech to Tampa Bay for Francisco Mejia, Jalen Beeks, Mason Montgomery and either Cole Wilcox or Nick Bitsko
I don’t think Kopech’s a current or future ace so I’m going to sell him. You can pencil Mejia in as the starting catcher for 2 years. Beeks has been reliable out of the bullpen and doesn’t cost $8 million per season. Montgomery (Rays #7 prospect) is an ascending pitching prospect who should start in AA or AAA while Cole Wilcox(Rays #9 prospect)/Nick Bitsko (Rays #30 prospect) are a little reminiscent of Kopech, but in the low minors. There’s enough variety in the return to prevent the sting of losing an up-and-coming pitcher that people think has ace potential.
No. 4 Trade Liam Hendriks and AJ Pollock to Los Angeles Dodgers for Cody Bellinger and Ryan Pepiot
The Dodgers are an elite team without a closer so let’s give them an elite one and take a major league ready starting pitcher off their hands.
Pepiot (Dodgers #6 prospect) has a similar repertoire to peak Giolito (heavy fastball, double plus changeup), he’s a little walk prone right now, but I think this is a profile that Ethan Katz can work with.
It’s possible that Cody Bellinger peaked at 23 and will suck again like he has for the past 2 years. It’s also possible that he rebounds and we get a comp pick out of this. He costs $18 mil, but the potential upside on his bat is greater than whatever I could get from cutting Pollock and signing a $5 mil (or $10 mil) outfielder.
SUMMARY
Catching: Francisco Mejia, Seby Zavala
Yas and half his contract are out. Mejia crushes left-handed pitching and Zavala has a significant reverse split, rendering a pretty nice platoon pairing. Defensively, the two combine to be major league average in pitch framing and caught stealing %
Infield: Andrew Vaughn, Cavan Biggio, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Leury Garcia, Romy Gonzalez
There are very few silver linings to seeing Abreu leave, but one of them is never seeing Andrew Vaughn play outfield ever again.
Romy and Leury profile as utility and super-utility types off the bench. Also Biggio can play outfield if needed.
Outfield: Joc Pederson, Luis Robert, Cody Bellinger, Gavin Sheets, Eloy Jimenez
The fourth outfielder for defensive purposes is probably Leury. Sheets is the forgotten man here given the left-handed outfielders I’ve acquired. He’s most likely backing up Vaughn (and starting for Vaughn when Triston McKenzie is pitching).
Eloy’s permanent DH but since he wants to be considered an outfielder, I put him here.
Starting Pitching: Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Kodai Senga, Lance Lynn, Ryan Pepiot
Senga and Pepiot are wildcards, Lynn is an innings-eater, and Giolito falls somewhere in the middle. We also got Cease spreading the good word of disc golf and striking dudes out.
Bullpen: Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer, Jalen Beeks, AJ Puk, Nick Martinez, Reynaldo Lopez, Jimmy Lambert, Davis Martin
Our opening day closer is a different, but worse failed A’s starter than our prior one.
Bummer will hopefully be deployed exclusively with a clean inning since I’m sick of every inherited runner scoring. Lopez, Puk and (to a lesser extent) Lambert can pitch whenever.
Martin & Martinez are ready and able to throw multiple innings in a day and probably 120 innings per year. Beeks operates somewhere between the Martin/Martinez and Lopez/Puk types.
Salary: ~180 mil including dead money
I went into this plan assuming the budget would be lower than 190 based on everything I was hearing from the Sox Machine podcasts. So when I saw the budget was 190, the only real change I wanted to make was trying to work Trea Turner onto the roster but its seemingly impossible unless you have a contract that pays him like 8 mil in the first year and followed by 60 mil per year for 3 years before getting into his real value range.
Nonetheless, this is a deeper (but less high-ceiling) team. Colas is waiting in the wings. Crochet should come back at some point, maybe as their closer. They also have a glut of high-minors middle infielders and some newly acquired high minors starting pitching prospects.
Rick Hahn's not going to do any of this.
