Matt’s Offseason Plan

2:10 PM CDT on October 28, 2022

PREAMBLE

I see the White Sox once again mired in mediocracy. Changes have to come. Whether Jerry agrees with these changes is another thing but this season is big. It could be the closing of the window if we get a repeat of 2022

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

Lucas Giolito: $10.8M Tender
Dylan Cease: $5.3M Tender
Reynaldo López; $3.3M Tender
Adam Engel: $2.3M Non-Tender Engel didn't give much to the team when he was playing and his defense wasn't good enough to warrant another season.
Michael Kopech: $2.2M Tender
Kyle Crick: $1.5M Non-Tender
José Ruiz: $1M Tender
Danny Mendick: $1M Tender (send to AAA)

CLUB OPTIONS

Tim Anderson: $12.5M ($1M buyout) Pick up
Josh Harrison: $5.625M ($1.5M buyout) Decline. Had a Solid season after a rough start but they still need more out of this position

PLAYER OPTIONS

AJ Pollock: $13M ($5 million buyout) — EXERCISED

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

José Abreu (Made $18M in 2021) Let Go. Don't see him coming back at this point. Chase that ring Pito (Just not with the Cubs or Astros)
Johnny Cueto ($4.2M) Let Go
Vince Velasquez ($3M) Let Go
Elvis Andrus ($14.25M) Let Go Was a nice spark plug but would let him go

MANAGER

Ozzie Guillen. The vibes of this search makes it feel like it's going this way. Jerry is going to take control again. While I do not think Ozzie would be the worst hire and is better than the La Russa one, it still shows nothing has changed in this organization. I imagine he will keep Ethan Katz as the pitching coach, bring along Joey Cora as his bench coach and get rid of the rest of the staff.

TRADES

No. 1: Trade Liam Hendriks to St. Louis for Nolan Gorman. The White Sox are probably going to cut salary this offseason and the guy to do it with also probably brings you a lot of value. After collapsing in the postseason, The Cardinals may be interested in a lockdown closer. This sends Hendriks to St. Louis and the White Sox may finally get their everyday Second Baseman in Nolan Gorman and adds a much needed lefty bat while being a cheap option himself.

No. 2: Trade Yasmani Grandal and Lenyn Sosa to the Nationals for low level minor leaguer. This trade is a salary dump again for the White Sox and they send Grandal to the rebuilding Nationals along with a prospect to get the salary off their books and the Nationals get a decent prospect out of it.

No. 3: Trade Lucas Giolito and Andrew Vaughn to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Diego Cartaya. Giolito is another possible salary dumb. He can still be a number one in my eyes and thats why along with Vaughn going to the Dodgers the White Sox get their catcher of the future in Diego Cartaya, who according to MLB Pipeline is the number eight prospect in baseball and should be up in 2023.

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: 1B/DH Anthony Rizzo (Two years, $28M). Rizzo would be the perfect short term replacement for Abreu. He still has power as he hit 32 homers for the Yankees the past season, and also gets on base, plays a solid first base, and is a lefty power bat which is all something the White Sox desperately need. It has also already been reported that Rizzo will decline his option.

No. 2: SP Jose Quintana (Two years, $10M) Welcome Home Jose! Jose Quintana returns after a resurgent 2022. After struggling the past few seasons as a starter, Quintana hit his stride with the Pirates and Cardinals last season posting a 2.93 ERA and a 137 ERA+. This rotation also needs a lefty which Quintana also brings to the table.

No. 3: CL Aroldis Chapman (One year, $6M) An old star who is under performing at the end of their career? Perfect for the White Sox. Chapman is the new White Sox closer. Maybe 2022 was just a down year for Chapman and if you can get 70% of what he used to be thats still a solid closer. If he falters you can just move Lopez or Graveman into the closers role.

SUMMARY

The White Sox were probably going to have to cut payroll coming into the year and make some hard decisions and my plan puts the team around 160m-170m in spending. I have the White Sox looking something like this on Opening Day of next season:

Lineup