PREAMBLE
I went into this with the hopes of giving us at least 2-3 more years of competitive contention without burning down the house. To me, a priority for accomplishing this requires us to bring in more competent outfielders and some lefty bats not named Sheets (see Gallo and Mullins moves). I also wanted to infuse us with MLB-ready youth who can take over for Leury Legend because I’m not sold on Sosa (see Foscue move). I also feel like our bullpen/rotation is in a solid place and only needed some minor adjustments.
This is my first time submitting despite having read submissions over the years, so feedback is welcome! As a note, I made it a point not to review other submissions yet because I wanted mine to be unbiased.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
Lucas Giolito: $10.8M – Tender (with plans to trade)
Dylan Cease: $5.3M – Tender
Reynaldo López: $3.3M – Tender (with plans to trade)
Adam Engel: $2.3M – Non-tender
Michael Kopech: $2.2M – Tender
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) – Buyout
PLAYER OPTIONS
AJ Pollock: $13M ($5 million buyout) — Exercised (womp womp)
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
José Abreu (Made $18M in 2021): Let go. (As much as this breaks my heart)
Johnny Cueto ($4.2M): Resign. He’ll likely ask for more based on his 2022 performance, so I’m assuming $5 million for 2023. I don’t think he’ll be as clutch, but I think he’s a work horse who can still be an affordable 4th or 5th starter. I’d prefer him over Davis Martin in this role - especially since I'm trading Davis.
Vince Velasquez ($3M): Let go.
Elvis Andrus ($14.25M): Let go.
MANAGER
Bring in Kevin Long from Philly and (mostly) clean house. I love ya, D-Bo, but it’s time. I like you a lot less, Super Joe. Buh bye. Ethan Katz is the only guy I’d keep around because I do think he has played a role in our relatively strong pitching staff. If Jerry needs us to bring in a friend for him, bring in Jim Thome to replace Frank Menechino. We could target someone like Gary Pettis from Houston to come in as bench coach and focus on defensive development since Long’s strengths are offensive.
FREE AGENTS
Target No. 1: LHP Sean Manaea (two year, $24 million – Spotrac has his market value at $12 mil AAV). He’s clearly had some ups and downs since being dealt by Oakland, but I think he’s still a very solid option to serve as our 4th/5th starter. Give him some time with Ethan Katz, and I think he gets his groove back as quickly as Stella. (Note – this acquisition assumes we retain Cueto and are able to deal Giolito).
Target No. 2: OF Joey Gallo (three year, $24 million – Spotrac has his market value just under $9 mil AAV, but I think there’s a deal to be had with how poorly he played in NY and LA this year). I think Gallo still has a ton of upside if he finds the right spot. New York destroyed his confidence, as they do, and I think Chicago fans would embrace him – especially if he returns to form as the lefty bat we know he can be.
Target No. 3: RHP Miguel Castro (three year, $10 million – he was making $2.6 million with NYY, so I figured $3.3 million AAV was doable) – this isn’t sexy, but he could fortify middle relievers with a decent enough righty arm. Considering how much the bullpen already costs us, I didn’t want to further break the bank here and try to target someone like Edwin Diaz.
TRADES
Trade No. 1: Trade Lucas Giolito, Gavin Sheets, and Seby Zavala to the Orioles for Cedric Mullins (OF). Orioles are in a better position to compete than they realized. Giolito would be a decent addition to their rotation, and I expect him to throw well in a “prove it” year. Sheets is an increasingly competent defender who still has some upside as a lefty hitter. Seby gives them a more competent backup than Chirinos and makes room for Carlos Perez on our roster. Mullins gives us a solid outfielder with a lefty bat who can cover CF when Luis needs rest or rotate LF/RF as needed when Eloy DH’s, Pollock rests, etc. He’s expected to make $4.4 million.
Trade No. 2: Trade Reynaldo Lopez and Davis Martin to the Rangers for Justin Foscue (2B/3B). The Rangers need pitching, and both Rey-lo and Martin threw well enough last year to attract interest. Rey-lo could continue to be a clutch long-reliever, or they could stretch him back out into a starter now that he can see the plate. Martin has shown he has the chops to start in the majors. With the money they put into their IF, they're blocked, so they could send Foscue our way. I think he has a higher upside than Sosa and could be our starting 2B by the end of the year. Jimmy Lambert can then step into Lopez’s role in relief because he was quite competent this year.
SUMMARY
If all goes as planned, this sets up the following rotation:
Cease
Lynn
Kopech
Manaea
Cueto
The following bullpen:
Kelly
Graveman
Bummer
Diekman
Crochet
Lambert
Castro
Hendriks
And the following position players:
Yaz (C)
Perez (C)
Vaughn (1B)
Garcia (2B)
Foscue (2B/3B)
Moncada (3B)
TA7 (SS)
Mendick (SS/2B)
Eloy (DH/LF)
Pollock (LF)
Robert (CF)
Mullins (RF)
Gallo (OF/DH)
I only went over budget by $1.4 million after I remembered to account for Harrison’s buyout, leftover money owed to Dallas, and the million bucks of Abreu’s deferred money.
Ultimate payroll = $191,401,666 (if I did my math right), and I argue this is a relatively practical approach to giving us 2-3 more years of competitive contention before we have some tough decisions to make.
Thanks for reading! Much love from Schlesspapi!
