SoxSider’s Offseason Plan

PREAMBLE

Let’s try some stuff.

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

Write “tender,” “non-tender” or “rework/extend” after each player and their projected 2022 salaries. Feel free to offer explanation afterward if necessary.

  • Lucas Giolito: $10.8M – Tender
  • Dylan Cease: $5.3M – Tender
  • Reynaldo López; $3.3M – Tender
  • Adam Engel: $2.3M – Non-Tender
  • Michael Kopech: $2.2M – Tender
  • Kyle Crick: $1.5M – Non-Tender
  • José Ruiz: $1M – Tender
  • Danny Mendick: $1M – Tender

CLUB OPTIONS

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

  • Tim Anderson: $12.5M ($1M buyout) – Pick Up
  • Josh Harrison: $5.625M ($1.5M buyout) – Decline

PLAYER OPTIONS

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

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

Try to retain, extend qualifying offer, or let go?

  • José Abreu (Made $18M in 2021) – Let Go
  • Johnny Cueto ($4.2M) – Let Go
  • Vince Velasquez ($3M) – Let Go
  • Elvis Andrus ($14.25M) – Retain: 1y/8mm – It was refreshing watching a guy who knows how to play the game soundly. Makes the right decisions, has good at bats. It’s enough to convince me to bring him back as the starting shortstop.

MANAGER

Joe Espada but since that doesn’t appear to be happening I’d prefer Washington next.

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Anthony Rizzo (3y/$63mm). On paper this is a perfect fit. The lefty power bat the Sox have been craving. The shift ban should help his average go up but more importantly he’s going to hit a lot of balls in the air into that jet stream down the right field line at Guaranteed Rate.

No. 2: Kolten Wong (3y/$24mm). Josh brought him up on the pod and I couldn’t agree more with this move. I’ve actually traded for him in OPP’s past. He’s not the fielder he was last year. He’s an above average second baseman and is going to provide solid production at the plate.

No. 3: Jose Quintana (2y/$24mm w/ club option for $15mm third year w/ $3mm buyout): He made plenty of sense last year and continues to make plenty of sense this year. A steady innings eater the Sox will need with the loss of Cueto and…

TRADES

No. 1: Trade Lucas Giolito to the Los Angeles Angels for INF Luis Rengifo: Rengifo is a young player (25) who has played all over the diamond for the Angels. He needs to work on his on base skills but the versatility is intriguing. He checks the box in terms of hitting from the left side and started to flash the power this past year. For me, he is my opening day third baseman. Giolito gets a chance to go home to a team that has been desperate for starting pitching for years and years.

No. 2: Trade Yasmani Grandal, Yoan Moncada, Leury Garcia and Jake Diekman to the Milwaukee Brewers for Christian Yelich and Eric Lauer: A LOT going on here. It’s probably easier to explain what each team is getting out of this. For the Brewers, they’re taking a short term hit on salary for long term flexibility by getting Yelich’s deal off the books (which nobody can deny is bad). Any trade calculator I could find says the White Sox are getting royally screwed in this trade. They certainly are in the long term. But for the next couple of years, they are bringing in a useful player and sending three (arguably four) players that will not move the needle for the White Sox in their “window”. Yelich is still a decent player and, like others, should benefit from the shift ban. The on base production is still there, the foot speed is still above average and he will ultimately make the lineup better. Despite his gold glove nomination, he’s average at best but a big upgrade over what has been out there. You have to see this window through, whether it succeeds or fails. Yelich and a dependable left handed starter in Lauer make your team better right now.

No. 3. Trade Andrew Vaughn, Yoelqui Céspedes and Norge Vera to the Cincinnati Reds for Hunter Greene: The foundation of this trade is the number 3 overall pick in 2019 for the number 2 overall pick in 2017. Greene really came on during the final months of the season and gives the White Sox a young starter to continue to build their depth in the rotation with. Honestly, the Sox may need to add another top 20 prospect to make this work but the Reds get a guy to replace Greene in Vera who fits their window but also add their Votto replacement with Vaughn to anchor the middle of their lineup.

No. 4. Trade AJ Pollock to the New York Mets for James McCann: Back in black. McCann and New York are not a marriage going the way either had hoped for. The Mets certainly make this deal due to Pollock only having one year left and getting the remaining two years of McCann off the books. For the White Sox, it’s simple. They get a catcher. He might not hit but you know what you’re getting behind the plate. They also save some money for this year, which is ultimately more beneficial for me.

No. 5. Trade Liam Hendricks and Romy Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Gavin Lux: Nobody wants to see Hendricks go but he’s a luxury we cannot afford. Getting a guy like Lux for depth is more beneficial. Lux can cover CF in a pinch and provides a nice option behind Wong and Yelich. This allows the Sox to have Colas force the issue and not feel the need to rush him up. It’s a risk to have Graveman or Lopez take the reigns at closer but bullpen can always be addressed at the deadline.

POSITION CHANGE: Tim Anderson is moving to RF. “When you are an athlete, I can play anywhere on the field” – Tim Anderson. Well we’ve never been able to fix RF so let’s try moving a guy there that we already trust with the bat. Another positive is that it will hopefully keep Anderson in the lineup more, as it’s less wear and tear than the shortstop position. He said he could make the switch to CF in “one day” so I can’t imagine right field would take more than a full spring.

SUMMARY

Anderson RF – 12.5mm

Yelich LF – 26mm

Jimenez DH – 9.5mm

Rizzo 1B – 21mm

Robert CF – 9.5mm

Rengifo 3B – 2.5mm (estimated arb1)

Andrus SS – 8mm

Wong 2B – 8mm

McCann C – 12mm

Bench: Sheets INF/DH/OF (720k), Mendick INF (1mm), Zavala C (720k), Lux INF/OF (720k)

Cease 5.3mm

Lynn 18.5mm

Quintana 12mm

Greene 720k

Lauer 4.7mm (estimated ARB2)

Kopech 2.2mm

Bullpen: Lopez 3.3mm, Kelly 9mm, Graveman 8mm, Lambert (720k) Bummer 3.75mm, Banks until May/Crochet (720k), Ruiz (1mm)

Harrison buyout: 1.5mm

TOTAL PAYROLL = $183.57 million

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Alfornia Jones

I think we are Milwaukee’s huckleberry for Yelich. My solution was them kicking in half his salary for the last three years, but I like them taking Leury and Diekman. I think Moncada is a bridge too far, but maybe they’re more motivated that I thought. Yelich is the reason any Nimmo deal would be bad, but I like Yelich at half price.

Neat_on_the_rocks

Mccann and the Mets make a lot of sense for bad contract scenary swap, I like that.

Last edited 1 year ago by Neat_on_the_rocks