2022-23 Sox Machine Offseason Plan Project: The consensus says…

I took all of the OPP submissions (96 total) from 10/28 through 11/12 and tried to compile the data in what I hope, is an interesting way for all to review.  I’ll try and not editorialize too much.   Not all 96 entries listed full rosters so some of the totals do not add up to 96.

Sadly, of the 96 total submissions, 18 received ZERO comments and 27 entries received only ONE comment.  So, nearly 50% (actually 45/96) of the submissions received little feedback.  There were so many good and thoughtful submissions with much analysis behind the thoughts.  I believe participants really want their plans looked over, good or bad and receive feedback.  That’s what makes this exercise fun!

ARBITRATION

  • Giolito, Cease, Lopez and Kopech were ALL unanimous choices to TENDER (96 for 96)
  • Mendick was overwhelmingly wanted back by TENDering (79 of 96)
  • Ruiz (36/96), Crick (4/96) and Engel (2/96) are being recommended to NON-TENDER

CLUB OPTION

  • TA results was near unanimous (95/96) to have his contract picked up by the Sox
  • Harrison only had 3 entries that wanted the Sox to pick up the option

PLAYER OPTION

  • Pollock before his announcement (82 total entries at the time) had 7 entries stating he would take the buyout (7 of 82).  Kudos to those 7.  In total there were 21 of 96 stating he would take the buyout.

SOX FREE AGENTS

More submitters wanted Cueto (19/96) back more than Abreu (17/96).  Andrus tallied 12/96 wanting him back and somehow Velasquez received 3/96 wanting to re-sign him.

FREE AGENTS

79 different names were submitted to sign as free agents from the 96 entries.  Leading the pack in free agent votes were;

  • Jose Quintana -18
  • Michael Conforto – 15
  • Kolten Wong – 14
  • Carlos Rodon – 14
  • Brandon Nimmo, Sean Manea and Andrew Benintendi each had 12 suggestions to be signed
  • There was a total of 10 different ex-Sox players submitted to sign as a free agent

TRADES

  • A total of 237 different players were recommended to be traded for.  A total of 60 different current White Sox players were also offered for trade. Remember, some players could have been picked up by a club option or opted out to become a free agent, so a few names were on both the Trade for and sign as a free agent lists.
  • Top players that were being requested to receive back in a trade were (number of times listed)
    Ryan Pepoit (17), Gavin Lux (13), Anthony Santander (9), Cody Bellinger and Brandon Lowe (8), Jesus Luzardo, Michael Busch, James Outman (7) and Brian Reynolds (6). Can somebody say we need to trade with the Dodgers?
  • As for current Sox players, most identified to be part of a trade were;
    Liam Hendriks (59/96), Lucas Giolito (36), Jake Burger (27), Kendal Graveman and Andrew Vaughn (23), Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal (21), Joe Kelly (20), Gavin Sheets (19), Jake Diekman (18)

Most votes submitted by position were as follows (getting to a 26 man roster);

  • C: Yasmani Grandal (65/96), Seve Zavala (6)
  • 1B: Andrew Vaughn (67), Joes Abreu (12)
  • 2B: Kelton Wong (17), Gavin Lux (11)
  • 3B: Yoan Moncada (87), 4 tied with one vote
  • SS: Tim Anderson (67), Trea Turner (6)
  • LF: AJ Pollock (26) led, but since he is no longer here; Andrew Benintendi (10), Joc Pedersen (6)
  • CF: Luis Robert (83), Brandon Nimmo (4)
  • RF: Oscar Colas (25), Cody Bellinger (9)
  • DH: Eloy Jimenez (81), Jose Abreu (3)
  • SP: Dylan Cease (89), Michael Kopech (88), Lance Lynn (85), Lucas Giolito (57), Quintana (18)
  • CL: Reynaldo Lopez (44), Liam Hendrix (30)
  • RP: Aaron Bummer (84), Kendall Graveman (68), Joe Kelly (67), Jake Diekman (61), Garrett Crochet (52), Jose Ruiz (28), Davis Martin (25)
  • Bench: Seby Zavala (61/96), Leury García (55), Danny Mendick (48), Gavin Sheets (40)

I believe a question was asked by one of the entries on how many plans had both Vaughn and Abreu on the roster!  The answer is 4 !

I’m just imagining Hahn reviewing these OPP’s and thinking … proof that all the pieces are currently in place. According to these results … nothing extreme is needed. To win, ALL we have to do is stay healthy and the players that had bad years just need to rebound. I’m sure the odds are astronomically against that entire scenario to actually happen and brings a championship. I truly hope there is a major shakeup to make all players continually fight for their jobs (play hard and smart). Personally, I don’t want the same team back!

Once the season starts, I can look back at all the plans and see who came the closest to what the Three Amigos actually do! There should be a rotating trophy for the participant who comes closest. However, the winner shouldn’t brag too much, because it’s highly likely the Three Amigos plan was absolutely horrible!

Thanks for reading!

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Jim Margalus

One, thanks for doing this, this is great.

Two, this part …

I’m just imagining Hahn reviewing these OPP’s and thinking … proof that all the pieces are currently in place. According to these results … nothing extreme is needed.

… reminds me of when we did the annual Best Of polls at the newspaper where I used to work. The Albany area is known for its incredible number of fantastic neighborhood red-sauce Italian restaurants, but when it came to tallying up votes. Olive Garden would win by a considerable amount. The small local places would split up the enthusiast vote a number of ways, and the people who didn’t prioritize Italian food would say, “Olive Garden, I guess.” And that represented a larger faction than the people who singled out Caffe Italia or Cafe Capriccio or Testo’s or Johnny’s or Ferrari’s or Verdile’s or what have you.

The moral of the story is ranked-choice voting solves everything.

Last edited 1 year ago by Jim Margalus
lastof12

The WS brass better be worth their sauce…

HallofFrank

Yeah. If Hahn spent 5 minutes perusing this site, the OPPs, and the comments, there’s no way he walks away thinking, “nothing extreme is needed.”

ParisSox

All you can eat breadsticks have quite the pull. Put that in our contract offer to Judge.

Jim Margalus

I’m guessing somebody Judge’s size could house a ton of breadsticks. Reinsdorf will cap it.

shaggy65

Hopefully Rick Hahn DOES take note that neither Eloy nor Gavin were popular choices to hold down a spot in the outfield…

jhomeslice

As I posted in another thread, Pollock opting for less money just so he could leave speaks volumes for what he and undoubtedly other players think of this organization. I mean even if the Sox suddenly wanted to sign a good free agent, why would any good player be excited to come here, knowing that he might be the only good free agent they sign for the next 3 or 4 years? Not that they are contemplating signing anybody anyway. This organization now has a reputation as one that doesn’t seriously want to win. It’s not just the fans that know that, but the players around the league as well. Good luck to Hahn, or any GM that tries to win under the constraint of all good free agents being off limits.

Josh Nelson

AMAZING WORK!

Ted Mulvey

This was terrific.

lastof12

This is great.

GrabSomeBench

I certainly hope that Hahn doesn’t listen to the consensus because the consensus Sox are awful

aseballnut

Thanks for the amazing work. I was one of the 7 people who traded for James Outman. I didn’t think anyone would notice

ChiSoxND12

Thanks for this! Beyond the Engels and the Cricks it was tough to have any gauge of majority opinion

Also, I voted for Ranked Choice Voting at my polling place in Evanston last week. If it included local restaurants in addition to primary candidates it’d be all the better.

Last edited 1 year ago by ChiSoxND12
soxbobbo83

I’m reading this as the consensus is the Sox don’t have enough resources to make material changes to their weakest positions.

upnorthsox

Don’t have or will not use? It depends on your degree of pessimism.

asinwreck

This is remarkable. Thank you for making the effort! (If Rick Hahn had half of your initiative, the Sox would have a contending roster.)

upnorthsox

At 1B I had the 2 headed monster of Sheets/Burger but I didn’t separate out my bench in my list of players so you might have missed it.
At 3B, I think the consensus by far is that Moncada is untradeable atm. If he is traded I think it would be as big or bigger a shock as Pollock declining his option.

LF: AJ Pollock (26) led, but since he is no longer here; Andrew Benintendi (10), Joc Pedersen (6

With Pollock and Pederson gone and Benintendi soon to sign elsewhere, who was the next most on the list? I was in on Pollock but if not him my next choice would be Mitch Haniger.

Thanks for all the work you put in to the tallies.

StockroomSnail

As someone too lazy and ignorant to participate I feel VERY qualified to say it feels like Sox fans have been assimilated into the White Sox borg hive mind.

Last edited 1 year ago by StockroomSnail
HallofFrank

If you’ll read the OPPs, you’ll see most of us tried to make moves we thought realistic for this team. For that reason, signing Judge (for example) was simply out of the question for many or most of us.

StockroomSnail

Yeah, that’s what I’m driving at. More predicting what the Sox will do rather than what the poster would do.

Trooper Galactus

I think we’ve gone from dreaming about what the White Sox could/should do to being determined to prove that, on average, we’re probably better GMs than Hahn.