Dylan Cease notched his second-place Cy Young finish at the perfect time, at least with regards to his personal finances.
Sure, it would've been nice to have this kind of season in 2020 when Dane Dunning instead got the Game 3 start, but that wouldn't have allowed him to cash in on the brand-new pre-arbitration bonus pool, which was born from the latest collective bargaining negotiations.
In order to pay more to overachievers without uprooting the entire salary structure for players in the first six or seven years of their MLB careers, the league set aside $50 million for players with fewer than three years of service time who finished in the top 100 in WAR, with bonuses for awards finishes. Between the various avenues for earning extra money, ESPN's Jesse Rogers said that Cease ended up leading all of his peers with a $2,457,426, which is more than triple his salary.
Cease, who made $750,000 in salary in 2022, will earn an extra $707,425 due to his WAR ranking and $1.75 million for his second-place finish in the Cy Young race. Houston Astros slugger, Yordan Alvarez, will make the second-most, $2,381,143 -- $881,143 due to his top ranking in WAR and $1.5 million for finishing third in the AL MVP.
MLB Trade Rumors projects Cease to make $5.3 million in his first year of arbitration, so this chunk of change bridges the gap rather nicely. Unrelated note: He also doesn't have a mustache anymore.
Spare Parts
The White Sox's first spring training non-roster invitee is in the fold. Reyes is mostly a replacement-level outfielder since the Tigers selected him in the Rule 5 draft back in 2018, but Charlotte is a little short on outfielders, especially if Oscar Colás breaks camp with the White Sox.
- 2022 Rule 5 draft recap -- Baseball Prospectus
- 2022 Rule 5 draft: Scouting reports for all 15 picks -- MLB Pipeline
The read on Nick Avila is similar all over: Elite results without elite stuff, and the question of whether a mid-90s fastball and good breaking ball is enough to beat better bats.
The White Sox are among the field of teams inquiring about the Diamondbacks' outfield of Daulton Varsho, Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy. The White Sox have twice plugged outfield holes via trades with Arizona this century -- Carlos Quentin and Adam Eaton -- and Thomas has Sox ties, given that he's the son of former strength and conditioning coach Allen Thomas.
The best Twins starting pitching projection belongs to Joe Ryan, and he's only estimated to produce 2.3 WAR. They could really use a high-impact addition to the rotation, but they already shied away from costly pitching additions even before this winter's price hike.
Speaking of which, the New York Mets signed the best NPB player to an amount that pushes their payroll to comical heights. Steve Cohen is on the hook for $76 million in penalties as it stands right now, which is more than the White Sox have ever committed to a free agent.
The Dodgers haven't been able to flex their financial might because they don't know how much of it they have. They're waiting to see if Bauer's suspension will be upheld. If it's overturned, they could possibly owe $100 million between the $60 million they haven't paid Bauer during his suspension, and related luxury taxes.
Courtney Hawkins, the White Sox's first-round pick back in 2012, hit .298/.399/.655 with 48 homers and 125 RBIs over 127 games for the Lexington Legends this past season. Now 29, he's going to try to springboard from his success in the MLB Partner Leagues into Japan.
