Andyfaust’s plan
PREAMBLE
I agree with Jim’s suggestion that the payroll may be well below the $185M allotted for this exercise, and I’ve read a couple plans already that have, probably wisely, blown it up and begun a new rebuild. I enjoyed the plans that did that, but I’m not going to do that. I’ll be going for it. I’ve long respected teams that were always trying to win, even in years where it made perfect sense to punt. There are some interesting free agents out there and the division is still relatively weak, so that helped my decision to try and win in 2024.
GRIFOL
My first order of business would be to fire Pedro Grifol. I don’t think another year will go any better for him. He was in over his head on opening day, and in September. I saw nothing to suggest he progressed or got better at his job. I don’t have a specific guy in mind to hire and replace him, and I hope the White Sox don’t either. That’s the point, do a comprehensive search to find who is best qualified and willing to manage this major league ball club. Some names to interview would be Stephen Vogt and Craig Counsell.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Dylan Cease: $8.8M Tender
- Andrew Vaughn: $3.7M Tender
- Michael Kopech: $3.6M Tender
- Touki Toussaint: $1.7M Tender
- Trayce Thompson: $1.7M NonTender
- Garrett Crochet: $900K Tender
- Clint Frazier: $900K NonTender
- Matt Foster: $740K NonTender
CLUB OPTIONS
Write “pick up” or “decline” or “rework” after the option.
- Tim Anderson: $14M ($1M buyout) Buy him out
- Liam Hendriks: $15M ($15M buyout, paid $1.5M annually over next 10 years) Buy him out too
MUTUAL OPTIONS
- Mike Clevinger: $12M mutual option ($4 million buyout) Rework 2/$24M
He pitched well enough to be able to turn down the mutual option, so in order to get him to return, another year will have to be added. New contract remains at $12M for this year but adds a second year at another $12M.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Yasmani Grandal (Made $18.25M in 2023)
- Elvis Andrus ($3M)
- Bryan Shaw ($720K)
- José Ureña ($720K)
No to all.
FREE AGENTS
SS Amed Rosario 1 year/$5M
I was willing to part ways with Anderson during the last offseason and even included a trade in my ’23 plan to achieve that, so I had penciled in his buyout months ago before his season went to shit. They only thing that gave me pause in the Anderson decision was the awful crop of FA SS’s. Nothing like last year. Rosario is nothing to get excited over, but I needed to move on from Anderson/Andrus. He is a placeholder.
C Victor Caratini 2/$14M
Solid everyday catcher that won’t break the bank. Had Gary Sanchez in here until the very end, but Caratini is likely much cheaper and gives some L/R balance to lineup at the cost of some pop.
SP Aaron Nola 6/$147M
Total work horse. It is a very short list of SP that have started more games than Nola since his first full season in 2016.
SP Sonny Gray 3/$61M
Another effective starter that has a long reputation of putting up good innings totals.
RP Brooks Raley 2/$14M
RP Yimi Garcia 2/$11.5M
RP Joe Jimenez 2/$11.5M
Plenty of room in the bullpen. Tried to focus on 2 year deals. I like the name Yimi.
OF/DH Jason Heyward 1 year/$1.5M.
What the hell… He played all three outfield positions and even a little 1B for them and hit quite well against RHP. He can be used to platoon with Eloy or give rest in the outfield.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Dylan Cease and Oscar Colas to Baltimore for OF Heston Kjerstad, SP D.L. Hall, 2B Joey Ortiz and C Samuel Basallo.
First of all, this only works because the goofy trade simulator tool still gives Colas quite a bit of value. I have my doubts. I would plug Kjerstad, Hall, and Ortiz into the active roster on day one. Start Kjerstad in RF and Ortiz at 2B. Baltimore is pretty deep both in the IF and OF and you could argue that both of these guys are pretty well blocked. I think this is a great haul for Cease. Both Kjerstad and Ortiz mashed at AAA last year and both even got a cup of coffee in Baltimore. I was also able to throw in their top catching prospect Basallo (actually ranked higher than Quero) since Rutschman looks like a stud and is only 25. Would they be willing to deal him too? Again, who knows if this is even close.
LINEUP
So my lineup is…
- LF Benintendi L 17.1
- 2B Ortiz R .74
- 3B Moncada S 24.8 ouch
- CF Robert Jr R 12.5
- DH Jimenez R 13.83
- RF Kjerstad L .74
- 1B Vaughn R 3.7
- C Caratini S 7
- SS Rosario R 5
Bench… woof
- C Lee or Hackenberg .74
- IF Sosa/Remillard .74
- OF Reyes/Haseley .74 (maybe Billy Hamilton?)
- OF/DH Heyward .74
Rotation
- Nola 24.5
- Gray 20
- Clevinger 12
- Kopech 6
- Hall .74
- Toussaint pen
- Crochet pen
- Nastrini minors
- Martin (2nd half maybe?) recovering from TJS
Bullpen
- Santos .74
- Garcia 5.75
- Bummer L 5.5
- Raley L 7
- Jimenez 5.75
- Toussaint 1.7
- Leasure .74
- Crochet L .9
SUMMARY
Lots of holes to fill on this club, but if the payroll actually lands near the figure we used for this exercise, there is some money to spend. My club payroll came in at $181M.
My reasoning for trading Cease was that with such a loaded FA market for SP, Sox could deal Cease to fill some others holes with young guys that are MLB ready and then sign some FA pitching to compensate. I think Baltimore is a good trade partner, although they may rather just sign FA pitchers themselves rather than trading. There were several good SP free agents this year, so I tried to take advantage of that by making this deal.
Author
I like the Cease trade, and I like the looks of Basallo. Don’t know if he sticks at catcher, but he’s high OBP and clubs the ball from the left side. The Orioles are stacked with left handed prospects.