The boys upstairs can dream

PREAMBLE

Honestly, the White Sox are not close, but if the big boys up top say they are trying to compete next year, then who am I to not try and make that happen. You can add a decent amount in this budget, but a lot of it is reliant on a lot of core pieces bouncing back and luck (Luck means pitching health). Lets get into it.

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 – NON-TENDER
• Garrett Crochet: $900K – TENDER
• Clint Frazier: $900K – NON-TENDER
• Matt Foster: $740K – NON-TENDER. Only one I thought heavily about. This is cheap for a relief guy but one that hasn’t pitched in a year. Wouldn’t mind a minor league deal with a SPI.

CLUB OPTIONS

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

• Tim Anderson: $14M ($1M buyout) – Decline. Hardest thing to do, but tat this price point it just doesn’t work. I hope he bounces back and gets the mega deal he deserves, just won’t be with us.
• Liam Hendriks: $15M ($15M buyout, paid $1.5M annually over next 10 years) – REWORK: 2/$20, $2.5mil this year, $15mil next year. If you’re going to pay $15mil no matter what, this option at least buys you some value for the year after and lets Liam rehab with team doctors.

MUTUAL OPTIONS

Write “exercised” or “takes buyout.”

• Mike Clevinger: $12M mutual option ($4 million buyout) – EXERCISED. For the sake of the exercise, I have to assume he would sign on. I know there are character concerns, but Clev was more that serviceable and would be hard to find similar output at this price range.

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

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

• Yasmani Grandal (Made $18.25M in 2023) – LET GO
• Elvis Andrus ($3M) – LET GO
• Bryan Shaw ($720K) – LET GO
• José Ureña ($720K) – LET GO

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Mitch Garver (Three years, $30mil). Gives you a vet presence behind the plate with a big bat and with most teams running two catchers, it shouldn’t impact any of the young catchers coming up. Sorry Korey Lee but those late year at bats were something…A lot of people will bring up injury concerns, but the Sox way is to always bet on health.

No. 2: Cody Bellinger (Five Years, $112mil). This feels light but it is his market projection. Maybe past injury history scares some people off the years??? Idk man.

No. 3: Michael Lorenzen (Two Years, $18mil). Obviously want bigger name pitchers but this budget does not allow for it and no pitcher outside Ohtani has as much of an impact as Belli and Ohtani won’t even pitch next year.

No. 4: Will Smith (Two Years, $13mil)

No. 5: Jordan Hicks (2 Years, $6.8mil)

No. 6: Enrique Hernández (1 year, $4.5mil). Stop gap until Colson is ready (if he is ready this year). Gives you flexibility all along the infield and outfield. In no way gonna act like this is an impact signing, or even an every day bat, but the Sox don’t have the room to be playing for those guys.

No. 7: Jack Flaherty (2 Year, $20mil, player option after year 1). Same idea as some people have had with bringing back Gio (Katz), but he will be slightly cheaper according to Spotrac and just want to change it up a bit.

TRADES

I think most of the heavy lifting will done via FA as the Sox don’t have a ton to offer/need he young guys they have. I kicked the tires on trading Eloy but his value on Baseball Trade Values is crazy low. Would assume you could find a decent trade for him, but anything accepted by BTV is basically a salary dump and Eloy has way more upside than anyone you would get back.

No. 1: Trade Oscar Colas and Lenyn Sosa to St. Louis for Tommy Edman. Trade accepted by baseball trade values. Would even give more to make this work. Lets fix second base.

SUMMARY

C: Garver $10,000,000
1B: Vaughn $3,600,000
2B: Edman $6,500,000
3B: Moncada $24,000,000
SS: Hernández $4,500,000
LF: Benintendi $16,500,000
CF: Robert $12,500,000
RF: Bellinger $22,400,000
DH: Eloy $13,000,000

Bench: Korey Lee/Carlos Perez $770,000
Bench: Romy Gonzalez $770,000
Bench: Zach Remillard $770,000
Bench: Jose Rodriguez $770,000

Rotation:

Cease $8,800,000
Clevinger $12,000,000
Kopech $3,600,000
Lorenzen $9,000,000
Flaherty $10,000,000

Bullpen

Liam $2,500,000 (IL all year)
Bummer $5,500,000
Touki $1,700,000
Crochet $900,000
Banks $770,000
Santos $770,000
Davis Martin $770,000
Will Smith $6,500,000
Jordan Hicks $3,400,000

Other

Luery $5,500,000
Abreu $1,000,000

Total budget comes out to around $188,790,000. I know his is slightly more than allotted, but Jerry can cough up a little extra to improve the team. A lot of these moves are short-sighted and don’t fix the Sox much in the future, but it doesn’t deal away any cornerstone prospects and keeps the dream alive for a little excitement.

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