The White Stockings are in Trouble

ByQubort
2 Comments

PREAMBLE

This is a bad baseball team. It’s a terrible free agency class and this franchise has little value to trade. I don’t see this being a winning team in 24 unless many career years happen. That seems doubtful. It’s just amazing the number of star middle infielders and corner outfielders the Sox haven’t bothered to even talk to the past few offseasons when they were available.

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           Nope
  • Garrett Crochet: $900K              Tender
  • Clint Frazier: $900K                    Nope
  • Matt Foster: $740K                     Nope

CLUB OPTIONS

  • Tim Anderson: $14M ($1M buyout) Pick up
  • Liam Hendriks: $15M ($15M buyout, paid $1.5M annually over next 10 years) Buyout. $1.5 million in 10 years will be worth less than today.

MUTUAL OPTIONS

  • Mike Clevinger: $12M mutual option ($4 million buyout)  Pick up. A lot of people seem convinced he can make more opting out as he’d just need to beat $8 million. With no one wanting him off waivers last year, I think there might be a chance he’s gun shy about testing the market. I’m aware many can’t stomach him, but this team is desperate for innings to be pitched. If builds on last year, he might be flipable.

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

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

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Blake Snell 5 Years/$120 Million Let’s get off the list of teams never giving out $100 million contracts. I think this is a hard sell to Snell, as contending teams will surely be knocking, but I upped the money a little over Spotrac projections in hoping he prefers money to winning. I originally wanted Montgomery, but think he’s upped his asking price during the playoffs to more than I’d want to give him. I realize there’s some previous injury concerns and Snell walks a lot of folks, but the cupboard is barren and it’s expensive to fix things you couldn’t do in house.

No. 2: Jack Flaherty 1 Year/$12 Million He had a good first half and then fell apart like his name was Giolito after the deadline. You always need arms and if he rebounds, he could have trade potential.

No. 3: Jesse Winker 1 Year/$3 Million Did I mention this free agent class is garbage? Winker has been hot garbage the last two years but was an All Star the year prior to that. He’s turning 30 which makes him younger than most other outfield options. He’s left handed and had as many walks as Sheets with about 150 less at bats last year. If he has a bounce back, might be able to flip him. Plus any excuse to not see Sheets is a good thing.

No. 4: Whit Merrifield 1 Year/$7 Million I really did not want to sign him. He’s old and washed up, but the free agent class is brutal. I can’t stand to watch Sosa or Romy be handed the job. Hopefully one of them proves to be a major league player, but in the meantime, we need to do something. Whit has enough name recognition that casual fans might like it and if he rebounds at all, perhaps we can get a lottery ticket of a prospect.

TRADES

There’s little trade value on this team in my opinion. I am open to trading anyone outside of Robert, but think you’re better off waiting to see if any of them don’t look like 2023 versions of the themselves to get anything back.

SUMMARY

I don’t see a realistic path for this team to win next year. Solidify the rotation long term by adding Snell, but nearly everyone else hope they look good when a team is desperate for help. I can squint and see this team surprising people to high 70s in wins, but the clearing of cap space and acquiring prospects is the goal currently.

Payroll is right around $180 million and only major commitments would be to Robert and Snell, who I think would both be worth it. Everyone else is on the trade block if someone is interested.

Line up:

  1. Anderson SS
  2. Moncada 3B
  3. Robert CF
  4. Vaughn 1B
  5. Eloy DH
  6. Winker RF
  7. Merrifield 2B
  8. Lee C
  9. Benintendi LF

Rotation

  1. Snell
  2. Cease
  3. Kopech
  4. Clevinger
  5. Flaherty

Author

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Alfornia Jones

By checking a box, Clevinger receives $4million dollars and that concludes his 2023 season. Based on 23, he is getting at least a 2 yr deal for $11-12 mil per. He is not picking up his side of the option.

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LamarHoyt_oncrack

He pitched well enough esp toward the end that he could get more than 11-12M per for a 2 year, if teams hold their nose to his character. His injury history and durability is pretty bad though. I sure hope he’s gone.

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