Josh Nelson’s 2023-24 Offseason Plan: A Faux Contention Plan For White Sox
Preamble
Chris Getz is in a terrible position.
On the one hand, no matter how often or deep you dive into the Chicago White Sox 40-man roster and development pipeline, it’s hard to see this team bouncing back from a 101-loss season. There’s a severe lack of impact talent, and I question the desire of some players’ willingness not just to help turn things around but also to stay with the White Sox. There’s half a roster before this offseason starts, and maybe half of those players are worth keeping for a team wanting to contend in 2024.
On the other hand, Getz’s boss is still Jerry Reinsdorf. At age 87, The Chairman doesn’t want to rebuild and wants to win in 2024. Is Reinsdorf willing to set aside his personal preferences and pay market rates for premium talent? Probably not. Will Reinsdorf allow Getz to exceed Luxury Tax thresholds to build an overnight winner? Again, probably not.
So Getz has to build a roster that can convince his boss the White Sox will contend for the 2024 AL Central title with a budget at or below what Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams had the past two seasons. While also revamping the player pipeline in the minors, that can help with future seasons. But a general manager can’t do that by trading top prospects away for veteran talent. Oh, and the interest in what the White Sox currently have outside of Luis Robert Jr. and Dylan Cease is very minimal.
The only way to accomplish this task is for Reinsdorf to let Getz spend crazy this offseason, much like the Mets and Padres did last year. Sure, it didn’t work for those teams, but heavy spending has helped the Texas Rangers transition from a 100+ loss team to the American League champs (perhaps more) this season. Anything short of that is equivalent to throwing darts at the board with a blindfold, especially with this year’s free agency class.
There’s one position player that would greatly help the White Sox in 2024, and that’s outfielder Cody Bellinger. Yes, Shohei Ohtani would help offensively, but with the elbow injury, he won’t help with the White Sox pitching or defensive woes this season. Starting in 2025 and beyond, Ohtani would solve many of the White Sox problems if he can bounce back from Tommy John surgery. As we’ve recently seen from White Sox pitchers, it’s not a foregone conclusion to return to the previous operating state. Besides, Reinsdorf already nixed the Ohtani idea while announcing Getz as the new GM.
The White Sox need help with on-base percentage, slugging, defense, base running, starting pitching, and mindset. That’s all.
Putting myself into Getz’s shoes with this offseason plan exercise, I don’t envy him. Trying to build a winner in 2024 without sacrificing the future will require a tremendous amount of luck in short-term free-agent signings and bounce-back seasons from players currently on the roster. It’s not impossible, but it’s highly improbable.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Dylan Cease: $8.8M – TENDER
- Andrew Vaughn: $3.7M – TENDER
- Michael Kopech: $3.6M – TENDER; Move to bullpen
- 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; Invite to Spring Training
CLUB OPTIONS
- Tim Anderson: $14M ($1M buyout) – DECLINE
If you listen to the Sox Machine Podcast, we’ve spent a few episodes discussing this upcoming decision. Before the 2023 season, I thought the White Sox should sign Tim Anderson to a long-term contract that matched what previous free agent shortstops received. Boy, did that take spoil like expired milk.
Anderson is a defensive liability at shortstop, and his offensive approach is lacking. I’m not sure who got into his ear before the 2022 season, convincing Anderson to focus on hitting singles to right field, but I hope they are no longer part of the White Sox organization. What made Anderson dangerous in 2019 to 2021 was his slugging ability.
Now Anderson is a single-only hitter with no power, nor does he run and steal bases at a high clip. That type of hitter does not work in today’s baseball.
So, while Anderson goes on a baseball spiritual journey this offseason to rediscover himself, the White Sox have to make a business decision. Anderson is not worth $14 million for 2024, nor do I think he should be the starting shortstop. What complicates this decision is how terrible the free agent market is for middle infielders.
There’s a good chance letting Anderson go and swapping him with a free-agent middle infielder will make no difference in overall impact. But it’ll be cheaper and easier to ditch that new shortstop aside for Colson Montgomery when he’s ready for the majors. That seems to be the White Sox plan anyway. Save the money, and if Anderson is still available on February 1, sign him to a one-year deal to play second base.
- Liam Hendriks: $15M ($15M buyout, paid $1.5M annually over next 10 years) – DECLINE
When it comes to Hendriks, this decision is really up to Reinsdorf. With the rehab from Tommy John surgery, Hendriks won’t be back until August, if lucky. He’ll be put on the 60-day IL to start the season, which doesn’t take up a 40-man roster spot. It’s just a matter of whether Reinsdorf wants to pay $15 million to a pitcher who might not pitch in 2024 or pay him $1.5 million over the next decade.
Again, I don’t envy Getz with this job. It’ll be tough for a White Sox fan base to accept the team declining Hendriks club option while he survived cancer. Hendriks was one of the few bright spots and continues to be a beacon of hope for those impacted by cancer.
From a business perspective, I think the White Sox should pay Hendriks the deferred amount while allowing him to use the facilities at Glendale for rehab. Now, I see a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers (who share that same facility in Glendale with the White Sox) going after Hendriks as a free agent to sign a pillow contract deal.
MUTUAL OPTIONS
- Mike Clevinger: $12M mutual option ($4 million buyout) – BUYOUT
I think Mike Clevinger takes the $4 million and adds to his new contract with whatever team that’ll guarantee a deal through 2025.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Yasmani Grandal (Made $18.25M in 2023) – LET GO
Contrary to popular belief, Yasmani Grandal was not the worst free agent signing in White Sox history. - Elvis Andrus ($3M) – INTERESTED IN BRINGING BACK
Using 2023 numbers, Elvis Andrus is the best available middle infield free agent. That speaks volumes to how weak this class of free agents is and the challenges to find rapid improvement for the White Sox. If Andrus is game to come back for similar money to hold down the shortstop position until Colson Montgomery is ready, I’m game. If Andrus is not interested in coming back, I don’t blame him.
- Bryan Shaw ($720K) – INTERESTED IN BRINGING BACK
Greatly depends on how much Bryan Shaw is willing to sign for but the man has a rubber arm.
José Ureña ($720K) – LET GO
* * * * * * * * *
Now that the internal decisions have been made, it’s time to start improving this team for 2024.
We can skip the trade ideas for my plan. I don’t see a need for the White Sox to move their existing prospects for veteran talent, and I don’t see any other MLB teams willing to part with their prospects or young talent for the White Sox best players or underachievers (Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada).
FREE AGENTS
- Fire Pedro Grifol and hire Craig Counsell to a 4 year, $20 million contract
Pedro Grifol’s ongoing quest of culture building is better suited for running a college baseball program than a major league team. Culture is a great selling point to teenagers on recruiting trips. Professional baseball players want money and the chance to win.
The whole point of bringing Grifol in to replace Tony La Russa was to immediately connect with the existing roster and adjust to bounce back. Grifol didn’t accomplish that goal; he might have made things worse with a lack of desire to call out veteran players for poor play but was willing to call out rookies publically. Last year’s White Sox roster did not respond to Grifol, and the effort was apparent on the field.
Turning a free agent on October 31, Craig Counsell is talking to other teams about their managerial opening. Hailing from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, it makes sense for Counsell to stay in Milwaukee and continue the excellent work he’s done for the Brewers. In the last six 162-game seasons (excluding the 2020 season), the Milwaukee Brewers are averaging 90.6 wins under Counsell. Could you imagine the White Sox having that kind of run?
Not only are the Brewers winning under Counsell, but they are exceeding their expected win total.
| Season | Wins | Expected-Wins | Difference |
| 2016 | 73 | 74 | -1 |
| 2017 | 86 | 85 | 1 |
| 2018 | 96 | 91 | 5 |
| 2019 | 89 | 81 | 8 |
| 2020* | 29 | 28 | 1 |
| 2021 | 95 | 93 | 2 |
| 2022 | 86 | 85 | 1 |
| 2023 | 92 | 90 | 2 |
To stay in Milwaukee, I imagine Counsell wants to be paid what he’s worth. The top-paid managers are getting $4+ million a season, and I think Counsell is worth that. Are the Brewers front office and ownership willing to pay Counsell that much? That’s probably why he’s talking to Cleveland and New York Mets about their job opening.
The White Sox should be involved, too. Only a few managers get more out of their roster than Counsell has in Milwaukee. With a proven track record, maybe it’s Counsell who can help unlock the potential of Moncada and Jimenez to join Robert in becoming All-Stars, getting Andrew Vaughn to meet his potential, coaching up the middle infield prospects, or making the right bullpen choices.
There are a lot of ways Counsell can better manage the White Sox than Grifol. I wouldn’t use the “Well, we are already paying La Russa and Grifol manager salaries” excuse. If it’s all about winning, admit that Grifol is not the guy and move on. I’d feel much better about the White Sox chances of bouncing back under Counsell than Grifol.
- Sign LHP Jordan Montgomery to a 4 year, $92 million + 5th year Club Option for $23 million (or $4 million buyout)
Breaking the largest free agent signing record and potentially becoming the first $100 million contract in franchise history, I’m aiming for Jordan Montgomery.
Montgomery has been excellent in 2023 for St. Louis and Texas. He finished with a 4.3 WAR campaign, according to FanGraphs, with a 3.20 ERA and 4.04 FIP. More importantly, Montgomery went 188.2 innings in 32 starts. That type of quality workload is what the White Sox need in the immediate and near future.
Even with the frustrations of Dylan Cease struggling to get through five innings per appearance, he takes the ball every fifth day. Right now, the White Sox only have one dependable starting pitcher they can count on making 30+ starts in 2024. Cease needs help, and Montgomery has three consecutive seasons of making 30+ starts with an increase in innings.
2021: 30 GS | 157.1 IP | 3.83 ERA for New York Yankees
2022: 32 GS | 178.1 IP | 3.48 ERA for New York Yankees / St. Louis Cardinals
2023: 32 GS | 188.2 IP | 3.20 ERA for St. Louis Cardinals / Texas Rangers
A big part of the Rangers postseason success, Montgomery was great against Houston in the ALCS and pitched seven scoreless innings against Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round. Yes, the Baltimore Orioles beat up Montgomery in the ALDS, and his World Series start against Arizona failed to generate many whiffs. Still, Montgomery has shown his desire to grind when the team needs him. That is a quality attribute and he’s now got a World Series ring to show for that effort.
Starting pitching pricing is wildly inflated, with 1 WAR starting pitchers going for $10 to $12 million per season these days. My contract offer is similar to what the Seattle Mariners signed LHP Robbie Ray after the 2021 season. Ray does have a player opt-out after the 2024 season with two years and $50 million left on the original deal. After missing the 2023 season due to Tommy John surgery, it’s probably unlikely Ray will opt out.
If Montgomery were interested in signing with the White Sox on a similar deal, having a player opt-out after Year 3, I don’t know how Reinsdorf says “No.” An opportunity to finally quiet a fanbase clamoring for a big signing with a chance not to have to pay the original total amount? That’s right up Reinsdorf’s alley.
For now, I’ll stick with four guaranteed years plus a club option for a fifth-year.
Contract Breakdown:
2024: $21 million
2025: $23 million
2026: $24 million
2027: $24 million
2028 (Club Option): $23 million or $4 million buyout
Hiring Counsell and signing Montgomery are the big moves. Now let’s go to the clearance rack to build out the rest of this roster.
Short-term Deals
- Gary Sanchez, Catcher – 1 year, $4 million (Club Option for ‘25)
- Kevin Kiermaier, Right Field – 1 year, $9 million (Club Option for ‘25)
- Paul DeJong, Shortstop – 1 year, $7 million
- Tony Kemp, Second Base – 1 year, $3.5 million
- Alex Wood, Left-handed Pitcher – 1 year, $12 million (Club Option for ‘25)
- Kenta Maeda, Right-handed Pitcher – 1 year, $12 million (Club Option for ‘25)
Yeah, these are some names. Going the short-term rental route makes these players trade targets if they have an excellent first half for the White Sox, but the team is not within striking distance of a division title.
Let’s start with the position players. While declining Tim Anderson’s contract and not bringing back Elvis Andrus, I’m letting go of the worst middle infield in Major League Baseball.
By signing Paul DeJong and Tony Kemp, it’s still the worst middle infield in Major League Baseball but cheaper (I can hear your laughter).
I don’t know what happened to DeJong, who clubbed 74 home runs from 2017 to 2019 and had better than league average wRC+, but I know he’s a better defensive shortstop than Anderson. If DeJong still doesn’t hit but can help improve the White Sox defense until Montgomery is ready, that’s fine. Signing Kemp is for the vibes and aids the White Sox walk rate (Career 10.1%).
Kevin Kiermaier might win the Gold Glove in 2023 for his center field play, but I would move him over to right field with this plan. Offensively, Kiermaier’s wRC+ will range from 85 to 105 in 2024 with fewer than ten home runs. So, while the hitting impact will be limited, Kiermaier would greatly help the White Sox outfield defense.
Initially, I had Mitch Garver as my catching target for the White Sox. After discussing with Jim Margalus in our Trick or Treat podcast episode, he’s right that Garver isn’t much of a catcher anymore. Gary Sanchez has improved his defense since leaving New York and can provide a much-needed thump in the lineup. Korey Lee still gets 50+ starts in 2024, but Sanchez would carry the starting workload.
To help fill out the rotation, I’ve decided to go with the more veteran route by adding Kenta Maeda and Alex Wood. Both pitchers have come from successful organizations and would provide Brian Bannister a chance to work with Ethan Katz on finding a dead cat bounce performance. Neither Maeda nor Wood throws hard, but each is effective in their way.
Wood is still tough on lefties, even though he didn’t put up a high K% total against them in 2023 (17.4%, down from 28.3% in 2022). Yet, opposing left-handers only hit .243/.331/.350 in 2023, and if Wood finds his 2022 self, he can post even better numbers (.193/.228/.235 vs. LH in 2022). It’s facing righties that should worry fans about Wood.
Maeda has only made 41 starts in the last two seasons, pitching 210.2 innings. While he can’t be counted on handling an entire season’s workload, Maeda is still posting an impressive K% rate (27.3%) while keeping a low BB% rate (6.5%). Give Katz and the White Sox pitchers credit for being a Top-10 team in strikeouts last year. What they need help with is adding pitchers who keep walks to a minimum.
SUMMARY
From a content-producing perspective, my offseason plan would keep everyone at Sox Machine busy by hiring a new manager and seven free-agent signings. It’d make the winter go by quickly for everyone involved, and for White Sox fans, that would be welcomed.
As a “Will this get the White Sox back to a position to challenge the Minnesota Twins?” perspective, I’m not even entirely sold. The starting rotation would be better if everyone stays healthy (big ask, I know). Defensively, the team should be better, which aids the pitching staff. So maybe the run-prevention side gets closer to limiting opponents to 4.5 runs per game.
Offensively, Sanchez would help in the home run department, but Kiermaier, DeJong, and Kemp don’t help a great deal. For the White Sox to up their run total will largely depend on Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez. Can they finally live up to their potential? Will Andrew Vaughn pick up his production at first base? Is Andrew Benintendi going to live up to his end of the contract?
Those four position players have to be better in 2024 for the White Sox to have any shot of winning the division. Outside of Montgomery, the rest of these additions are to buy time for the new White Sox front office to develop the younger talent. Hopefully, a wave of fresh faces will be ready for 2025.
Offseason Plan Lineup:
| Order | Player | Position | Bats |
| 1 | Andrew Benintendi | LF | L |
| 2 | Yoan Moncada | 3B | S |
| 3 | Luis Robert Jr. | CF | R |
| 4 | Eloy Jimenez | DH | R |
| 5 | Kevin Kiermaier | RF | L |
| 6 | Gary Sanchez | C | R |
| 7 | Andrew Vaughn | 1B | R |
| 8 | Tony Kemp | 2B | L |
| 9 | Paul DeJong | SS | R |
| BENCH | PLAYER |
| Catcher | Korey Lee |
| Utility | Zach Remillard |
| Utility | Gavin Sheets |
| Utility | Romy Gonzalez |
Pitching Rotation:
| POSITION | PLAYER |
| SP1 | Dylan Cease |
| SP2 | Jordan Montgomery |
| SP3 | Kenta Maeda |
| SP4 | Alex Wood |
| SP5 | Touki Toussaint |
Bullpen:
| POSITION | PLAYER |
| CLOSER | Gregory Santos |
| SETUP | Michael Kopech |
| SETUP | Garrett Crochet |
| RELIEF | Aaron Bummer |
| RELIEF | Jesse Scholtens |
| RELIEF | Jordan Leisure |
| RELIEF | Lane Ramsey |
| RELIEF | Tanner Banks |
26-Man Payroll Budget: $180,603,000
Author
Cost to value I think Jordan Montgomery should be the Whitesox number 1 target this off season so I love his inclusion in this plan. Will the sox pony up that kind of money for a starting pitcher… who knows I would put it at like a 30% chance, what I will say is I believe there is a 1% chance at best the sox ditch grifol and sign council…
Everyone else fits pretty logically in the fake contending for 2024, while not giving any lingering bad contracts that could hamstring you in 2025 a more realistic contention window. You could also envision a scenario where some of these guys on 1 year deals become flip candidates at the deadline if things get off to a rocky start.
The bench is about as ugly as it gets but some of these guys are nearing the end of their Whitesox tenures… and AAA would actually be able to provide some depth with Colas, Sosa, Rodriguez, likely starting in charlotte and some more of the bigger upside guys like Montgomery and Ramos not far behind.
Solid Solid plan, really like it.
Concerning the bench – when I was constructing this roster I did say to myself “You are already paying Leury Garcia. Might as well invite him to ST and see if he can beat someone out.”
LOL,
There have to be some 4A types with more to offer then sheets either defensively or offensively, he is the one I really can’t stand seeing on the 26 man roster again. He will manage to start way too many games for this team if allowed on the roster.
Good idea! Might as well give Leury a chance as there’s not much on the current roster that provides any kind of spark. The roster you’ve constructed Josh is an improvement over the 2023 group but as you stated there are so many holes. I’d be greatly surprised if the Sox win over 75 games in 2024.
This is a decent team. Well thought plan. I didn’t like the Paul deJong signing. That guy is toasted. The glove is still good, but the bat is dead. The Tony Kemp signing is just another Josh Harrison or Hanser Alberto signing. That’s 10.5 million that won’t produce much more than Elvis + Lenyn at a fraction of the cost.
Your bench has Gavin Sheets. Sheets is not rosterable anymore.
But Sheets is cheap.
I’d rather have Yoelqui Cespedes (I don’t want Yoelqui Cespedes). At least he can field a position.
Yep. I actually rather have Leury (I don’t want Leury)
What Sheets has going for him is that he does one thing (hit righthanders) less poorly than he does every other thing, That, and he’s cheap.
But can we find someone who hits right handlers less poorly than Sheets for comparable money? Or just as poorly but with better defense?
idk man, that 239 lifetime ave and 720 ops vs right hand pitching while providing no defensive value is gonna be tough to replace
While I firmly endorse firing Grifol, I’m sure it ain’t going to happen. If Getz felt that best, he should have done it Day 1. Meanwhile candidates are already networking, getting interviewed, etc. while W Sox twiddle their thumbs. Counsel would be a pipe-dream, but he’ll have his pick from many organizations and I can’t see him choosing this White Sox situation. Trading Eloy would be a must. His flaws are evident but he may be one of the few W Sox players that other teams would take a shot on. I’m hoping one of the 2B prospects takes the next step. I’d like to see a middle infield combo (w/Montgomery) that can work together year-after-year.
Great plan! It is hard to imagine Montgomery signing a multi year deal to pitch for the Sox – his career to date has involved pitching for the Yankees and the Cardinals and winning a World Series with the Rangers, and I imagine that there will be offers from teams (Giants?) that have a higher chance of appearing in the playoffs.
Yeah, well just you wait until he gets a gander at the culture that’s been built here. Then he’ll change his tune.
Fine, but Eloy Jimenez must go! He can’t even run to first base without hurting himself.
For all you dreamers out there, sox open as an 80-1 shot to win the 2024 world series! The 4th worst odds in the mlb (a’s, rockies, royals).
It’s too early. We might climb to the 3rd worst by December.
I like your take on Ohtani. Of course, I’d love to have him, but he doesn’t help the pitching and defense next year and will cost $40+ million per year. Bellinger helps in almost every offensive/defensive way- LH power, speed, OBP, outfield defense. Even if he isn’t back to 2019 levels, he would most likely be at minimum a 3-4 WAR player. He should be the number one target, and would finally solve right field once and for all.
Firing Grifol and replacing with Counsell is fantastic. Adding Jordan Montgomery is very good, though I think with needing to add Bellinger, they can go a little cheaper with Sonny Gray and then Giolito. Moving Kopech to the bullpen is a wise move- Having him and Crochet in the back end would potentially be lethal.
Nobody can take seriously any notion that the Sox are going to pursue Bellinger. He’s has one season since 2019 with a WAR over 2 besides, I’m far from convinced that whoever signs him won’t end up with buyer’s remorse. Montgomery is a pipe dream as well. They didn’t sign anybody good when they had a playoff caliber roster after 2020 and 2021, they’re not going to finally start giving out 100-200M contracts coming off a 100 loss season with attendance and fan sentiment being in the crapper. 1-2 year deals for mediocre players, that is the section of the FA store that Getz will be forced to shop in.
We’ve been through this a hundred times already. These OPPs are NOT what we think the Sox are going to do, it’s what we think they should do. And with Bellinger, he was coming off a pretty bad injury in 2020. Last year was his first completely healthy season since then. He plays great defense, has good power, runs well, and is left handed. He fits what the Sox need.
You’re idea has been to suck for the next few years and then spend in a few years. What makes you think Jerry is going to spend then if he didn’t in 2020-2022?
You keep bringing up Bellinger as if there is some chance they will pursue him.
They are going to suck for a few years anyway, regardless. What are the chances they don’t suck the next two years coming off 100 losses, with the worst roster, owner, and GM possible?
I’ll give you that Jerry probably won’t spend in the future anyway, even if they miraculously wound up with a good young core again somehow. But there is a chance he’s dead in a couple years, and having a good core might matter. That’s the only reason to have any hope, really. Great to be a fan of a team where the only hope lies in somebody dying!
I don’t think there’s a chance they pursue him. That’s not what the OPP is about. It’s about what we think they SHOULD do. If we all posted what we think they WILL do, we’d almost be unanimous is Jerry spending on some crap free agents and pocketing as much money as he can. You are absolutely right in saying that our only hope is that a new owner has deep pockets and will spend on players and the organizational infrastructure. What a sad state to be in. But that’s the way it is as a Sox fan under this awful owner.
We have repeatedly mentioned this to him, but he keeps posting “Jerry won’t authorize this or that”. Jim might as well close this blog.
I hear where you are coming from, but one thing I enjoy seeing is the different ways people approach the OPP. If the crowd starts trying to enforce a uniform approach, then reading the various plans will start yielding diminished returns pretty quickly. Since it really is just make-believe, there is no reason to try to super-impose rules other than the mathematical and logical constraints that are inherent in building a 26-man baseball team.
In the end, I agree with you that it is more interesting to read plans that articulate what the team SHOULD do. But I also enjoy seeing different folks’ perspectives on what the team might do or what players might be willing to do. Because it’s absurdly abstract to just approach competitive contract negotiations from the perspective of what the Sox should do without thinking about what other teams MIGHT do and what players would be WILLING to do.
And I will just add one other thing: I am actually just as tired of your reactions to lamarhoytoncrack as you are of him. We’ve been on these sites together for a long time, and I have no beef with you and respect your opinion on the Sox. But you have been on this topic relentlessly for a while now. Let the man vent. Just ignore it.
You’re probably right that the Sox won’t try for Bellinger and won’t spend now if they didn’t two years ago.
BUT I think you’re missing some of the picture. If we had to sum up the problem with the last few years in the smallest nutshell, it’d be this: they thought they could win with what they had. So, instead of investing money in free agency, they signed guys to extensions. When it’s all said and done, they’ll have paid Robert, Jimenez, and Moncada something like $220m. That’s not an enormous sum of money spread across three players, but it represents a sizeable investment—perhaps even unprecedented in MLB—to unknown players. It wasn’t obviously a terrible idea but it clearly didn’t work. Such is the risk of investing in unknowns. They invested too heavily in that trio, but not only in what they guaranteed them but also how they constructed the roster around them. Free agency became a chance to supplement what was already there instead of truly augmenting the roster.
How does this relate to the current situation? Well, two ways. First, 2023 made it abundantly clear that they can’t win with what they had. They need to augment, not merely supplement. But, more important, second, the new regime might have very different ideas. I don’t know (nor do I care) who’s to blame for the way they allocated money in the previous rebuild, but something like 6 years, $150m should be a comfortable investment for the Sox, when they aren’t so heavily investing in internal solutions. After all, they reportedly offered $250m to Machado and $125m to Wheeler. Now, maybe they really did hope to finish in 2nd place in those races. But I still think we’re talking about a pool the Sox would be willing to swim in, in the right circumstances. Bellinger just might make the stars align.
tldr; though you’re probably right, I don’t think it’s as unlikely as you make it seem.
Jerry has made the Sox one of like 4 teams that has never signed a 100M free agent. I think Machado and Wheeler were phony efforts that he did not actually want to happen, personally. I mean how do you go from being in on those guys to the crap they’ve settled for since 2020?
2 or 3 years ago good free agents might have actually wanted to come here. Now, there is a terrible stigma with the Sox. Hiring LaRussa made them the laughing stock of MLB, even with a decent team for one year. Abreu didn’t have kind words to say when he left, nor did Lynn, and Tim is obviously miserable. Everybody knows this org is a joke, not just Sox fans. It would not only take a willingness of Jerry to beat other offers but a player willing to come to a miserable situation that will take years to fix. Their chances of signing somebody good to a 5-7 year deal existed 2 or 3 years ago. I would put it at almost exactly zero at the moment. Not only b/c of Jerry, but b/c nobody wants to play for this turdhole team, including some players who are already here. If Bellinger winds up in Chicago, it will be with the Cubs, b/c their roster isn’t complete suck, and they are not run by total losers. If anybody good is ever going to sign with this team, it will almost undoubtedly be when they have a much brighter immediate future, not just from the standpoint of the player wanting to come here, but Jerry and what he can expect attendance to be. It’s going to take time, and probably the death of said owner.
I already answered your first question. Their strategy seemed to be investing in unprecedented extensions for their own, young players, then supplementing the roster with veterans in the $50-75m range (of which they signed several). Like I said: not an obviously terrible strategy, but it was very poorly executed.
But, yeah, I think it’s a good point about how FA view this team. Even if they wanted to sign more expensive FA, they might have to pay a premium to get them to come here—not likely from someone like JR.
I’d expect all 4 of those middle infielders to post negative WAR next season.
Also, I really don’t want to leave Santos in the closer role. The kid didn’t look mentally ready for it.
Find it very hard to believe they won’t make a trade. Trades are needed.
I found this hard to believe too. The Let’s play it again reunion tour with Keirmeir starring as Adam Eaton reminds me of the kind of effort the 2023 White Sox put out.
Rookie GM. We don’t know what to expect. Besides not having much to trade, he might be hesitant to do deals.
This isn’t Josh’s first rodeo. One could even say that he the father of OPPs.
Counsel and Montgomery? Sad that this would be bold for White Sox standards, but it is what it is. Counsel would be a nice get, but my thinking is: Getz sold Jerry on keeping things cheap(great player dev to compensate apparently) and Grifol being a victim of circumstance with the Kenny/Rick drama. With this in mind, the double down on Grifol will continue, expect some more videos promoting random guys(similar to Romy last year), and cheap pitching options to get by for the arrivals of: (Getz GM interview presentation) Nick “Nasty” Nastrini, Jake “Change it to elder” Eder, Jonathan “Dont call it a pistol” Cannon and Matt “Give it More Time” Thompson in 2025.
dang, forgot Cristian “the maniac” Mena in that group…5 starters right there ready to take the Sox to the promised land in 2025-insert Chris Farley flipping sunglasses at pool meme for Jerry Reinsdorf reaction to that information during “interview”
Victor Robles non-tendered. I’d grab him right up and platoon him with Colas in RF.
He and the other Victor can make each other company in the Minors
Would Kiermaier accept a deal to play RF? If he can get a deal to play CF, his defense can carry him
Well, Montgomery is the only addition where Jerry would have to gin up the ‘I disrespected Scott Boras’ tax. So there’s that. Nice team…even with Sheets.
ESPN came out with their Power Rankings after the World Series. The White Sox are ranked…30th!!!
Here’s what they said: That was a disaster. The White Sox lost 101 games, their most since 1970 (a team so bad it averaged fewer than 6,000 fans per game). Longtime executives Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn were fired in August with farm director Chris Getz taking over as general manager, even though the farm system hasn’t exactly been pumping out quality prospects. Pedro Grifol will get another chance as manager even though the team fell apart in the second half (23-47, minus-133 run differential). Maybe they’ll spend some money in the offseason, and maybe some of the better players will rebound, but the White Sox enter the offseason as the most dysfunctional organization of 2023.
That must really make Jerry proud.
That should get the free agents calling
This bench makes me irrationally angry, ha
As Craig Counsel’s Faux agent, I hereby declare him unavailable to manage this team for any amount of money.
I love this! Don’t want to be realistic either because realistically we are headed back to the mediocrity the Sox are known for. The owner wants to win now, but we have the wrong manager for the type of team they would need to buy to contend in 2024.
What I wonder about Anderson is: if someone got in his ear and told him to focus on hitting singles to right, could someone get in the other ear now and tell him to start pounding the ball again? Wouldn’t fix his defense, but do you want to talk about his defense or watch him hit some dingers?