StonecoldSxnick’s Y.D.K.B Armchair GM White Sox Off-Season plan

PREAMBLE

Hello everyone I’m Nick, or @StonecoldSxnick on X, I’ve been a Sox fan my entire life, and I understand that for most part the Sox will probably not be a good team, but with a few smart moves, I think they have the ability to at least make 2025 watchable. Here I will be explaining what decisions what I make if I was in the seat of Chris Getz

MANAGER

Will Venable (obviously) I think the Sox made the right choice for Manager

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

• Andrew Vaughn: $6.4M – Tender – My reason being, besides the premium names of Alonso, Walker, and Goldschmidt, the 1B is not a strong FA class to try to replace Vaughn and it be considered a upgrade. Also despite Vaughn’s failure to live up to his draft status and his defensive liabilities, still gives you needed availability and run-production, so I wouldn’t mind at least one more year with Vaughn particularly at DH
• Nicky Lopez: $5.1M – Non-Tender
• Garrett Crochet: $2.9M – Tender and Extend
• Gavin Sheets: $2.6M – Non-Tender – I think Sheets is a good clubhouse guy, but in the 4 seasons he’s been with the Sox, he’s posted a career -2.7 bWAR and a slash line of .230/.295/.385/.680
• Enyel De Los Santos: $1.7M – Non-Tender – There is apart of me that wouldn’t mind seeing him back on a minor-league deal, but I just don’t think he’s worth the arbitration money
• Jimmy Lambert: $1.2M – Non-Tender
• Justin Anderson: $1.1M – Tender – I may catch some flack for this, but despite his 4.39 ERA/1.50 WHIP, Anderson has good metrics to work with, including a 29.7% whiff rate, and 35.3% hard hit rate
• Steven Wilson: $1M – Non-Tender
• Matt Foster: $900K – Non-Tender

CLUB OPTIONS

• Yoán Moncada: $25M ($5M buyout) Decline
• Max Stassi: $7M ($500K buyout) Decline

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

• Michael Soroka (Made $3M in 2023) Let Go
• Mike Clevinger ($3M) Let Go
• Chris Flexen ($1.75) Let Go

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Michael Conforto (2 year, $18 million). I think Michael Conforto makes a ton of sense to add for the Sox, because in my opinion he would bring to the Sox a much needed run-producing OF bat

Conforto this year posted a 112 wRC+, .327 wOBA and .450 SLG to go along with his 20 HRs and 66 RBIs

And also, he could be a solid deadline piece

No. 2: Brandon Drury (1 year, $4 million). Despite having a horrible season at the plate (.169/.242/.228/.469) Drury has posted a power hitting profile his previous two seasons

From 2022-2023, Drury posted back to back season of hitting over 25 HRs and 80 RBIs, slugging .495 with a .808 OPS

Also while reuniting him with Sox hitting coach Marcus Thames, he’s playable defensively in the infield and like Conforto would be a solid deadline piece

No. 3: Scott Alexander (1 year, $2.5 million). Despite being 35 years old, Alexander has pitched very solid innings the last couple of seasons

Alexander has posted a 3.23 ERA/1.20 WHIP in 135 appearances

Also from spending two seasons with the Giants, Sox pitching director Brian Bannister is familiar with his pitching repertoire

TRADES

No. 1: Trade Garrett Crochet to the Dodgers for Bobby Miller, James Outman and Gavin Lux. Personally I’m not a fan of moving Garrett Crochet, I think the Sox build around him and hopefully they can one day extend him

But if he is indeed traded, I think the return should be major league players who can immediately join the 26 man roster, and I think getting back the names I mentioned would be a very good return, because you at least get a young starting pitcher to replace his innings in Bobby Miller, him and Crochet are actually the same age, a controllable OF in James Outman, and a proven 2B utility option in Gavin Lux

SUMMARY

2025 White Sox 26 man roster (trade not included)

C: Korey Lee/Edgar Quero
1B: Tim Elko
2B: Brandon Drury/Lenyn Sosa (or Brooks Baldwin)
3B: Bryan Ramos/Miguel Vargas (utility)
LF: Andrew Benintendi
CF: Luis Robert Jr/Dominic Fletcher
RF: Michael Conforto
DH: Andrew Vaughn

Pitching Staff

SP1: Garrett Crochet (barring trade)
SP2: Davis Martin
SP3: Jonathan Cannon
SP4: Drew Thorpe
SP5: Sean Burke

Bullpen

CL: Justin Anderson?
RP: Penn Murfee
RP: Scott Alexander
RP: Jared Shuster
RP: Gus Varland
RP: Prelander Berroa
RP: Fraser Ellard
RP: Jairo Iriarte

Estimations

Free Agent signings cost: $24.5 million dollars total

Payroll salary: about $68.7 million total ($69.5M counting Brooks Baldwin)

So hopefully I addressed as much as I could that I think the Sox need to, mainly on offense, while still being able to keep the pitching staff in tact

I hope this plan is shared by the Sox Machine publication, and I appreciate the opportunity to showcase my armchair GM ideas on what I think would help the team

You can find me @StonecoldSxnick on X/Twitter

Thank you, and Go White Sox

(Nick)

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