Just about every team rested on Christmas, but not the (West Sacramento) Athletics, who signed Tyler Soderstrom to a seven-year, $86 million extension, according to Jeff Passan.
Passan adds that Soderstrom can earn upwards of $131 million through a club option for 2033 and various escalators, but the guaranteed number is the pertinent one for White Sox purposes, and not just because two Sox Machine members suggested trading for him in the Offseason Plan Project.
No, Soderstrom's $86 million guarantee means the White Sox are back to the bottom of the league when it comes to the most lucrative contract in franchise history. The A's were the only team standing in between the White Sox's $75 million contract to Andrew Benintendi and last place, but the A's made some noise last winter by signing Luis Severino for three years and $67 million the winter before, alongside extensions of similar value to Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler. Now, with Soderstrom, they've completed the crawl out of this particular cellar.
The White Sox aren't last when it comes to the biggest free agent contract awarded, as the A's, Rays, Guardians, Pirates, Reds and Royals are all below them with regards to guaranteed dollars, but they've all surpassed the Sox via contract extensions. The Sox hadn't been strangers to that game, but their last cluster came with Yoán Moncada, Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert Jr., which were all completed before the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Moncada's topped out at five years and $70 million, while Robert was guaranteed $50 million over six years. The White Sox have temporarily committed $68 million over a seventh year after exercising a $20 million option for 2026 instead of a $2 million buyout, but it doesn't seem like they're actually intent on paying that amount.
The hope is that somebody emerges from this prospect core -- Kyle Teel, Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, a Montgomery or two -- and warrants a commitment that pushes past Benintendi before the end of the decade. In the meantime, it's ever easier to understand Chris Getz's thrill of landing Munetaka Murakami, flaws and all, because it's the closest he's going to get to nine-figure excitement until Justin Ishbia seizes control.
Spare Parts
James wrote up the White Sox farm system for FanGraphs, and sure enough, the FV-based ranking system allowed Jedixson Paez to crash the party, so any consensus assortment of top 10 White Sox prospects will not be unanimous.
Jordan Rosenblum walks everybody through his OOPSY projection for Munetaka Murakami, and while the White Sox would take a 123 wRC+ in a heartbeat, it's still tough to square up a 15 percent walk rate and a 34 percent strikeout rate coexisting comfortably, because Joey Gallo is the only guy who's been able to do that.
The White Sox had been tied to Pete Fairbanks earlier this winter, but the former Rays closer instead heads downstate to Miami. Tampa Bay had declined his $11 million club option, but the market still smiled upon him. Fairbanks will make $13 million with the Marlins, along with the $1 million buyout the Rays paid him.
The White Sox might project for fifth place, but when trying to figure out which AL Central team has had the most exciting offseason, it's either them or the Royals. Speaking of which...
The Kansas City Chiefs are leaving Arrowhead Stadium for a $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas, joining the list of municipalities that seek to host a Super Bowl every 45 years. Whether the Royals join them across State Line Road is unclear, but a site in Overland Park is a possibility.
John Seabrook writes about how stadiums are designed to capture as much money as possible. He mainly focuses on NFL stadiums, but that's relevant to the interests of Chicago fans at the moment, and it'll be a part of the next White Sox ballpark as well, wherever it is. If nothing else, it's another reminder to appreciate Rate Field's fairly democratic design, because it won't be nearly as easy to freely move about the next park, in all likelihood.
