PREAMBLE
…How much fun was that? I know I complained a lot, and the ending of the season was incredibly disappointing, but having meaningful baseball all summer and into October is all you can really ask for as a baseball fan: And for the first time in a long time, the South Siders delivered! Now, as I said in several postgame wrap-ups in the September Swoon, it’s time to get serious. Serious about competing, serious about roster construction, and serious about organizational approach. Here’s what I think this looks like…
First off, I would argue for more payroll. The median payroll in 2026 was over $170M, and I’m only asking for ~$160M. A team that was within spitting distance of the ALCS with such a young core should not be in the bottom half of payrolls, but the top of the bottom half is my ask. If you shave off the extensions from my plan, I come in under $130M
Second, no more infielders in the outfield. I LOVE Sam Antonacci, but he was abysmal in LF and it cost himself value and the White Sox wins. It exposes the manager to need to make too many late game substitutions and leads to debacles like the Cleveland walk off in late September.
Fix the ABS stuff. Please
It’s now or never on the pitching development side. I know “Banny’ll fix ‘em” worked for Jodan Hicks, but the White Sox’ top 3 MLB-Ready starting pitching prospects all failed to crack the team and stick as rotation pieces, and Christian Oppor went from a potential 2027 starter to completely unable to throw strikes. This organization needs to figure out its development plan for starting pitchers in 2027
Now let’s get into it!
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Miguel Vargas: Tender
- Brenton Doyle: Tender
- Joey Bart: Non-tender
- Huascar Brazobán: Tender
- Jordan Leasure: Non-tender
- Chris Murphy: Non-tender
I'd imagine this looks like most of the plan that come in.
If I get my extra money, I'd extend Vargas 5/100. It'll only get more expensive the longer we wait, and he really was the heartbeat of this team.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Sean Newcomb
Fedde and Grichuk both did the jobs they were signed to do this year, but I wouldn't bank on it happening again. We thank The Unction ™ for their service
Where would this staff have been without Sean Newcomb this year? I do not want to find out. I sign him for 2/15 in a fireman role.
FREE AGENTS
Taylor Ward: 2/$15M. Another guy I'm sure will be popular this year, but to me he's the best option in the OF tier below Seiya Suzuki and Randy Arozarena. If I can get Jerry up over $180M, I'd go after one of them. NOTE: If he can put up ~5DRS in LF next year, that would represent a 20 run improvement for the Sox. That and a serviceable bat sounds good enough to me
Brandon Woodruff: 2/$30M with a player option after 1. He's on the Brewers WS roster so if he pitches lights out he probably goes out of our price range, but a 1 year prove it deal on a team competing gives him an audition for a huge contract if he's healthy and good, and gives the Sox a Game 1 starter. If the season goes badly, he could be huge trade chip as well.
Sean Newcomb: 2/$15M.
TRADES
No trades worth mentioning here. Probably some minor deals, but the young core gets one more shot with Bonemer, Carlson, and Roch waiting in the wings to replace them if they falter. Trading any pitching prospects feels like selling low, so I'll be holding onto Schultz, Smith, Sandlin etc. as well
SUMMARY
Two things to note before the roster rundown-
I'd extend Mune 4/140 if I could get the extra money from Jerry. I know he faded down the stretch, but I trust him to adjust to how he was getting beaten and it sends a message to the team, the league, and the nation of Japan that the Sox are in this for the long haul.
Regardless of payroll, Andrew Benintendi is finally off this team. You cannot have a league average bat who needs a platoon parter and cannot play a single position on your roster. If you can trade him, great, but I doubt you can and I'm not shipping out prospects to get out of the contract.
With that being said, here's the roster
DH: Sam Antonacci ($1M) is here as a placeholder, but he'll get a lot of run at 2B to spell Meidroth, Colson, Mune or Vargas.
C: Kyle Teel ($1M)
1B: Munetaka Murakami ($17.5M or $35M depending on if I can get the cash for the extension
2B: Chase Meidroth ($1M) is also another worthy extension candidate
3B: Miguel Vargas ($5.4M or $20M depending on if the extension is approved)
SS: Colson Montgomery ($1M) has the shortest leash of the position players. This is a massive winter for him, but I'm not selling low on him in a trade. We have multiple ss options ready in the wings
LF: Taylor Ward ($7.5M)
CF: Tristan Peters ($1M) or Doyle depending on platoon, who's playing well, etc.
RF: Braden Montgomery ($1M) is another player who underwhelmed down the stretch last season. I need to see something from him in the first half or I'll start thinking about Bonemer coming up as his replacement.
Bench:
C: Edgar Quero ($1M). Do or die year for him, if he's not playing significantly better it may be time to cut bait.
CF/OF: Brenton Doyle ($3.6M)
UTIL: Brooks Baldwin ($1M). I haven't forgotten about you king!!
SS/CF: Luisangel Acuna ($1M). This is our late game pinch runner. He's the first guy down if someone in AAA starts raking
Starting Pitching:
- Luis Castillo ($23.5M). Woof
- Sean Burke ($1M)
- Brandon Woodruff ($15M)
- Davis Martin ($1M)
- Hagan Smith ($1M) if he falters, move back to bullpen and replace with a swingman
Bullpen:
CL: Grant Taylor ($1M)
SU: Jordan Hicks ($8M)
Leverage: Bryan Hudson ($1M)
Leverage: Huascar Brazoban ($1.6M)
Fireman: Sean Newcomb ($7.5M)
Swingman: David Sandlin ($1M)
Swingman: Noah Schultz ($1M)
Swingman: Anthony Kay ($6M)
Dead Money
Andrew Benintendi (15M)
Liam Hendriks (1.5M)
Total Payroll: $128.1M with no extensions, $160.2M with extensions
