Shaggy’s Big Spending! (An Average MLB Payroll)

PREAMBLE

The competitive window is wide open. I'm not asking for Jerry to be visited by three ghosts this Christmas, I just think it's reasonable to expect a large market team in our situation to spend at least as much as an average MLB team. The median MLB payroll in 2026 was about $174M, so that's what I'm targeting. No offense, Jim, but if the White Sox enter the 2027 season with a payroll of only $130M I'd almost prefer a lockout.

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

• Miguel Vargas: Tender
• Brenton Doyle: Tender
• Joey Bart: Tender
• Huascar Brazobán: Tender
• Jordan Leasure: Tender
• Chris Murphy: Tender

Joey Bart has 3.8 career WAR, which is 4.2 WAR more than Romo and Quero combined. I like Romo but he'll never hit in the majors, and Quero has upside but is still a question mark. Meanwhile the team is in win-now mode. Bart is a solid defender with an adequate righty bat to complement Teel. Why wouldn't you give a $3M/1yr deal to a guy who's in his prime and perfectly fits your needs?

I know Brazobán looked bad the last month+, but he would have to take a major step back from his last 2 years to not be worth such a meager sum. Leasure can spend all year on the 60-day IL, so why not let the kid earn his year of service time? Murphy is an MLB-caliber arm without MLB-caliber results, so I'll use him later.

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

• Randal Grichuk

Re-sign Grichuk for $4M/1yr. He's proven that he meshes well with the culture of this team and we can still use a weapon like him against lefties. I don't have Braden, Baldwin, or Bergolla on my opening day roster, but they'll probably all see time in the majors next year and I don't want any of them facing lefties in key situations.

I'd be happy to retain Newcomb, but I think he can find a team to give him one more shot at being a starter. Fedde will be a bargain while eating innings for some team but he isn't quite good or versatile enough to fit on our competitive club.

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: LHP Tarik Skubal ($350M/8yr). We need an ace and have a wide-open payroll as we enter our competitive window. Why the heck wouldn't we go after one of the three best pitchers in the world?

No. 2: OF Seiya Suzuki ($72M/3yr). It feels like we need one more really good bat in the middle of the order. How about a guy who has an OPS+ of 131 the last 4 years and also addresses our weakness against LHP? I don't believe that he's really as good a defender as the numbers say he was this year, but I think he'll be solid out there for a year or two before we move him to DH.

No. 3: LHP Adrián Morejón ($72M/4yr). I considered signing a traditional closer like Bednar, but a flexible guy with multi-inning experience seems to better match Venable's style. Morejón is lights out and isn't yet 28. Plus he gets White Sox bonus points for being Cuban.

No. 4: RHP Taylor Clarke ($3M/1yr). No, he doesn't strike people out, but that just makes him more affordable. No one gets on base against this guy! And no one hits him hard. And I always prefer groundball pitchers at The Rate.

TRADES

No. 1: Trade RHP Luis Castillo, DH Andrew Benintendi, LHP Noah Schultz, and LHP Chris Murphy, along with $20M, to COL for OF Jake McCarthy (who has 2 arb years remaining).

The Rockies get to sell high on an up-and-down player who won't be around whenever their rebuild is finally over. They get to buy low on 4 different guys that will be on their opening day roster. It is always a struggle to lure pitchers to Colorado, so they are happy to get a post-hype prospect like Schultz with his whole career ahead of him and a live arm like Murphy. Castillo can probably eat innings next year and if he turns things around he could even be a deadline trade chip. Benintendi fills the Rockies' empty DH role with a year of professional at-bats.

The White Sox, meanwhile, remove 4 players from their roster who aren't likely to be top performers befitting a playoff team. Schultz is the big loss here, but I think he's shown himself to have a lower ceiling than originally hoped. With a contact-oriented approach he probably tops out as a #3 starter and it may take him another shaky year or two to figure out how to get there. The Sox can no longer afford to give him that kind of runway.

McCarthy has alternated good years with bad, but he helps diversify our lineup. He's another lefty bat but has barely noticeable platoon splits. He is more of a contact-oriented guy who doesn't strike out a ton. The power isn't significant, but he's a genuine threat on the basepaths. He's never graded out as a great defender while playing all 3 outfield positions (and it's nice to have that flexibility) but if we limit him to mostly LF the speed alone should make him at least average.

No. 2 Trade C Edgar Quero to NYY for SS Anthony Volpe (who has 2 arb years remaining).

Volpe is not and never will be a great hitter, but he is a Gold Glove SS. That defense gives him a solid major-league floor and gives the Sox an insurance policy in case Colson can't resolve his second half struggles or can't keep his back healthy. I don't mind Meidroth playing SS here and there, but he doesn't have the arm to handle the position for an extended stretch. Think of Volpe as what Acuña should have been--a guy who starts against lefties and comes in late as a defensive sub or pinch runner.

I hate to give up on Quero because I still think he'll have a solid major league career. His defense gets a bad rap, but I don't hate it as much as the numbers say I should. He'll probably never show much power, but he was clutch in 2025 and I think he will be again. Still, you have to give something to get something, and the Yankees could use some more talent in their catching pipeline.

SUMMARY

DFA to Make Room:

• OF Perez - Not a major league player. Easily replaced by minor league free agents
• RHP Cannon - Go to Japan and figure something out. You haven't shown anything worth rostering in 2 years.
• SS Acuña - I think we can give up on him having any upside
• UTIL Nishida - Yes, he's a wonderful story, but sorry--he ain't a major leaguer. We'll always have that one magical throw from RF...

Leave Unprotected from Rule 5 Draft:

• Galanie - He had a nice year, but he's already 26 and looks like a AAAA player to me. If some other team wants to roster him I wish them all the best.
• Zavala - He had a great 2nd half, but he always seems to take a while to adjust to a new level. I'd be shocked if he could hit the ground running in the majors next year, so I'd rather not start the clock.

Add to 40-Man:

• Palette - The control problems are real, but the stuff is legit. Other teams might be scared away by CLE's failure with him, but the upside is too serious to risk it.
• Iriarte - Seemed to figure it out this year and has real potential as a reliever.
• Woods - Dominant stuff would just make it too easy to carry him at the front of a bullpen.
• Bergolla - He could use another half year in AAA, but he'd already be an adequate utility guy in the major's.

Lineup:

1. 1B Antonacci
2. 3B Vargas
3. CF Peters
4. RF Suzuki
5. DH Murakami
6. LF McCarthy
7. 2B Meidroth
8. C Teel
9. SS Montgomery

That's right, I'm moving Sam to 1st base!! He'll probably never be a good LF or 2B, but at 1B he could be an asset. I didn't hate seeing Mune out there, I just think Sam could be better. I also move Mune and his weak hit tool further down in the lineup where I think it would be neat to have two Japanese sluggers hitting back-to-back. Tristan Peters isn't a traditional #3 hitter, but he does hit a ton of doubles and there is simply no lefty I trust more to get a big hit behind Vargas. The lineup has good L/R balance, at least 4 guys who can hit 25 HR's, and at least 3 who can steal 20 bases. There shouldn't be a defensive liability in the bunch.

Bench:
OF Doyle
SS Volpe
C Bart
OF Grichuk

Tanner Murray and The Killer B's (Braden, Baldwin, Bergolla, and Bonemer) start in AAA until they earn their way up. Championship-level ballclubs have good players waiting in the wings.

Rotation:

1. Skubal
2. Burke
3. Taylor
4. Martin
5. Sandlin

Taylor showed that he can command 2 fastballs and 2 breaking balls which tells me he's as ready as he'll ever be to move into the rotation. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but it's worth a try. Sandlin had some rookie hiccups but showed great stuff when he's on. I still hold out hope that Shane Smith will figure things out again. And don't sleep on Drew Thorpe! Hagen Smith and Anthony Kay could also be given starts here and there, so I feel very comfortable with the rotation depth even after moving Schultz.

Bullpen:

1. Morejón (L)
2. H. Smith (L)
3. Hicks
4. Clarke
5. Brazobán (better vs. L)
6. Kay (L)
7. Hudson (L)
8. Davis

There's no designated closer, but either Morejón or Hagen should be able to shut down any part of a lineup for 1 or 2 innings at a time. Kay back-fills Newcomb's role as a guy who wants to start but is probably better in shorter stints where he faces mostly lefties. Kay didn't look super-comfortable as a reliever during the playoffs, though, so I'd use him as the designated opener to start the year. Schweitzer, Iriarte, Woods, and Berroa should all see plenty of time in the majors, as well. Hopefully Vasil is healthy by the second half.

My total budget, including payment to Colorado, comes in around $180M. If we can sign some of the best free agents out there and still have a middle-of-the-road payroll, why wouldn't we go for it?