PREAMBLE
What a fun year! Now the hard part, building a prolonged winner. At the end of 2021, we thought the Sox would have the AL Central locked down for at least another two years. Rick Hahn made the mistake of resting on his laurels thinking he built an elite young core that could win without proper supplemental pieces (the waves of talent are still coming I’m sure). Let’s hope Rick’s right hand farm man doesn’t make the same mistake. We need some moves to ensure that Chris Getz doesn’t repeat his 2024 statement of “I don’t like our team.” So here we go.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Miguel Vargas: Tender
- Brenton Doyle: Tender
- Joey Bart: Non-tender
- Huascar Brazobán: Tender
- Jordan Leasure: Non-tender
- Chris Murphy: Non-tender
Vargas is a no brainer. I’d try to work out an extension to buyout the 3 arb years and get an option or two at the end. (More to come there)
Doyle given another year since he has options and plays an above average CF. Hope they have a plan for his swing.
Brazoban has an option and had good peripherals with the Mets. That seems worth $1.6m to me.
I’d offer a minor league deal to Leasure as he rehabs his way back to baseball.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- None
If Jim Bowden’s 1 year, $7.5m is realistic for Newcomb, that’s worth a conversation. I think he likely commands a multi year deal and it’s also possible the Sox burned him out given the 60 appearances in his age 33 season. I’d throw out an invite to camp to Trevor Richards if he’s interested. Who would have thought the Sox would have got the contributions they did from Newcomb, Grichuk, and Fedde? Nice work Getz!
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Kevin Gausman (1 year, $21m). Second year mutual option ($23m, $2m buyout). Gausman has slowed down from his peak but he still racks up plenty of swings and misses and doesn’t walk many. His underlying metrics still like him as a pitcher who can give you 3 WAR and thinks he’s been a little unlucky the past couple of seasons. His fastball is still a plus pitch and he’s shown in the past he’s plenty durable which is sorely needed for this team. Hopefully he can come back for one last run in pursuit of a ring.
No. 2: Seiya Suzuki (4 years, $105m). 5th year team option ($25m, $5m buyout). Seiya had a huge year for the North Siders. He’s always been a great hitter who smokes lefties (.867 career OPS against them), but his defense in right field was graded quite highly. The Sox were mostly good against lefties this season but a lot of that was supported by Randall Grichuk and an anomaly reverse split season for Colson Montgomery, Seiya’s arrival ensures that the gains made against lefties are here to stay. I’m not sure how much that newly found defensive value will stick as Seiya goes through his age 33-37 seasons, but I don’t think his bat is slowing down anytime soon so that’s enough for me to make him the highest paid Sox ever. Hey, maybe he really likes Chicago and wants to stay!
No. 3: Kris Bubic (1 year, $7.5m). 2nd year mutual option ($10m, $1m buyout). Here is my Sean Newcomb replacement. Bubic looked like he had a breakout season in 2025 with the Royals before an injury plagued 2026 that landed him with the Dodgers pitching out of the pen. Bubic surely won’t overpower you with his low 90s sinker/fastball, but he’s always had a really good change and has a sweeper that’s looked good at times. I’m offering Bubic a hybrid bullpen/starter role here which I think fits him well at this point given his extensive injury history.
No. 4: James McCann (1 year, $2.5m). I’m sure he has plenty of fond memories of the two best years of his career on the south side of Chicago, right? Veteran backstop who can ride off into the sunset after helping Kyle Teel develop his skills behind the dish. I see this as a player/coach type role for James.
No. 5: Ramon Laureano (1 year, $10.5m). Grichuk replacement with more upside potential. I considered Ty France, Taylor Ward, Alec Bohm, Jake Bauers, and George Springer for this spot before settling on Laureano due to budget restraints and ability to play the outfield. Early on in 2026, there were talks that the O’s/Padres had unlocked the bat and the new level was here to stay, but after a hot start, those gains faded before Laureano succumbed to a season ending injury. Laureano is below average in the outfield these days, but is only a year removed from an .850 OPS. We are taking a moderately pricey flyer on him getting somewhere close to those results again. With a good version of Laureano in the mix, the Sox could once again lead the AL in runs.
No. 6: Miguel Vargas extension (3 years, $38m. $9.5m, $12.5m, $16m). Two team options for $23m and $28m with a $4m buyout. Locking up the team’s best player for a couple extra years by buying out arbitration at a premium and tacking on some team options. I think Miguel is happy here and he’ll be interested to hear what the team has to offer. I’d also have some conversations with Munetaka Murakami, but the woes in the 2H of the season make it tough to figure out where the two sides could potentially meet for a deal so I’m not including a Mune extension.
TRADES
No 1: Trade Braden Montgomery, Billy Carlson and Noah Schultz to the Angels for Reid Detmers. I think this may come a little short of getting this done, but it really depends on how the Angels view Schultz at this point. If they are high on him being a potential starter then maybe they bite on this. Montgomery is tough to lose, but with the additions of Suzuki and Laureano as well as the impending arrival of Caleb Bonemer, he becomes expendable in my plan. This is buying high on Detmers which does give me pause, but I think the gains he made are real. He really developed into an elite swing and miss guy in 2025, but the full breakout didn’t occur until the back half of 2026. Detmers slider has developed into a ++ pitch and pair that with an above average mid 90s fastball and he’s become really tough to hit. Detmers has 3 years left of arbitration control for his ages 27-29 seasons so you are buying his potential pitching peak and I’m ready to pay the price to be apart of that. I would have made this move last July, but the Angels interim GM didn’t budge on trading him and we ended up with the big mistake that is Luis Castillo.
No 2: Trade Andrew Benintendi, Anthony Kay, and William Bergola to the Pirates for Mitch Keller and Luke Weaver. Matching up some bad contracts here, albeit Benintendi is probably the worst. Keller wasn’t good last year (and nearly unstartable and then injured in the 2H) and is owed $15.4m the next two years. Maybe a change of scenery will get him back on track to what he was in 2022-2025 which was a mid-rotation arm. There is definitely some risk for the Sox taking on multiple years of Keller when Benintendi has a lone year remaining. Weaver helps offset that a little bit to give them another reliever option for only $5m since the Mets ate a lot of his salary. The Pirates will be looking for a left handed bat to replace Brandon Lowe so maybe this bad contract swap helps them do that a little bit.
No 3: Trade Luis Castillo, George Wolkow, and Tanner McDougal to the Nationals for Orlando Ribalta and Josh Hartle. Pure salary dump of Castillo to make the math work and a tough one at that. The original trade was bad process from Getz and go and will really hamstring them if they need to keep him on the books for 2027. I’m begrudgingly using two legit prospects in Wolkow and McDougal to right the wrong. At least Ribalta slots into the bullpen and has a good fastball and an option. Here’s to hoping the Sox can find a breaking ball that works for him.
SUMMARY
SP Reid Detmers ($5.5m)
SP Kevin Gausman ($21m)
SP Sean Burke ($800k)
SP Davis Martin ($800k)
SP Mitch Keller ($15m)
Total: $43.1m
Others: Sandlin, Thorpe
RP Grant Taylor ($800k)
RP Hagen Smith ($800k)
RP Luke Weaver ($5m)
RP Kris Bubic ($7.5m)
RP Huascar Brazoban ($1.6m)
RP Jordan Hicks ($8m)
RP Bryan Hudson ($800k)
RP Orlando Ribalta ($800k)
Total: $25.3m
Other: S. Smith, Schweitzer, Vasil, Davis, minor league signings
C: Kyle Teel ($800k)
1B: Munetaka Murakami ($17m)
2B: Chase Meidroth ($800k)
SS: Colson Montgomery ($800k)
3B: Miguel Vargas ($9m)
RF: Seiya Suzuki ($26m)
CF: Tristan Peters ($800k)
LF: Sam Antonacci ($800k)
DH: Ramon Laureano ($11m)
Bench: McCann ($2.5m)
Bench: Doyle ($3.6m)
Bench: Acuna/Bonemer ($800k)
Bench: Baldwin ($800k)
Total: $74.7m
Total Payroll: $143.1m
I’m a little bit over here, but the only long term outside addition that costs big money is Suzuki so I felt ok asking for a little more for 2027. This team has 5 starters with some track record of taking the ball every 5th day which is a substantial improvement over 2026. There are also minor league options (Sandlin, Thorpe) and wanna be starters (Taylor, H. Smith, Bubic) waiting in the wings so starting pitching depth is no longer an issue.
The lineup gets a bump with Seiya and Laureano hopping on board, I think it’s an offense that would be one of the best in the league once again. When Bonemer arrives, he will need to play every day. That will mostly come in LF where Sam will then become a utility player that slides in at corner OF, 2B or DH. Injuries will happen so I’m not concerned about it. I’ll let you know when I’m worried the Sox have too many good players.
This team would be fun and would enter the season as the betting favorite in the AL Central while maintaining financial flexibility for future years. In 2028, I’d be targeting another long term addition to the rotation to really push this team over the top. Let’s go Sox!
