PREAMBLE
After making the playoffs for the first time in 5 years while a majority of their core group of players has yet to reach arbitration, the White Sox seem to be in a prime position to spend in free agency to blend some veteran leadership with this young core. However, the White Sox have a few vets on the roster with egregious contracts that can hinder them from spending as much as the fanbase may hope. White Sox have an estimated payroll of $104M already on the books, with $73M already in guarantees. In this plan, my priority is ridding the organization of the sunk cost contracts, and adding to the payroll with players that can have a long term impact.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Miguel Vargas: Tender
- Brenton Doyle: Tender
- Joey Bart: Non-tender
- Huascar Brazobán: Non-tender
- Jordan Leasure: Non-tender
- Chris Murphy: Non-tender
The only agreed upon no brainer on the arbitration eligible players is Vargas. Many fans do not want to tender Brenton Doyle, but that is another no brainer for me. While Doyle didn't play at an elite level since joining the White Sox, Doyle has the potential to get there. He at the very least has a great glove and great speed. A spring training consisting of extended work with Ryan Fuller could see Doyle return to his 2024 form, where he had a 3.6 fWAR. Past those 2, I wouldn't bring back anyone else. The relievers are very unreliable and should not pitch in any meaningful games for the Sox going forward. On Bart, I have a different backup catcher in mind later.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- None
Grichuk and Newcomb are the tricky ones, but I think they will get more money and more prominent, defined roles with other clubs than the White Sox could offer. I think Grichuk will get an opportunity to play every day in the outfield (potentially SEA or TOR) instead of a platoon, and I think Newcomb will get an opportunity to be a high leverage, late game lefty reliever (potentially Morejon's replacement in SD) instead of a swing guy. The others here are fairly easy to replace for a cheaper price.
FREE AGENTS
SP Kaima Taira (4yr/$60M)
Taira is the most intriguing SP being posted by his NPB club. There is a question whether he is a starter or reliever, but I'm not sure why. The only White Sox pitchers to post more IP than Taira this season were Sean Burke and Anthony Kay. He averaged 6IP per start in 2026. Even better, he averaged 102 pitches over 7IP across his last 8 starts of the season. He also hasn't had an ERA over 2 since Rick Hahn was GM of the Sox. He throws an elite fastball splitter mix with fastball hitting 100, with a solid repertoire beyond that. Taira is the International Free Agent this cycle I'm planting my flag for.
RP Alex Vesia (3yr/$30M)
Vesia is an elite lefty RP that never got his true chance in leverage situations with the Dodgers. However, he has always performed best when the lights are the brightest, sporting a career 1.71 ERA in the postseason, pitching in at least 5 postseason games in 4 of his 6 seasons. Perfect experienced playoff arm for what the Sox are building.
UT Mauricio Dubon (2yr/$20M)
The production the Sox got from bench and platoon players in 2026 cannot be understated. The likelihood of it being replicated by the same players is very slim, so the Sox need to replenish the bench with some new life. Mauricio Dubon is my favorite target for this role. Over the last couple seasons, Dubon has played most of his games at SS, 2B, and OF, providing great defense everywhere he's played. Furthermore, he has great bat-to-ball skills, something the Sox were SORELY missing down the stretch, especially in the last 3 games against Cleveland. With 80th percentile expected batting average, 91st percentile whiff rate, and 95th percentile K rate (per Statcast), you can all but guarantee Dubon will put the ball in play when he's at the plate. With future moves, you'll see that he's my ideal placeholder for Roch Cholowsky, and an even better utility when Roch is manning SS.
IF Luis Rengifo (2yr/$6M)
Not much to say on this signing other than he's a much needed left handed bat off the bench with positional versatility.
TRADES
For the trades, I will provide my insight prior to trade construction in attempt to mitigate the pitchforks and torches that will inevitably come my way.
For my first trade: Last season, the Washington Nationals had ELITE run production that saw them finish as a top 5 offense in baseball. However, as good as the offense was, the pitching made up for it in a big way. Nationals allowed a staggering 815 runs on the season, only trailing the Rockies and Athletics (the 2 best hitting environments in baseball by a wide margin) in runs allowed. The Nationals also only have about $55M in cash on the books heading into 2027 with Strasburg's deal finally coming to an end. However, Nationals have another contract they want to get off their books. Catcher Keibert Ruiz is due near $50M through the 2030 season. A former top prospect that hasn't panned out how they hoped, Ruiz still has some promising traits. Like Dubon, Ruiz has great bat-to-ball skills that would be ideal for the Sox off the bench. With Nationals having all of the financial flexibility this season, but wanting the long term deal off the payroll, I see them as a great trade partner with the White Sox for Luis Castillo and Andrew Benintendi's combined ≈$40M payroll burden. Benintendi can platoon for them, while Castillo can eat up rotation innings. For their trouble, we'll give them Bryan Hudson to eat up bullpen innings. Let's just call this the "48 month, 11% APR Payroll Loan" trade.
Trade 1: Trade Andrew Benintendi, Luis Castillo, and Bryan Hudson to Washington for Keibert Ruiz and Samil Serrano.
For my second trade: The San Francisco Giants are in a weird spot. They have some good players earning great player salaries generating a bad win total. Most of the talent they have is in their lineup, with their pitching staff as a whole leaving a lot to be desired. They WANT to rebuild, but I don't think they'll find the buyers to take on the cash owed to said players. In that purgatorial state, I see them trying to retool instead of rebuild, trading offensive assets to bolster a thin pitching staff. Enter Casey Schmitt. Schmitt has consistently been an above average hitter with a decent glove, but the Giants never really made the open spot in the lineup for him until mid May, leading me to believe they don't have long term plans for him. He was rumored to be garnering trade interest at the deadline until an injury ended his season. He's one of my favorite targets, serving as a Grichuk replacement with better versatility. Schmitt has played SS, 3B, and OF over the past few seasons. If the Giants make him available without trying to truly rebuild, White Sox should give them 2 starters to enter their rotation mix. Davis Martin showed flashes in 2026, being widely regarded as an All Star snub, then saw injuries and a few blow up starts derail his season. If the Giants think he's more of the pitcher he was in April than the pitcher he was post All Star break, he can be of interest. Drew Thorpe is another pitcher who can work here. He put up good stats after returning from Tommy John in the minors. His pitch-to-contact style could also work out a lot better in the pitcher friendly home ballpark in San Fran. I would package those 2 SPs together to bring Schmitt to the South Side. Schmitt is Arbitration eligible so he would be relatively affordable.
Trade 2: Trade Davis Martin and Drew Thorpe to San Francisco for Casey Schmitt.
For my third trade: For being one of the bigger trades, this one needs probably the least amount of insight, given this guy has been a fan favorite trade target for the better part of 2026. I think this off-season, Chris Getz is finally ready to pony up top prospects to build the MLB roster after the failed experiment at the trade deadline. White Sox land Reid Detmers to be rotation mainstay, but don't sleep on the Sox trying to get Samy Natera Jr. paired with him for young weapon in the bullpen. The prospect haul is a lot, but sometimes that's the cost of doing business.
Trade 3: Trade Billy Carlson, Tanner McDougal, Anthony DePino, and Christian Oppor to Los Angeles for Reid Detmers and Samy Natera Jr.
For my fourth and final trade: I'll admit, this last trade is the biggest, but probably the most unrealistic of the bunch. But hey, the point of this project is to have some fun, right?! Besides, the trade (kind of?) makes sense for both sides. Ok. The Phillies are coming off yet another disappointing season with an early postseason exit. They know changes needed to be made,but where? According to Roster resource on Fangraphs, if the season started today, they Phillies starting 3B would be Otto Kemp, and starting RF would be Bryan De La Cruz. Obviously massive holes, but who is available to fill them? Bohm is likely gone, as the end to his tenure has been tumultuous. Now, the free agent market is possible, but the Phillies already have $220M in guarantees for 2027, and that's not counting arbitration players and pre arb players rounding out the roster. Fangraphs projects somewhere in the $267M range for the full roster. Where the Phillies are lacking offensively, they have an abundance of pitching. Would they tap into that pitching to massively improve their offense? The clock is ticking. Schwarber, Harper, and the rest of their high priced players are only getting older. Even Trea Turner, who was once one of the best 5 tool players in baseball, is getting older. He's also regressed so badly, where he is one of the worst defensive SSs in baseball, as statcast has his range (outs above average) at a -10, 3rd percentile in baseball. Enter the White Sox. White Sox are deep with young, cheap, controllable hitters. The White Sox can "solve" their SS "problem" by trading Colson Montgomery to the Phillies. Colson takes over at SS, bumping Trea Turner to 3B, where his glove can regress peacefully. The Sox also can send All Star rookie Tristan Peters to man RF for the Phillies. But the Sox would need a great, MLB level return. In a rare contender-to-contender trade, White Sox send Montgomery and Peters to Philadelphia for the under 30, controlled for 6 more years, elite left handed starter Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo leaving leaves a hole in Philadelphia's rotation, so the White Sox also send Anthony Kay and David Sandlin to hold down the absence until top prospect Gage Wood is ready to debut. White Sox get an ace under long term control, selling high on Montgomery and Peters in the process.
Trade 4: Trade Colson Montgomery, Tristan Peters, Anthony Kay, and David Sandlin to Philadelphia for Jesús Luzardo and Bryan Rincon.
SUMMARY
With this plan, the payroll sits at $129M.
The lineup loses one of their 30 HR bats, but gains more bat-to-ball hitters to create a much more well balanced attack, which will be much needed in the postseason.
On the pitching front, arguably the biggest need for the White Sox entering the off-season, the White Sox address that, and then some. Luzardo, Detmers, and Burke would make one of the best top 3s in baseball. If Taira performs anywhere near his NPB level, and Schultz lives up to his prospect pedigree, it could be the best rotation in baseball. Keeping Hagen Smith and Grant Taylor in the back end of the bullpen can give them a deadly lefty/right duo, with Alex Vesia and company backing them.
Overall, I do not see a hole on this roster, and it's kept well within the desired price range. Let me know what you guys think.
Batting Order
- C. Meidroth (2B)
- S. Antonacci (DH)
- M. Vargas (3B)
- M. Murakami (1B)
- C. Schmitt (LF)
- K. Teel (C)
- C. Bonemer (CF)
- B. Montgomery (RF)
- M. Dubón (SS) (until Cholowsky debuts)Starting Rotation
- SP1: J. Luzardo
- SP2: R. Detmers
- SP3: S. Burke
- SP4: K. Taira
- SP5: N. SchultzBullpen
- CP/RP: G. Taylor
- SU/RP: S. Natera Jr.
- RP: A. Vesia
- RP: J. Hicks
- RP: M. Vasil
- RP: P. Pallette
- RP/SP: H. Smith
- RP: J. IriarteBench
- SS: L. Acuña (DFA'd when Cholowsky is promoted, replaced on bench by Dubon)
- CF: B. Doyle
- C: K. Ruiz
- 3B: L. Rengifo
