At the end of October last year, Striker pitched the fantastic idea of coming up with a way to solicit your ideas for hot stove strategy. So I built a template for offseason planning, and nine brave souls took the initiative to fill in the blanks and discuss how the Sox should proceed, and who they might target in trades or free agency. Peer-reviewed rosterbation mayhem ensued, and I worked on my book.
In the end, Kenny Williams ignored every suggestion ... except for one. And though (as far as I can tell) he's a lurker, let's offer our congratulations to Matt!
Sign J.J. Putz to an incentive laden deal.
Of course, Williams threw the whole thing off by trading for Mark Teahen four minutes after the last pitch of the World Series and cementing him at third (which could explain his lack of range). Nobody had the poor sense to suggest that one.
It was a good time had by all, so let's do it again. I've only tweaked the template slightly to account for exclusive bargaining windows, but there's nothing else to it. Check out last year's offseason plans to get an idea of the ways you can formulate your responses.
When you're done, you can get it to me one of two ways, and I'll line them up to post throughout the next week or three in the order I receive them.
- E-mail it to jim@soxmachine.com (preferred, thank you).
- Drop it in the comments. I'll C&P the contents, then delete the comment to save it for later.
And now to the fun stuff...
IMMEDIATE DECISIONS (explain if warranted)
1) Would you offer arbitration to:
- A.J. Pierzynski? (Type A)
- Paul Konerko? (Type A)
- Manny Ramirez? (Type A)
- J.J. Putz (Type B)
2) Would you pick up Matt Thornton's $3 million option for 2011, or buy him out for $250,000? (Note: This has already been picked up, and if it weren't, there's only one decision, anyway.)
3) Would you pick up Ramon Castro's $1.2 million option for 2011, or buy him out for $200,000?
CLUB CONTROL (explain if warranted)
4) One-year contract for John Danks? If not, what would you pay to extend him?
5) Would you tender a contract to Bobby Jenks?
6) Would you tender a contract to Carlos Quentin?
7) Would you tender a contract to Tony Pena?
FREE AGENCY: WHITE SOX
8) Which of the following impending White Sox free agents would you attempt to re-sign, and at what price:
- Paul Konerko
- A.J. Pierzynski
- J.J. Putz
- Manny Ramirez
- Omar Vizquel
- Andruw Jones
- Freddy Garcia
- Mark Kotsay
FREE AGENCY: OUTSIDE HELP
9) Which positions are in the most dire need of an upgrade?
10) Name three (or more) free agents you’d consider, and at what price. MLB Trade Rumors has an list of 2011 free agents, but pay attention to club options.
TRADES
11) Name a couple (or more) realistic trades that could improve the Sox.
And finally:
12) Sum it all up in a paragraph or nine, and give a ballpark estimate of the total payroll. Cot's spreadsheet is a good guide to adding up salaries (h/t Mechanical Turk).
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Arizona Fall League:
- Surprise 9, Peoria 2
- Jared Mitchell wore the collar with two strikeouts.
- Eduardo Escobar went 2-for-5 with a run scored.
- Charles Leesman pitched a scoreless inning, with a walk and a strikeout.
- Johnnie Lowe allowed seven runs (four earned) on seven hits (two homers) over three innings. At least he didn't walk anybody, and struck out one.
