PREAMBLE
It’s been enough years of misery. Time to wildly spend in hopes of hitting .500. Deficiencies can be filled in with trades in the middle of the season or next offseason, mostly. Because there definitely still are going to be holes.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Jose Abreu, $16M - tender
- Avisail Garcia, $8M - tender
- Yolmer Sanchez, $4.7M - tender
- Carlos Rodon, $3.7M - tender
- Matt Davidson, $2.4M - tender
- Leury Garcia, $1.9M - tender
- Danny Farquhar, $1.4M - nontender
CLUB OPTIONS
- Nate Jones, $4.65 million/$1.25M buyout - pick up
- James Shields, $16 million/$2M buyout - buyout
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Miguel Gonzalez (made $4.75 million in 2018) - let go
- Hector Santiago (made $2 million in 2018 — added) - let go
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Hyun-Jin Ryu (three years, $40 million). Ryu is injury plagued, but also was maybe the Dodgers best pitcher last year. Who knows how his arm holds up after various shoulder injuries and also ripping the muscle off of his groin, but as long as his groin is good, his arm will be good? White Sox need a top of the rotation starter, and I need a Korean to root for on the White Sox.
No. 2: Cody Allen (five years, $50 million). Allen had a rough year, but will still command a lot of cash. Hopefully he can be gotten for slightly less than the record-setting numbers of Jansen and Melancon.
No. 3: David Robertson (four years, $30 million). Robertson didn't seem to hate his time here last time and, after signing Ryu and/or Allen, he sees the White Sox are at it again in their potentially futile attempts to make the playoffs. Plus as a 33-year-old reliever with still great stuff representing himself, this seems fair?
No. 4: Mike Moustakas (six years, $135 million). Pay Mike Moustakas. The White Sox need a competent third baseman, and they're probably going to be outbid for Manny Machado and end up maybe overpaying somewhat for Moustakas. It's alright though, it's a path to competency.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Wellington Castillo, Zach Collins, and someone else? to LAD for Austin Barnes. The White Sox need a good framing catcher. Grandal is likely to re-sign in LA before or after this trade, and while LA likes the Grandal / Barnes combo, Castillo gives them a solid, offense-first second option behind Grandal when he inevitably doesn't hit in the postseason. Their minor league catchers are around the level Collins is (which is to say...not nearly ready yet), and will provide competition for each other hopefully. Barnes will hope to bounce back to his 2017 form with a new club. And in a true White Sox move can be signed to a team-friendly extension if he plays.
No. 2: Trade Yolmer Sanchez, Jordan Stephens, and fringe-y prospect? to NYY for Aaron Hicks. The Yankees have an outfield surplus and Hicks, off a career year, also only has one more year of team control before the Yankees have to get spendy. If they're signing Harper, and with at least Clint Frazier in the minors, they either won't or don't have to sign Hicks to a longer term deal (plus they still have Ellsbury under contract). Giving away one of the two most fun White Sox hurts, but it also helps the Yankees in the short term as they have no truly great third baseman, and their short stop is going to be out with injury for a year. Sanchez can fit in both spots, or second if they move Gleyber Torres back to short.
SUMMARY
I didn't do precise math, but I believe this puts the payroll in the ballpark of $110 million, which should be enough to either fight to a first wild card spot, or at the very least not lose 100 games next year.
Mostly the goal here was just to shore up pitching and fill glaring holes (power hitting at third and hitting at all in center). I would hope from here, the White Sox would be able to notice any other deficiencies near the trade deadline and be able to fill those holes *cough* Dylan Covey *cough* with either prospects coming up or trades.
Also an Eloy Jimenez, Aaron Hicks, 2017 pre-All Star break Avi sounds like a good outfield combo.
P Carlos Rodon
P Hyun-Jin Ryu
P Reynaldo Lopez
P Lucas Giolito
P Dylan Covey
RP Aaron Bummer
RP Jace Fry
RP Carson Fulmer
RP Juan Minaya
RP Nate Jones
RP Cody Allen
RP David Robertson
C Austin Barnes
C Omar Narvaez
1B Jose Abreu
2B Yoan Moncada
3B Mike Moustakas
SS Tim Anderson
LF Leury Garcia
CF Aaron Hicks
RF Avisail Garcia
DH Daniel Palka
Bench: Jose Rondon, Matt Davidson, Adam Engel
1. CF Aaron Hicks
2. 2B Yoan Moncada
3. 1B Jose Abreu
4. 3B Mike Moustakas
5. SS Tim Anderson
6. DH Daniel Palka
7. RF Avisail Garcia
8. LF Leury Garcia
9. C Austin Barnes
