PREAMBLE
Long time lurker, first time post here. I think most of us have had enough with the rebuild...it's time to party like it's 2005!
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Jose Abreu, $16M - Tender - Open to a 2 year team friendly extension
- Avisail Garcia, $8M - Non-tender - I'm soooo done with him
- Yolmer Sanchez, $4.7M - Tender
- Carlos Rodon, $3.7M - Tender
- Matt Davidson, $2.4M - Non-tender
- Leury Garcia, $1.9M - Tender
- Danny Farquhar, $1.4M - Non-tender
CLUB OPTIONS
- Nate Jones, $4.65 million/$1.25M buyout - Pick up
- James Shields, $16 million/$2M buyout - Decline
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Miguel Gonzalez (made $4.75 million in 2018) - He gone
- Hector Santiago (made $2 million in 2018 — added) - He gone
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Bryce Harper (12 years, $360 million), opt outs after 3,5,7 years. The first of several big splashes which combined will put the White Sox in a position to win it all. Once these free agents are pitched on the whole picture, the south side becomes a much more attractive landing spot.
No. 2: Manny Machado (12 years, $360 million), opt outs after 3,5,7 years. Signing him with Harper puts us up with the big boys offensively, and I'll play him at SS. More on that to come. But wait...there's more!
No. 3: Gio Gonzalez (3 years, $30 million). This is my KW move. Kenny always gets his man, in this case the third time's the charm. He's a dependable left handed starter and slots in nicely in the middle of the rotation. And if you think this is my big starting pitching move, you're wrong.
No. 4: Kelvin Herrera (1 year, $8 million plus a $10 million option for 2020). This assumes he will be reasonably healthy. If not, insert a veteran with closing experience such as Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, Greg Holland, or our old friend Joakim Soria.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Tim Anderson, Alex Call, Micker Adolpho, and Konnor Pilkington to Cincinnati for Eugenio Suarez. Anderson is expendable with the signing of Machado, and Suarez is significantly more expensive for a Reds team which doesn't appear to have much room to spend. They move Anderson to CF to lock down the position on the cheap and also pick up decent prospects for the outfield and mound. I'd be willing to throw in another prospect if necessary. I know we haven't had great luck with trading for Reds players in the past, but the upside is too strong here.
No. 2: Trade Jordan Stephens and Laz Rivera to Pittsburgh for Francisco Cervelli and $4 million. Cervelli has the highest 2019 salary on a team notorious for a lack of spending. The Bucs also have a ready replacement in Elias Diaz, which makes this primarily a salary dump with the Pirates essentially buying the two prospects for $2M each. Cervelli is a free agent after 2019 so he isn't blocking any of our young catchers, but he gives us a significant upgrade for this year.
No. 3: Trade Wellington Castillo to the Los Angeles Angels for a bag of balls. I won't take any credit for this one, as I've seen it on several offseason plans. Castillo is expendable with the Cervelli trade, and the Angels are stockpiling former Sox catchers.
No. 4: Trade Nick Madrigal, Alec Hansen, and Jimmy Lambert to Cleveland for Corey Kluber. This is the one that hurts. I have no doubt that Madrigal becomes the next Tatis and shoves this trade up our rear ends every time we play them for the next 10 years. However, Kluber is a game changer for our staff and gives us the final piece to win a title now. If I'm Rick Hahn, I'll look at my 2019 World Series Championship ring and smile every time Madrigal hurts us down the road. Kluber is 32, so I don't think he gets a Sale type haul, but if we have to overpay a bit to make this happen within the division, I'd even be willing to bump up the offer a bit more. Also, we know how much the Sox love former Cleveland stars (Alomar, Thome, Alomar, Vizquel, Lofton, Hassey).
SUMMARY
Lineup:
2B - Yoan Moncada
3B - Eugenio Suarez
SS - Manny Machado
RF - Bryce Harper
LF - Eloy Jimenez
1B - Jose Abreu
C - Francisco Cervelli
DH - Daniel Palka
CF - Adam Engel
Bench:
C - Omar Narvaez
UT - Yolmer Sanchez
UT - Leury Garcia
Rotation:
Corey Kluber
Carlos Rodon
Reynaldo Lopez
Gio Gonzalez
Lucas Giolito
Bullpen:
Kelvin Herrera
Nate Jones
Juan Minaya
Dylan Covey
Jace Fry
Aaron Bummer
Manuel Banuelos
Ian Hamilton
So, what's the downside you may ask? Well, Jerry's going to have to open up the wallet to the tune of just under $150 million ($149,950,714 if my calcs are correct). This is the equivalent of Manny Machado over the $120 million they have spent in the past, and ridiculously over the $105 million goal for this exercise. I would sell him on competing for an immediate championship while not completely mortgaging the future. In the future, we'll still have Robert, Rutherford, Gonzalez, Collins, Basabe, Zavala, Walker, and Burger who can fill any gaps via promotion or trade, most likely CF, C, and DH. On the pitching side, we still have Dunning, Cease, Kopech, Burdi, Medeiros, and more. The cupboard is not bare!
Am I out of my mind to suggest this plan? Of course I am, it will never happen. But should it? Let the debate begin!
