ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
Write “tender” or “non-tender” after each player and their projected 2020 salaries. Feel free to offer explanation afterward if necessary.
- Alex Colomé, $10.3M - TENDER
- Yolmer Sánchez, $6.2M - NON-TENDER
- James McCann, $4.9M - TENDER
- Carlos Rodon, $4.5M - NON-TENDER (Sorry buddy, but youre not worth 4.5 million for two months of a season)
- Leury García, $4M - TENDER
- Evan Marshall, $1.3M - TENDER
- Josh Osich, $1M - Hes Boston's problem now
- Ryan Goins, $900K - NON-TENDER
CLUB OPTIONS
Write “pick up” or “decline” after the option.
- Welington Castillo: $8 million/$500,000 buyout - I think I speak for Texas when I say DECLINE
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
Try to retain, or let go?
- Jose Abreu (made $16M in 2019) RETAIN (2 years 30 million; 3rd year mutual option for 10 million; 2.5 million buyout)
- Iván Nova (made $9,166,167 in 2019) LET GO
- Jon Jay (made $4M in 2019) LET GO
- Hector Santiago (made $2M in 2019 on split contract) RETAIN only on a minor league deal
FREE AGENTS
Gear up, there are a lot of moves to be made
No. 1: SP Jake Odorrizi 3 yrs 39 million
He's a solid starting pitcher. We need those. He's healthy. We need that. He's not going to cost 250 million dollars. We can pay what hell want.
No. 2: C Yasmani Grandal 4 yrs 70 million (16 AAV with a 6 million signing bonus
He gets on base and is good behind the plate. Lets get him.
No. 3: 2B Mike Moustakas 3 yrs 39 million
Ill be making a hole at second in the "trade" section so this guy fits in nice here. A left hander with some pop. Decent defense and can cover 3rd if Moncada gets an injury
No. 4: RP Collin McHugh 1 yr 6 million (2nd year team option 6 mil)
He can be a great reliever at times and can take some starts if need be. You'll be happy in July when we need a spot starter and you dont have to watch Dylan Covey try to get out of the first inning.
No. 5: RP Will Smith 3 yrs 36 million
12 million dollars a year to a reliever who wont be a closer. Teams win with good bullpens and with guys like Cease Kopech and Odorrizi in the rotation a good and deep bullpen will be very important
No. 6: 2B Brian Dozier 1 yr 6.5 million
Hes still got some pop. He's probably not an everyday player any more so getting him 350-450 ab is probably where he is going to be most effective
No. 7: OF Cameron Maybin 1 yr 2 million
He can hit left handers and play solid outfield defense. As ive stated before im tired of seeing the same old guys who cant play trotted out there whenever there is an injury. 2020 is the year we say goodbye to the Dylan Covey/Adam Engel/Ryan Cordell/Wellington Castillo's of the world.
TRADES
Propose trades that you think sound reasonable for both sides, and the rationale behind them. A good example of a bad idea:
No. 1: Trade RP Alex Colome RP Jacy Fry and a mid level prospect (im looking at you Codi Heuer, or Ian Hamilton) to the Dodgers for OF Joc Pederson and SP Ross Stripling
The Dodgers are pretty well stocked on outfielders and starting pitchers. They need bullpen guys. Here are a few for there analytics guys to work with, turn into great pieces and make this trade look horrible. HORAY!
No. 2: Trade C James McCann to Houston for RP Cristian Javier
Go look at Javier's minor league numbers. The Astros are loosing out on Grandal here so they'll need a catcher and who knows maybe they saw something in McCanns first half. They had Brian McCann for a while we know they like the name McCann. They also had Evan Gattis for a while so they like their offense catchers somewhat. Maybe they would give up Javier but the Sox could get something interesting from the Astros here.
No. 3: Trade OF Micker Adolfo or OF Blake Rutherford and RP Alec Hansen or RP Zack Burdi to Arizona for RP Yoan Lopez
There is one important commonality here amongst all the players on the Sox side. They all are eligible for the rule 5 (not sure about burdi). You cant really afford to have 10% of your 40 man roster comprised of players who have been so frequently injured and never played above single A. Get something for them now before you lose them for nothing. Yoan Lopez is more of a suggestion. His peripherals look bad but he had a mid 3 era so who knows. Take a shot on him.
No. 4: Trade 2B Nick Madrigal SP Dane Dunning and PTBNL (one of the players mentioned in the last trade that didn't get traded) to the Royals for OF Whit Merrifield
I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW! I know, we're probably not in position to trade from minor league depth and Madrigal Dunning and a third guy is a lot to give up. But look at who youre getting. A leadoff man who is constantly healthy, great in the clubhouse, solid on both sides of the ball, can play multiple positions, gets on base and, not importantly, is one a great contract! He's getting like 4 million a year. Thats what Leury is getting paid this year. You get this guy and you dont look back.
SUMMARY
There were a lot of moves, 11 to be exact, but I was promised a busy offseason and I think if you'll look this roster over you will be satisfied with this groups ability to compete for a playoff spot next year and beyond
LINEUP
POS - NAME - SALARY
RF - Whit Merrifield (4)
3B - Yoan Moncada (.6)
1B - Jose Abreu (15)
2B - Mike Moustakas (13)
DH/LF - Eloy Jimenez (2.33)
C - Yasmani Grandal (16)
LF/DH - Joc Pederson (8.5)
SS - Tim Anderson (4)
CF - Luis Robert (.6)
BENCH
UT - Leury Garcia (4)
OF - Cameron Maybin (2)
2B - Brian Dozier (6.5)
C/1B - Zack Collins (.6)
C/1B - Yermin Mercedes (.6)
ROTATION
SP - Lucas Giolito (.6)
SP - Jake Odorrizi (13)
SP - Ross Stripling (5)
SP - Reynaldo Lopez (.6)
SP - Dylan Cease (.6)
BULLPEN
RP -Will Smith (12)
RP - Aaron Bummer (.6)
RP - Collin McHugh (6)
RP - Yoan Lopez (.6)
RP - Kelvin Herrera (8.5)
RP - Evan Marshall (1.3)
RP - Jimmy Cordero (.6)
Total Payroll - $127,130,000 million
Just to address a few concerns off the bat (pun intended). Yes, this is a lot of moves and I realize its probably impossible to make all of this come together. But there are a lot of holes to fill and now is the time where we've got the money and the prospect capital to make a few big time moves. I dont like one dimensional guys and I think just about everyone I brought in can do several things well or has a platoon partner to help brush off some of the inadequacies of their game. Joc Pederson wouldn't face lefties obviously, we have Cameron Maybin or Brian Dozier to take those ABs. Michael Kopech is coming up to the rotation, thats okay, Ross Stripling has experience pitching out of the pen we'll move him there! I think this is a team that can win. Let me know what you think!
(BTW, the sox would have around 90 million on the books for 2021... just saying Mookie Betts is out there and an outfield of Merrifield Robert and Betts would be pretty nice...)
