It's not formally awards season, but the White Sox got a head start on taking home some hardware via the Sporting News. Rick Hahn was named the Executive of the Year, and José Abreu received the MLB Player of the Year nod.
A White Sox general manager hadn't received the Executive of the Year honor since Bill Veeck in 1977, with Roland Hemond being the only other member of the franchise to take home the award five years before. You may remember that Kenny Williams was beat out for the honor by Mark Shapiro in 2005, so I suppose it's payback that Hahn garnered the recognition despite the White Sox finishing behind the Indians.
The White Sox issued a press release with Hahn's response:
“I am humbled by this honor - both because of the list of previous winners but also due to the absence of the names of so many of my co-workers who should join my name on this year’s award,” said Hahn. “I view this award as recognition of excellent work by many across the entire White Sox organization to set us up for a bright future. We don’t win this award without what Kenny Williams has meant to this organization for the past three decades nor without the tireless work and dedication of our scouts, player development personnel, coaches, clubhouse staff and front office personnel to whom I am indebted.”
Abreu became the third White Sox to be named MLB Player of the Year, joining Frank Thomas (1993) and Early Wynn (1959). Thomas ended up winning the AL MVP, while Wynn finished third behind Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio in the voting that year.
If you're wondering about any recent correlation, 13 of the last 14 Sporting News winners have taken home the MVP honors in his respective league, with Jose Altuve the only exception. He received the honors from the Sporting News in both 2016 and 2017, but while he won the MVP in 2017, he finished third in voting the year before behind Mike Trout and Mookie Betts.
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The Offseason Plan Project can't commence until MLB Trade Rumors releases its annual arbitration projections, and it did so this morning. But because this was a most unusual season, there's a lot more uncertainty than usual in how the parties will go about figuring next year's salaries.
MLBTR is trying to cover all possibilities by issuing three different projections based on potential methods for calculation:
- Method 1: Applies model directly with actual statistics from this 60-game season
- Method 2: Extrapolates all counting stats to would-be 162-game totals. One home run becomes 2.7 home runs.
- Method 3: For non-first-time eligibles, finds the raise they’d get in a 162-game season, then gives them 37 percent of that raise
Tim Dierkes previously reported that a record number of non-tenders are expected, so keep that in mind as you assess these numbers for the arb-eligible White Sox:
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Engel | $1M | $1.4M | $1M |
| Jace Fry | $800K | $1M | $800K |
| Lucas Giolito | $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M |
| Reynaldo López | $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M |
| Evan Marshall | $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M |
| Nomar Mazara | $5.6M | $5.9M | $5.7M |
| Carlos Rodón | $4.5M | $4.5M | $4.5M |
(Photo by Josh Nelson)
