PREAMBLE
IF the Bulls hadn’t fired Jim Boylen and hired Billy Donovan then I wouldn’t believe the White Sox were actually going to spend. That move gave me hope Jerry actually wants to see his teams win before he croaks. So I’m predicting he’s going to spend a little money here.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Nomar Mazara: $5.6M | $5.9M | $5.7M - Non-tender
- Carlos Rodón: $4.5M | $4.5M | $4.5M - Non-tender
- Lucas Giolito: $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M - Tender, $5.3M
- Reynaldo López: $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M - Tender, $1.7M
- Evan Marshall: $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M - Tender, $1.9M
- Adam Engel: $1M | $1.4M | $1M - Tender, $1.4M
- Jace Fry: $800K | $1M | $800K - Tender, $1M
- Yolmer Sánchez: Uncertain -Goodbye either way
Payroll to this point: $89.1M
CLUB OPTIONS
- Edwin Encarnación: $12M
Decline
- Gio González: $7M ($500K buyout)
Decline
- Leury García: $3.5M ($250K buyout)
Pickup
Total: $93.1M
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Alex Colomé (Made $10,532,500 in 2020)
- James McCann (Made $5.4M in 2020)
- Jarrod Dyson (Made $2M in 2020)
Goodbye to all
COACHING STAFF
- Manager: Sandy Alomar Jr, but I’ll be happy with anyone not named Tony La Russa. But Sandy learned under Tito, did a good job managing while Francona was out, and was part of their staff that won an AL Pennant- which is technically a kind of championship.
- Pitching coach: Don’t care. Let Sandy pick who he wants.
FREE AGENTS
Trevor Bauer SP: 1 year $30M with a mutual option for 2022 and a $10M buyout if club declines
Trevor Bauer is the perfect free agent pitcher for Jerry. He has talked about wanting one year deals in the past to maximize his earnings. Jerry hates long term deals for pitchers. Because of possible labor unrest and the unknowns of Covid-19 a mutual option could be enticing for Bauer, especially if there’s a nice sized buyout on the club’s end. It’s a way to make their deal more enticing than a one year deal for a similar prize from another team.
Michael Brantley RF: 2 years $26M with a mutual option for 2023 with a $5 million buyout
In this market Brantley probably isn’t getting three guaranteed years. A buyout could be appealing to him on the option to put a Sox offer over the top.
Jose Quintana SP: 1 year $8 million
You just know the Sox will do this.
Alex Avila: 1 year $1M
Avila always has a good OBP and he’s the backup catcher.
Asdrubal Cabrera: 1 year $5 million
This team needs depth and Danny Mendick isn’t as good at baseball as he is at dancing. This could be huge if Madrigal gets hurt, continues to play dumb, or if he hits his OBP and SLG but it’s under .340.
Total Payroll: $150.1M
TRADES
LOL the Sox don’t have anyone they want to trade that another team would want.
SUMMARY
I think Jerry will spend this offseason and I think he especially won’t mind it if all the money is coming on one to two year deals. I’m not extending Giolito this offseason for two reasons. The first is I’d rather spend on the depth this team needs to win now. They can contend for a World Series, they shouldn’t punt on that chance to extend a pitcher who could get hurt. The second reason is he could get hurt or decline by the time he’s a free agent. For the most part he’s a two pitch guy- fastball and changeup. At least, that’s what he can consistently rely on. If he loses a tick on the fastball- that’s already not elite velocity- he could have trouble. The Sox can still extend him later on, but there’s no reason to do it so early with a pitcher. Look at the Red Sox and Chris Sale. The Sox extended Buehrle in the last year of his deal in ‘07. I would take the same approach with Giolito. This is not a perfect team I have constructed, but it’s a major upgrade in at least one rotation spot and I’ve added another guy to the mix in Quintana for the battle over the last two where you’re still hoping one if not two of the other guys can take the reins there. Brantley is a good, reliable, short term plug for RF. I’m not getting into a bidding war for a backup catcher when there are other bigger needs, so goodbye James McCann.
Lineup:
SS: Anderson
RF: Moncada
LF: Jimenez
CF: Robert
1B: Abreu
C: Grandal
RF: Brantley
DH: Vaughn
2B: Madrigal
Rotation:
SP: Bauer
SP: Giolito
SP: Keuchel
SP: Quintana
SP: Dunning
Bullpen:
Bummer
Marshall
Heur
Foster
Fry
Kopech
Cease
Cordero
Bench:
Asdrubal Cabrera UTIL
Leury Garcia UTIL
Engel: OF
Avila: C
