PREAMBLE
Good day to you fellow White Sox Fans. Long time fan, first-time planner. The past five years have been nothing but disappointments. The White Sox have seemingly gone through a rebuild without being able to develop players to their full potential. Players seem to stay the same or get worse as they make it the major league roster.
However, like Peter Brandt from Moneyball, I believe there is a team out there that we can afford that can lead us to a championship in the next three years. This team can follow the Texas Rangers model and spend (to an extent) to pave over past mistakes while being able to build up younger players.
Unfortunately, this will require significant turnover of the roster to get there. Almost two decades worth of bad decisions will need to be washed away.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Dylan Cease: $8.8M (Tender)
- Andrew Vaughn: $3.7M (Tender)
- Michael Kopech: $3.6M (Tender)
- Touki Toussaint: $1.7M (Tender)
- Trayce Thompson: $1.7M (Non-Tender)
- Garrett Crochet: $900K (Tender)
- Clint Frazier: $900K (Non-Tender)
- Matt Foster: $740K (Non-Tender)
Cease and Kopech are brought back with the hope that Brian Bannister can work his magic and get them back on track. Touki is a perfectly serviceable 5th starter and if Bannister again can get him on track, its house money. Touki was a high prospect before control issues derailed his career. If he cant figure out, Jake Eder and Ky Bradish should have enough time to get quality innings in the minors before they will be called up.
Vaughn is brought back with the hope that if you surround him with enough hitters, you don’t force him to be the number two option just yet when he barely had any minor league time.
CLUB OPTIONS
- Tim Anderson: $14M ($1M buyout) (Buyout. See ya.)
- Liam Hendriks: $15M ($15M buyout, paid $1.5M annually over next 10 years) (Buyout.)
Buying out Liam was the hardest decision. He’s one of my favorite players in the league but I can’t be spending 15 million on a spot that won’t be playing for me until October.
MUTUAL OPTIONS
- Mike Clevinger: $12M mutual option ($4 million buyout) (Buyout. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.)
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Yasmani Grandal (Made $18.25M in 2023) (Let go.)
- Elvis Andrus ($3M) (Let go.)
- Bryan Shaw ($720K) (Retain)
- José Ureña ($720K) (Let go.)
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Cody Bellinger 6 years 150 million. I loved him on the Dodgers and it was so disheartening to see him struggle. He seems to have figured it out. He gives you everything you need in right field : power, OBP, defense, and some speed. Finally shores up RF for the White Sox.
No. 2: Carlos Santana 2 years 22 million. He takes over as the primary DH. He switch hits, still has some pop, and can get on base. He can also spell Vaughn at 1B if he needs it. Now, you’re probably wondering what this means for Eloy. Don’t worry, we’ll get to him.
No 3: Jordan Montgomery 6 years 120 million. He will probably get over-paid if he does well in the World Series, but that hasn’t happened yet, so we will go with what we know. I think his stuff will age well later into his contract and he finally gives the White Sox a lefty in their rotation.
If given my way, I would also add Victor Caritini to this list to play as my primary catcher but I had to prioritize my top 3.
TRADES:
No. 1: Trade Eloy Jiminez, Gavin Sheets, Christian Maena, and Johnathan Cannon to San Diego for Kim Ha-Seong and Jake Cronenworth. San Diego seems to be retooling. If the reports are true, they may be getting out of the Juan Soto business and will need some power. They’ve struggled in the DH department and maybe a fresh start for Eloy will help. Seong is 28, was a 4.4 WAR player who gets on base, plays great defense with speed to boot. He will be on the team for the foreseeable future while the other players in this trade wont be ready right away. Jake Cronenworth will be a bench player that can help fill in on each spot in the infield.
No 2. Trade Yoan Moncada to Miami for Jon Berti. Yoan, like Eloy is on my purge with fire list. He was 4 WAR players but seemingly cannot stay on the field. Berti was a 2 WAR player who can play SS with good speed until Colson is ready. In order to complete the trade, I would offer to pay half of his 24 million this year. Miami can then have him and figure out whether they want to pick up his club option in 2025. Win-Win.
They’re nothing else to really trade here. I can’t rob Peter to pay Paul and rob the farm system again. Mike Shirley has a plan and hopefully is allowed to keep pushing forward.
Starting Lineup
2B Ha-Seong Kim (7m)
LF Andrew Benintendi (8.5)
CF Luis Robert (12.5)
RF Cody Bellinger (25)
DH Carlos Santana (11)
1B Andrew Vaughn (3.7)
3B Bryan Ramos (.300)
SS Jon Berti (3.6)
C Kory Lee (.770)
Dylan Cease (8.8)
Jordan Montgomery (20)
Michael Kopech (3.6)
Nick Nastrini (.300)
Touki Toussaint (1.7)
Bench
Jake Cronenworth
Carlos Perez
Jose Rodriguez
Victor Reyes
SUMMARY
I am not even going to attempt to figure out how the bullpen looks. The starting lineup and pitchers come out to a little over 118 million including the 12 million in dead money to Yoan for a year. This allows for some flexibility in case there are other starting pitchers and relivers that the White Sox want to sign. This line up also allows for the organization to not pressure Colson and the rest of the crew to be good immediately. This way, you can treat them like Evan Carter and plug them in when you are already winning.
The roster has gotten faster, can get on base at a better clip, and can field better which will help the pitching staff.
There are a lot of “I hope” in this plan. I hope Chris Getz can being realistic in his evaluation of the roster. I hope Brian Bannister can squeeze blood from a stone with the pitching staff. I hope Josh Barfield can rebuild the farm system like Arizona has. I hope Jerry can keep himself out of the GM’s office. I hope the White Sox don’t give me an aneurysm next year. Hey, anything can happen.
