PREAMBLE
I’ll be frank. Having the worst record in the modern history of Major League Baseball is flat-out unacceptable. It’s clear that this team is rebuilding, but solely relying on flawed pre-arb prospects is not a recipe for even professional competency. My plan helps turn over the roster, brings in some major league talent to give prospect development some breathing room and makes one big splash to solve right field for good.
MANAGER
Skip Schumaker – Tony La Russa taps Getz on the shoulder to remind him who’s boss. Tony always gets his man.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Andrew Vaughn: $6.4M – Non-tender. We’ve seen enough.
- Nicky Lopez: $5.1M – Non-tender. Not worth the cost.
- Garrett Crochet: $2.9M – Tender. See trades below.
- Gavin Sheets: $2.6M – Non-tender. At this point we’ve learned that the only thing Sheets does well is be healthy. He’s below average in all 5 tools and these at-bats are better used on other potential future pieces.
- Enyel De Los Santos: $1.7M – Non-tender
- Jimmy Lambert: $1.2M – Non-tender
- Justin Anderson: $1.1M - Tender
- Steven Wilson: $1M - Tender
- Matt Foster: $900K – Non-tender
CLUB OPTIONS
- Yoán Moncada: $25M ($5M buyout) - Adios
- Max Stassi: $7M ($500K buyout) - Goodbye
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Michael Soroka (Made $3M in 2023) – Let go, not worth the investment
- Mike Clevinger ($3M) – Let go. But I’m sure he’ll somehow find his way onto this roster next year.
- Chris Flexen ($1.75M) – Retain
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: RF – Teoscar Hernandez (3 year, $82.5 million - $25m yr 1, $27.5M yr 2, $30m yr 3). Chris Getz’s first big splash as GM, the black hole known as right field for the White Sox gets solved by signing a player fresh off a 2024 all-star appearance, 4+ WAR season and World Series appearance. Projections I’m seeing are in the 3 year $70-$75M range but the Sox will have to overpay to outbid the big boys.
No. 2: C - Jacob Stallings (1 year, $2.5 million). A veteran backstop coming off a 1.7 WAR season in the tail end of his career. It would be a mistake to rush Quero up, and Korey Lee still has question marks in his game. Stallings will provide guidance and veteran stability for both the young catchers and pitching staff.
No. 3: 1B - Rowdy Tellez (1 year, $5 million). Not a sexy signing by any means, but this is a placeholder until Tim Elko proves he’s ready for big league at-bats. He’s cheaper than Vaughn, a better fielder and a more clutch hitter. Coming off the Pittsburgh conundrum, Tellez will be hesitant to sign a contract with performance incentives so a straight up $5M deal should do the trick. Ideally, he performs decently and is flipped at the deadline, or DFA’d in September to make room for call-ups.
No. 4: SP – Alex Wood (1 year, $6 million). Coming off a shortened season due to surgery in Oakland, Wood will be looking to reclaim his former effectiveness. The Sox’s pitching staff will need a veteran presence, and his experience with top organizations like the Dodgers and Giants will help across the organization.
No. 5: LHP – Jalen Beeks (1 year, $1 million). Buy low veteran lefty arm out of the bullpen. Hopefully flippable at the deadline.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade SP Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox for SS/3B Marcelo Mayer, SS Yoeilin Cespedes and LHP Zach Penrod. Boston is tired of being at the bottom of the AL East and is hungry to get back to contention. Crochet in their rotation helps them immensely in this regard. Mayer is a shortstop but scouts believe he’s more of a fit for 3B, so him and Colson will compete in AAA to see who gets put where. Cespedes is a young top prospect in Boston’s system who can be molded into a future 2B, and Penrod is a top 30 prospect who already has MLB innings, so has plenty of opportunity to grow in Chicago. Penrod is the only one of this bunch who is MLB ready.
SUMMARY
Starting Pitchers:
SP1 – Alex Wood ($6.0M)
SP2 – Drew Thorpe ($0.8M)
SP3 – Jonathan Cannon ($0.8M)
SP4 – Davis Martin ($0.8M)
SP5 – Chris Flexen ($1.8M)
Bullpen:
R – Justin Anderson ($1.1M)
R – Steven Wilson ($1.0M)
L – Jared Shuster ($0.8M)
R – Nick Nastrini ($0.8M)
R – Jordan Leasure ($0.8M)
R – Prelander Berroa ($0.8M)
L – Jalen Beeks ($1.0M)
L – Zach Penrod ($0.8M)
Starting Lineup:
C – Korey Lee ($0.8M)
1B – Rowdy Tellez ($5.0M)
2B – Brooks Baldwin ($0.8M)
SS – Jacob Amaya ($0.8M)
3B – Bryan Ramos ($0.8M)
LF – Andrew Benintendi ($17.1M)
CF – Luis Robert ($15.0M)
RF – Teoscar Hernandez ($25.0M)
DH – Miguel Vargas ($0.8M)
Bench:
OF – Dominic Fletcher ($0.8M)
IF – Lenyn Sosa ($0.8M)
C – Jacob Stallings ($2.5M)
OF – Corey Julks ($0.8M)
Rough math we’re looking at $88.3M committed to the 26-man roster here. Including $5.5M for buyouts, $2.5M between Abreu and Hendricks, $1.5M to Brebbia, we’re looking at total obligations of $97.8M. I may be missing other obligations (I’m not a GM but I play one on TV), so I imagine including those will bump us up to Jim’s budget.
This team is bad, but an improvement over historically bad. The bullpen will be a revolving door and there will be many blown leads, and the starting pitching will have growing pains as rookies continue to get acclimated. But bringing in Hernandez and Tellez will help the offense and bring some much needed leadership to this young group of position players. Ideally by the second half we see Quero, Montgomery, Schultz, Elko and Mayer get promoted along with other developing prospects.
Expected Record: 67-95
