Balta1701

All of the 4 biggest FA names remaining have qualifying offers attached. So did Freeman, who didn’t go until last night.

Everything he said could also fit very well with "He knows they're still trying but has been told it's unlikely before the trade deadline."

I seriously doubt the Dodgers would do that either as they're over the Cohen Tax line. Taking on Kimbrel without shedding salary in return means they'd add $25 million to their real payroll.

Joc Pederson who is now on the Giants?

Are the white Sox seriously going to add $5 million to their payroll and tax number for that?

…young talent that they traded for…

He’s not a bad fit on a minor league contract and I’d expect someone like him signed before camp is over. They need a backup when someone in the OF gets hurt and there’s no one reliable at AAA.

Rick Hahn is totally going to say that he had a big trade done but it fell through after people leaked it on Twitter. Again.

None of these make any sense.

Saying that the roster is "not young" should not be raining on the parade. Look at this another way. The average age of all big leaguers last year was 27.1. Yoan Moncada turns 27 in May, he is basically an "average aged big leaguer". Tim Anderson turns 29 this year - Tim Anderson is 2 years older than the average big leaguer. Lucas Giolito, Zach Collins, Reynaldo lopez - they are older than average big leaguers. Dylan Cease turns 27 in December, he will be older than the average age next year. The White Sox have 4 position players (Vaughn, Sheets, Eloy, Robert) who are younger than the average big leaguer, 2 starters, 1 backup (Romy), and 1 reliever (Crochet). Only 8 players on their projected 26 man roster (ignoring suspension) are younger than average big leaguers. This is a team that should be expected to be peaking literally right now, and there is enough age on this roster that you might think they could be an above-average-injury team. That's as far as you can take that.

Yes. If they send money out as part of any trade, that money counts against the White Sox's CBT total.

The only limit to number of pitchers is number of roster spots. Right now, the White Sox have 13 pitchers, 10 of whom are on big league contracts/have no options remaining. Giolito, Lynn, Keuchel, Hendriks, Kelly, Gravemann, Velasquez, Bummer, Lopez, Kimbrel. All are on big league contracts. Cease, Kopech, and Crochet are still pre-arbitration and have minor league options remaining. They could be sent to AAA at some point, although this does seem unlikely. Thus, as of right now, the White Sox have 13 likely pitchers on their roster. Guys like Burr, Lambert, Foster - they are likely to be optioned to AAA. They could be called up if there's a double header and the rosters expand, could be called up to replace any injuries (Kelly is likely to miss opening day). If Kimbrel is traded, then they can either go with a 7 man bullpen, give his spot to someone in that last list, or sign someone else.

Worth noting - Anderson's tax number is currently low because he's in the final year of his guaranteed contract, and the $25 million guarantee or whatever it was had to be averaged over the last 6 seasons. However, the next 2 years are team option years for Anderson. If the White Sox pick those up, and I presume that they will as long as Anderson is still alive - his tax number next year will be the full 1-year option amount of $12.5 million, because he will have a 1 year, $12.5 million guarantee. His tax number goes up by $8 million next year, while his salary goes up by $3 million.

Yes. The White Sox have a couple guys who are currently like that - Anderson and Abreu have salaries higher than their tax numbers.

Actually the $4 million is more like "playing the game with Hendriks". The IL stints are currently budgeted for less than that/included in the "40 man roster" lines, for now. It could be a little bit higher, but if you use the $192 payroll for the 40 man roster, the next $4 million is basically "Hendriks's screwy contract".

Last year they added Billy Hamilton in the middle of spring training after Eloy's injury. I would bet we will see at least someone similar brought into Charlotte on a minor league deal comparable to that before the season starts.

First of all - MLB rules require you to include "Health benefits/insurance" as part of the CBT costs. Spotrac lumps that in as a $16 million charge per team. It's probably a little more or less than that, but it is counted. Second, MLB rules require that any time a contract isn't split among each year evenly, for the CBT calculation you must do an average. If a guy's contract goes: $2/$4/$6/$8/$10 over 5 years - that's $30 million over 5 years, so even if he's only in the first year and being paid $2 million, his CBT number is $6 million. They do this so you can't front-load or backload a contract to sneak around the CBT rules. Third, buyouts count. Harrison's salary is $4 million this year, but there's a $1.5 million buyout. If you're budgeting for the CBT, Harrison's number is $5.5 million. I don't think that they get this back if they pick up his option. Finally, Rick Hahn in his genius played a game with Liam Hendriks. He can convert the final year into deferred money, and make it a 3 year deal. That means that Liam Hendriks's contract is 3 guaranteed years, $54 million guaranteed. Hendriks's contract this year is $13.3 million, but his luxury tax is calculated based on $18 million yearly average, so his CBT cost is $4.67 million higher than his salary. You may look at Rick Hahn's creative contracts for this one as it gave away $4.67 million in tax space in order to make that happen, but after all the White Sox won't care about the tax number right?

No it really isn’t. The entire bullpen is pretty old. The bench is pretty old. There are guys like Abreu and Grandal in key roles in the lineup. 2/5 of the projected starters are in their mid 30s. Moreover, these guys you listed aren’t that fresh any more. Moncada and Gio both got quick looks in 2016, so Moncada, Gio, Anderson - they’re about to play in their 7th big league seasons. Lopez his 6th. Eloy and Cease are about to start their 4th. Kopech made his debut 5 seasons ago. 3rd for Robert. While they’ve had odd journeys in many cases, this is a veteran lineup. It isn’t an old lineup, but it is not young.

Right now the White Sox have the 7th oldest average roster in baseball. There are key young guys with room to grow, but they are surrounded by older veterans.

There’s no threshold to avoid. The Dodgers are over the Cohen tax according to Spotrac by over $10 million. Every dollar of payroll they add is taxed at 60%.

Cespedes has not shown that he’s a likely big leaguer based on his current performance. You would not be citing him if he had a different last name. He needs to substantially improve. Colas has never played stateside so at least a year if he comes out on fire at a low level. More might be more realistic. Under the best circumstances at least a year. More likely longer or not at all.

To take on Kimbrel’s full salary would cost the Dodgers $25 million. If they’re spending that money on their own, they will just sign Jansen.

Suspend disbelief for a moment and imagine the White Sox pay all Kimbrel’s salary. With the tax implications that saves the Dodgers over $25 million. You probably still include a prospect comparable to one Of the two you list, but on paper it gives the Dodgers bullpen help without the tax hit. But yes, this also frees up no money for the White Sox.

Can you promise no lingering effects from that severe hip injury last year?

A 322 foot tall rocket is rolling out to the launchpad in Florida today.