Chicago White Sox

Thinking through this a bit, here is what I’d do this off-season assuming we have $20M to work with: Trades: CL Liam Hendriks & IF Lenyn Sosa to LAD for 2B Gavin Lux & RHP Andre Jackson 3B Jake Burger to the Brewers for LHP Robert Gasser Free Agents: OF Michael Conforto - 1/$15M SP Mike Clevinger - 1/$12M OF Adam Duvall - 1/$6M Roster: Anderson, SS Lux, 2B* Vaughn, 1B Jimenez, DH Conforto, LF* Robert, CF Moncada, 3B# Grandal, C# Colas, RF* IF: Gonzalez OF: Duvall UT: Garcia# BC: Zavala Cease Lynn Kopech Giolito Clevinger CL: Graveman SU: Bummer* SU: Lopez MR: Kelly MR: Lambert MR: Diekman* MR: Ruiz LR: Davis/Jackson/Gasser* Summary: The offense has a chance to be significantly better with the addition of two LH bats on top of Colas. Conforto was one of the best hitters against RHP in the majors prior to the 2021 season and Lux put up a 118 wRC+ against righties last year. The bench is versatile and should be able to help against tough LHP. The defense should actually be pretty good outside of catcher with massive improvements in the OF and a quality 2B added to replace Big Energy. For the rotation, I go for ceiling with Clevinger vs. a similarly priced floor option like Quintana. He is a guy that the organization previously wanted and I’d love to see what Katz can do with him as the rust from TJS wears off. Beyond just the #5 spot, adding some depth in AAA is also critical. As such, I also acquire a prospect whose stock is down in Jackson and then use Burger to get a young lefty in Gasser who can compete with Davis for the #6 spot and/or swing role. The bullpen is a wildcard. I hate giving up Liam, but I don’t see another way to bring back talent and free up salary space. The hope is that Graveman or Lopez can do a halfway decent of replacing him at closer. The rest of the pen definitely makes me a bit nervous, although Crochet will be at some point and hopefully provide an impact arm. This a spot we’ll likely need reinforcements by the deadline if still competitive, but not worth over-investing now.

The $180M number comes from James Fegan and that figure is consistent with Hahn’s tone since his end of season press conference. Look, I’m not trying to be a Parkman like pessimist here, but all signs point to a payroll cut. I really hope I’m wrong because I agree we really just two B tier free agents to put us in a decent spot.

I love your optimism, but it seems painfully clear that Reinsdorf is cutting the budget and we’ll have very little financial flexibility to work with. Your plan would make sense with any other owner, but Jerry will use the lack of playoff revenue to not fill holes the easy way via free agency. Hahn will have to be very creative to pull off a successful off-season and up until now Rick hasn’t proved to be overly effective in that regard.

They are basically assuming he will eventually get bumped up. They also have Colas as our starting RF.

Or it maybe it creates the synergy we need to unlock booth’s potential?

I say it all the time, but if this was any other business the Sox would be down & out. Jerry refuses to invest in his product to drive customer demand like any other business would. Instead, he simply rolls forward with a budget that is more or less influenced by the prior season. He refuses to take the smallest amount of risk because god forbid he and him shareholders took a tiny loss in a given season. I knew he was a terrible businessman when the Sox never really pursued Bryce Harper. Signing Bryce would have transformed the organization and made him money hand over fist, but Jerry had nightmares about having to pay a guy into late 30’s / early 40’s when he may no longer be productive. This clown literally passed on a signing the most marketable star in baseball because the end of the contract may suck despite Jerry almost certainly being in the grave at that point. Jerry is just a terrible fucking owner and I’m going to celebrate like it’s my wedding night again when he’s finally gone.

Roster Resource now has Yogurt on our active roster

I think is what we’re all expecting now. A payroll in the $180M to $185M range, which probably means $15M to $20M to work with.

Who are the “Mendicks” on the 40 man roster?

I did not realize that about Mendick.

Totally forgot he had options. No idea then. Not like we don’t have enough spots on the 40 man roster to keep a useful backup infielder when healthy.

I think it means they know they need a LH infielder and Leury is clogging up the bench with his redundant RH bat (he is only a switch-hitter by technicality).

Even fringe top 100 prospects are pretty rare for us, so of course Hahn is going to treat him as our savior.

100% true, but unfortunately Hahn decided to lock up Leury to a three year deal and eat up a 1/4 of our bench for the next couple years.

We now have four “outfielders” on the 40 man roster with three of them being Eloy, Sheets, & Vaughn. I know Colas being added is just a matter of time, but Rick has his work ahead of him.

Generally shocked by non-tendering Mendick.

They’re also cutting payroll as their competitive window is quickly coming to a close.

Oh for sure. He should be attainable and would be a perfect fit, but I’ve already come to terms he won’t be happening this off-season. Not being able to afford a lesser LH OF option on a 8 figure pillow contract is a far more egregious offense.

Pretty depressing when we’re in our championship window salivating over a couple of guys who haven’t been productive in two years and can’t even afford them on a 1/$15M type deal because our owner is a cheap fucking asshole.

Eloy would tear his biceps on the first time he needed to dive for at 1B. He’s either a DH or a LF and I think it’s very by now that’s the former if you want any hope of him playing 140+ games.

Andrew Vaughn had a 125 wRC+ through August of last year. That’s with Frank “f*** the HR” Menechino as hitting coach who no doubt was going to prioritize Vaughn’s worst tendencies. Stop playing him in the OF and let a hitting coach who preaches power work with him so this kid can finally reach his offensive potential. I think a 140 wRC+ is very much possible and that will blow whatever a Sheets/Burger platoon would give us.

Yeah, moving Kopech to the bullpen would be the definition of insanity. He is going to have a Cease like breakout at some point.

I’ve had this hunch for a while that Hahn is trying to straddle both competing for a championship while building up the farm system (evident by his failure of a trade deadline). As such, I fully expect him to trade for several cheap rentals and/or bounce-back type guys. If the Red Sox decide to move on from Alex Verdugo, I could see Hahn being highly interested. Same goes for a guy like Cavan Biggio, who could platoon with our internal options at 2B. Throw in a free agent SP in the Clevinger / Quintana price range and I think that’s your off-season.

I didn’t realize his defensive had plummeted that much. He played CF for the Mariners when he first came up.

Given we have two OFs our roster you decide to start Colas opening day, this is a trade we should have made even if just for depth.