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DutchySox's Off Season Plan

I'm taking a more conservative approach than some of the scenario's I've been reading over the last few days. Don't want to break the bank just yet. A better team, though: yes.

ARBITRATION ELIGIBLE

Tyler Flowers, Hector Noesi, Nate Jones and Javy Guerra are no-brainers for me. Noesi, as the least logical choice of the four, could be the long guy out of the pen, or act as emergency starter. He's done nothing to warrant non-tendering.

As much as I buy into the narrative that Ronald Belisario was just used in the wrong role, I'm fairly sure we can get his production elsewhere for less.

Dayan Viciedo just needs to go. To a land far, far away. Or Milwaukee. More on that later.


CONTRACT OPTIONS

Felipe Paulino goes bye-bye. Maybe get him back on a minor league deal and let him work through his issues. Stuff's legit, the rest is not.


FREE AGENTS (re-sign or let go?)

Had Lindstrom had a somewhat healthy 2014, I think a case could have been made to keep him around for another year, as a mentor to the young guns in the bullpen. After the 2014 he had, it's time to part ways.


FREE AGENT SIGNINGS

No. 1. Nick Markakis (three years, $40M). I'm not sure this would do it, as I'm confident another team would offer either more years or a higher salary, but I like the idea of Markakis on the Sox. He probably wouldn't be playing a lot of RF, with Avi hopefully manning that position for years to come, but he could be a high OBP DH, hitting second in the lineup. If needed, I'd go as high as $50M for him, adding a fourth (option) year.

No. 2. Andrew Miller (four years, $30M). We all want Miller, am I right? Not sure if this dollar value would land him, but I would not want to go any higher. Fall back options can be Joe Thatcher or Franklin Morales.

No. 3. Huston Street (three years, $24M). There's your closer.

No. 4. Edinson Volquez (two years, $15M). I like Volquez. With Coop present, I think he could be a valuable part of the rotation. Would likely come cheaper than Brandon McCarthy, but I'd be okay with a similar deal for B-Mac too.

No. 5. Tyler Colvin (one year, $1.5M, club-option for second year, $2M). The guy has never gotten a full-time gig anywhere to prove what he can do. The one season he received 450+ PA's in the majors (2012), he hit .290 with 18 HRs, 72 RBI and 7 SB. He can back-up at first, play left/right field, and DH. He'd be the left-handed hitter off the bench / platoon guy. The Cell would be a good spot for him.


Total amount for the 2015 season spent on Free Agents: $46.5M. Total value of FA contracts: $130.5M

I would not be against signing Pablo Sandoval, as was mentioned by several others, but I think the upgrade over Gillaspie would not be substantial enough to warrant A) a ton of money being thrown Pablo's way, and B) there are more pressing concerns right now than 3B. (Who knows what Davidson will do next season?)


TRADES

Number 1 on Hahn's to-do list should be to trade John Danks. Eat some salary, get a lesser pitcher in return, anything goes. He's the highest paid player on a team that has Sale, Quintana, Abreu, and Eaton on it, and he is just not that good. So... while I'm fantasizing:

-------------------
White Sox trade LHP John Danks, LF Dayan Viciedo, 1B Andy Wilkins, and OF Jared Mitchell to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for RHP Yovani Gallardo, and LF Khris Davis. The Sox already have three LHP in the rotation in 2015, the Brewers' rotation consists of five right-handers. Danks moving to the NL could be good for him and the Brewers, while Gallardo has one year left ($13M) on his current deal, which makes him slightly cheaper than Danks (by about 1.5M). Gallardo's numbers are slightly better than Danks', but his contract is not as bad. If he doesn't perform, the Sox can try to trade him at the deadline. If he pans out, he can be extended. Need-based trade for the Brewers.

Khris Davis had a very inconsistent (dare I say 'down') year in LF for the Brewers, hitting only .244. If Hahn could get the Brewers to bite into the "Viciedo and Davis, change of scenery" train of thought, this move is a go. Wilkins and Mitchell are in there to help convince the Brewers. They lack prospect depth at 1B (add Wilkins), and tend to like speedy outfielders (cue Mitchell). Who knows, right?
--------------

I couldn't really come up with a second trade, so I'll join the "2B prospect to ATL for Jason Heyward" bandwagon. It wouldn't make any sense for me to come up with a scenario there, as I have just signed two FA outfielders and traded for another one in this scenario.

SUMMARY

With these moves, the White Sox 25-man roster would look like this:

POS

NAME

POS

NAME

POS

NAME

POS

NAME

C

Tyler Flowers

BN

Josh Phegley

SP

Chris Sale

MR

Maikel Cleto

1B

Jose Abreu

BN

Moises Sierra

SP

Jose Quintana

MR

Zach Putnam

2B

Marcus Semien

BN

Tyler Colvin

SP

Yovani Gallardo

MR

Javy Guerra

3B

Conor Gillaspie

BN

Micah Johnson

SP

Carlos Rodon

MR

Frank Montas

SS

Alexei Ramirez

SP

Edinson Volquez

SU

Jake Petricka

LF

Khris Davis

SU

Andrew Miller

CF

Adam Eaton

CL

Huston Street

RF

Avisail Garcia

DH

Nick Markakis

LINEUPS:

VS RHP

VS LHP

1

CF

Adam Eaton

1

CF

Adam Eaton

2

DH

Nick Markakis

2

DH

Nick Markakis

3

1B

Jose Abreu

3

1B

Jose Abreu

4

RF

Avisail Garcia

4

RF

Avisail Garcia

5

SS

Alexei Ramirez

5

SS

Alexei Ramirez

6

3B

Conor Gillaspie

6

LF

Khris Davis

7

LF

Tyler Colvin / Khris Davis

7

3B

Marcus Semien

8

2B

Marcus Semien

8

2B

Micah Johnson

9

C

Tyler Flowers

9

C

Tyler Flowers

Problems with this roster: too many OF'ers (especially with Markakis DH'ing). Ditching Colvin for a infielder could solve that. Also: only one left-hander in the bullpen. Second base and one bench spot could depend on how well the various candidates perform in Spring Training.

PAYROLL FOR 2015

NAME

$

NAME

$

NAME

$

NAME

$

Tyler Flowers

2.1M

Josh Phegley

500k

Chris Sale

6.0M

Maikel Cleto

500k

Jose Abreu

8.667M

Moises Sierra

500k

Jose Quintana

3.4M

Zach Putnam

500k

Marcus Semien

500k

Tyler Colvin

1.5M

Yovani Gallardo

13.0M

Javy Guerra

1.3M

Conor Gillaspie

500k

Micah Johnson

500K

Carlos Rodon

500k

Frank Montas

500K

Alexei Ramirez

10M

Edinson Volquez

7.5M

Jake Petricka

500K

Khris Davis

500k

Andrew Miller

7.5M

Adam Eaton

500k

Huston Street

8.0M

Avisail Garcia

500k

Nick Markakis

13.3M

TOTAL (2015)

88.8M

Add $4.5M for Keppinger and $250K for Scott Downs to that $88.8M. Absolute payroll total: $93.55M.

Note: Nate Jones will be back at some point. A healthy Nate will be like picking up another FA for the bullpen. Also, even though I tendered Noesi, he ended up not making this final 25 man roster. He's still in my thoughts, though.

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