BeefLoaf’s (@fromthe108) Offseason Plan
Arbitration-eligible (with projected salaries from MLBTR):
- Todd Frazier, $13.5M TENDER
- Brett Lawrie, $5.1M TENDER (Medium Rare)
- Avisail Garcia, $3.5M NON-TENDER
- Miguel Gonzalez, $2.6M TENDER
- Dan Jennings, $1.2M TENDER
- J.B. Shuck, $1M NON-TENDER (Overcooked)
- Jake Petricka, $900K TENDER
- Zach Putnam, $900K TENDER
- Daniel Webb, $600K NON-TENDER
The Tender (wooo) and Non-Tender were a piece of cake (slice of pie)...........so was the buy out and lolz free agents below
Contract options (pick up or buy out)
- Matt Albers: $3M for 2017 or a $250,000 buyout BUYOUT....even tho' Albers aka El Nino was a favorite of the 108, after April (save for that crazy game in Queens) he was a stinky pile of maneur
Impending free agents (re-sign, let go or qualifying offer)
- Austin Jackson: Made $5 million in 2016. Let Go
- Alex Avila: Made $2.5 million in 2016. Let Go
- Justin Morneau: Made $1 million in 2016, although he signed during the season. Let Go
This group here doesn't have a single season left in them where they would log enough at bats to qualify for the batting title............as the great Marty Huggins would say "IT'S A MESS!!"
Now that we got that out of the way, its time for the tear down to begin..........see below for the beautiful carnage.
TRADES
Jose Quintana and David Robertson to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 3 way deal with the Houston Astros
White Sox get - Josh Bell 1b, Elias Diaz C, Harold Ramirez of , from Pirates, Daz Cameron of, David Paulino p from Astros
Pirates get - Jose Quintana p, David Robertson p and cash
Astros get - Andrew McCutchen of
decent haul to start the rebuild, some salary eating was required, but since the Pirates traded away their closer at the deadline this last year, reloading a solid closer made sense for them. They also clear out McCutchen to make room for Austin Meadows to play CF full time.
Todd Frazier to the NY Mets
White Sox get - Zack Wheeler
Mets get - Todd Frazier
A trade of necessity for the Mets as the free agent market is very short on quality hot cornerists and they are flush with pitching (even given the injuries from last season). Wheeler is the least desirable of those pitchers, which makes this deal possible. With Frazier heading to free agency next year, trading him makes sense..........plus, despite Wheeler's injuries, he could still become a top end pitcher as his pedigree suggests.
Melky Cabrera to Tampa Bay Rays
White Sox get - Enny Romero p, Brandon Koch p
Rays get - Melky Cabrera
Rays taking a gamble that with their starting pitching healthy, if they just add a tiny bit of offense they can get this to work. Enny Romero is a lefty project for Don Cooper........but Brandon Koch is the intriguing arm here, he could end up a very nice bullpen arm
Chris Sale to Washington Nationals
Of all of the press surrounding a potential Chris Sale trade, I can't think of a team who's window is closing faster than the Nationals.......this window could get extended with re-upping Bryce Harper, but this is a go for broke year for the team, so trading for Chris Sale makes perfect sense. A deal like this, might make the soon to be free agent Harper take one of those short buy-out deals just to see if they can make the 3 headed pitching monster of Scherzer, Strasburg and Sale work after 2017.
White Sox get - Lucas Giolito p, Victor Robles of, AJ Cole p, Jackson Reetz c, Anderson Franco 3b
Nationals get - Chris Sale p
FREE AGENTS
Sign Edwin Jackson - 2 yr $5 million - The plan here is to give Edwin one last run as an SP. He did some of his best work here.....although he likely just ends up a bullpen arm.
Sign Peter Bourjos - 3 yr $14 million - This is a glove only OF, one that was once a promising CF.........he's your glove only CF that allows you to keep Adam Eaton in RF while not forcing you to play Charlie Tilson right away or resign Austin Jackson or roster JB Shuck.
Sign Nick Hundley - 2 yr 8.5 million - Somebody has to catch and this is the start of the rebuild, so let's not spend too much money, besides, a bunch of years ago, people thought Hundley could hit, so let's see if he still can.
Sign Seth Smith - 2 yr 15 million - The White Sox have long suffered from a major lack of OBP, I wanted Smith back when Seattle nabbed him for nothing, now hopefully the Sox can get him on a friendly deal and flip him at the 2018 deadline for something, in the meantime, he'll help them score runs by being on base a lot.
The 25 man roster.....
Lineup
Tim Anderson, SS
Adam Eaton, RF
Jose Abreu, 1B
Josh Bell, DH
Brett Lawrie, 3B
Seth Smith, LF
Carlos Sanchez, 2B
Peter Bourjos, CF
Nick Hundley, C
Bench
Tyler Saladino
Omar Narvaez
Charlie Tilson
Matt Davidson
Rotation
Lucas Giolito
Carlos Rodon
AJ Cole
Miguel Gonzalez
Zack Wheeler
Bullpen
Nate Jones
Dan Jennings (L)
Jake Petricka
Zach Putnam
Zack Burdi
Edwin Jackson
Enny Romero (L)
Summary
The rebuild is in full swing, there are only a few obvious parts that could be moved (Jose Abreu or Adam Eaton) that could fetch something worthwhile in the future.........salary has been cut, and the team in total is operating on a shoestring budget, for now. You have added a lots of valuable future pieces, some that will be on the big club right now. In my own opinion, the only way I could imagine this management group doing a rebuild is to have some of the rebuild pieces on the roster immediately. The front office brass bring Giolito and Josh Bell in there right away, you can see some of it starting........excitement builds and people (after getting over the butt hurt of losing Sale) start buying tickets. It is hard to say how soon this team will become a contender, but it seems as though, right now is not that time, you are looking at a 4th place team........hey, that's what we were with everyone.......actually, this team is probably worse than Minnesota if Minnesota gets their act together.
I'd expect a few seasons of buying some cheap free agents hoping to hit something and turn around and move those players for something of future value. I know this sort of rebuild would definitely make me and my friends in the 108 very happy!
Connect @SouthSideSox