This is the latest post of MLBTR’s annual Offseason in Review series, in which we take stock of every team’s winter dealings.
The White Sox pinned most of their offseason hopes to signing Manny Machado, and instead wound up adding a series of largely unexciting veteran players.
Major League Signings
- Kelvin Herrera, RP: two years, $18MM
- Jon Jay, OF: one year, $4MM
- James McCann, C: one year, $2.5MM
- Total spend: $24.5MM
Options Exercised
Trades and Claims
- Acquired P Manny Banuelos from Dodgers for IF Justin Yurchak
- Acquired RP Alex Colome from Mariners for C Omar Narvaez
- Acquired SP Ivan Nova from Pirates for P Yordi Rosario and $500K in international bonus pool money
- Acquired 1B Yonder Alonso from Indians for OF Alex Call
- Claimed RP Josh Osich off waivers from Orioles
Notable Minor League Signings
- Ervin Santana. Brandon Guyer, Randall Delgado, Ryan Goins, Evan Marshall, Matt Skole, Donn Roach, Chris Johnson, Preston Tucker
Notable Losses
- Avisail Garcia, James Shields, Omar Narvaez, Matt Davidson, Kevan Smith, Hector Santiago, Ryan LaMarre, Ian Clarkin
Of MLBTR’s top ten free agents this winter, the White Sox reportedly showed some level of interest in at least seven of them. Their most high-profile pursuit was that of Manny Machado. Prior to the Winter Meetings, GM Rick Hahn tried to make it clear to reporters that he couldn’t “guarantee by any stretch that we’re going to convert on these targets.” Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel notwithstanding, the dust has settled on the offseason, and the White Sox failed to convert on any premium player they were targeting.
Looking at what the team actually did, this was a fairly typical recent White Sox offseason. It’s just that fan expectations tend to balloon when front office brass is meeting with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, we know the team can afford either player, and it’s about that time where a rebuilding process draws to a close. The club hung around in the Machado bidding til the bitter end, strangely acquiring Manny’s brother-in-law Yonder Alonso and good friend Jon Jay presumably to help close the gap on an offer that fell far short. Here’s White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams attempting to defend the team’s eight-year, $250MM final offer, as reported by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times: “People are lost on the fact that on a yearly basis, our offer was more than San Diego’s. The average annual value was $31 [million] and change. So it was about years guaranteed. So there is an argument that could be made that our offer was the better of the two. It certainly had more upside for him. All he had to do was basically stay healthy.” This is almost comical, as is Williams’ assertion that if the team had gone further financially, fans would have been “much more disappointed in our inability to keep this next core together.” The key piece of that core, Eloy Jimenez, remains a minor leaguer for the purpose of gaining control of his 2025 season. The team’s “next core” literally hasn’t reached the Majors yet, but giving Machado an extra two years would break it up?
Chicago’s offer to Machado came in a full $50MM shy of the contract he received from the Padres. The Sox thought this star free agent was going to be swayed by a ridiculous $100MM in additional non-guaranteed money, or by the acquisition of his buddies? Going into free agency, there was never a reason to think $250MM would get the job done for Machado or Harper, so why even try? Hahn’s claim that the Sox made a “very aggressive offer” is patently untrue. With every large market team sitting out Machado’s market and the price coming in much lower than it could have been, the White Sox still never got close. After losing out on Machado, Hahn pledged, “The money will be spent. It might not be spent this offseason, but it will be spent at some point. This isn’t money sitting around waiting to just accumulate interest. It’s money trying to be deployed to put us in best position to win some championships.”
Perhaps Hahn said that so that Sox fans will dream about signing Anthony Rendon or Xander Bogaerts next winter, but the Machado progression hardly inspires confidence that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is willing to outspend the field for a premium free agent. When Reinsdorf last did that by signing Albert Belle – over 22 years ago – Bud Selig and the owners were stunned that “the owner who’s railed the loudest and longest about curbing player salaries has just broken the bank,” wrote Jon Pessah in his 2015 book The Game. There’s little reason to think Reinsdorf will shatter precedent again.
Given the self-imposed $250MM limit on Machado, the White Sox knew they weren’t going to get close on Harper. The White Sox certainly explored other avenues, including upgrades at catcher. They made a multiyear offer (terms unknown) to Yasmani Grandal, according to Robert Murray of The Athletic. And the Sox were “in the mix” for J.T. Realmuto, according to Ken Rosenthal. The White Sox had moved on from last year’s tandem, Omar Narvaez and Kevan Smith, deciding someone new should pair with Welington Castillo in 2019. They went with non-tendered former Tigers catcher James McCann. Patrick Nolan of Sox Machine disparaged the choice, writing, “The White Sox’ young pitchers have had the misfortune of throwing to tiny strike zones and guys who let the ball get away, and McCann’s poor receiving and pitch-blocking will help continue that trend.” It’s particularly painful to see a pitcher’s dream backstop, Martin Maldonado, sign with a division rival for the same contract (although Maldonado’s asking price at the time McCann signed had not yet fallen to this level).
The White Sox made reasonable efforts to address their bullpen this winter, trading Narvaez for Colome in November and signing Herrera in January. Colome is under team control through the 2020 season, though his salary in that season will climb even higher than this year’s $7.325MM. He’s a solid reliever who stands a good chance of serving as the team’s closer. They also signed Herrera to a two-year deal with a vesting option for a third season. Herrera had surgery in September to repair a torn Lisfranc ligament in his foot, but he’s made his Cactus League debut, implying the procedure may not affect him during the 2019 season. Herrera’s got some other red flags, such as 2018’s declining strikeout and ground-ball rates, but the 29-year-old still throws 97 miles per hour and has a chance to be a major asset to Chicago. Along with holdovers Nate Jones and Jace Fry, this could be a decent bullpen, especially compared to the cumulative work of last year’s unit. The White Sox reportedly showed interest in Adam Ottavino, Andrew Miller, and Joe Kelly before they signed elsewhere.
With highly-regarded pitching prospect Michael Kopech out for 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and James Shields gone to free agency (though technically still unsigned), the White Sox reportedly poked their head in on free agents Patrick Corbin, J.A. Happ, and Nathan Eovaldi, before ultimately trading for Ivan Nova in December. Nova, owed $8.5MM in 2019, is a pitch-to-contact, homer-prone veteran who projects for an ERA around 4.60. If you’re looking for a veteran starter who could potentially be flipped for something interesting in July, Nova doesn’t qualify. Nor does Ervin Santana, who signed a minor league deal but seems likely to eventually earn the team’s fifth starter job.
“Fundamentally this is a baseball deal,” Hahn told reporters upon acquiring Alonso from the Indians in December, but that claim hardly stands up when looking at the types of contracts that comparable first-base-only sluggers received this offseason (MLBTR Free Agent Tracker link). I again turn to Patrick Nolan of Sox Machine, who explains that adding Alonso at designated hitter will “either eat into Daniel Palka’s plate appearances or force everyone to watch Palka play the outfield more often,” while it also “helped out a division rival with $8 million in cash relief.” That’s a little harsh, but in Nova and Alonso, the White Sox took on $17.5MM for a pair of players projected by Steamer and ZiPS to be worth about one WAR apiece in 2019. It feels like spending money just to spend money.
Jay, his friendship with Machado aside, is an acceptable veteran stopgap for a club that parted ways with longtime right fielder Avisail Garcia. Top prospect Eloy Jimenez will start the season at Triple-A after being optioned just hours ago — presumably to “work on his defense” or another semi-vague reason that will be resolved once he cannot accrue a full year of service time in 2019 (as is commonplace throughout the league with this caliber of prospect). Until Jimenez arrives, none of the White Sox outfielders look like part of their next contending team.
The truly baffling aspect of Chicago’s offseason additions is that had they simply condensed the money offered to that patchwork collection of stopgaps, those resources could’ve been utilized to up the offer to Machado — a transformative player who’d move the needle considerably more not only in 2019 but in the long term. The near-$50MM they spent on this offseason’s group is worth much more than $50MM in 2028-29 dollars. Perhaps the Padres would’ve been willing to further increase their proposal had the ChiSox presented a legitimately competitive offer, but the approach would’ve been much more understandable.
2019 Season Outlook
Fangraphs projects the White Sox as a 70-win team this year, virtually no different from the Tigers or Royals. Given the team’s run at Machado, this may seem like an incredibly disappointing offseason, but go back to something Hahn said in September 2017: “I think even under the most optimistic projections of our ability to contend, certainly ’18 and ’19 don’t include the bulk of the time when we anticipate having a window open to us.”
So, it seems the club was willing to sign Machado or Harper at a relative bargain price and maybe make a little noise in ’19, but that duo’s free agency was always coming a year before the White Sox thought their team would be ready. The White Sox have just $12.5MM committed to two players for the 2020 roster, so they’ll again enjoy major payroll flexibility in the offseason. Generally, you don’t get a fourth year for an intentional rebuild, so it’s 2020 or bust for this group.
How would you grade the White Sox’ offseason? (Poll link for Trade Rumors app users.)
I can’t be mad at CWS for doing what they were supposed to do: stay the course. The team is rebuilding with no real core in place. Thoughts that a premium free agent would put this team over the top are pipe dreams. They still need more time marinating at the bottom of the standings to one day soon field a contender. The frame work is in place on the farm to create a talented nucleus with Kopech and Eloy leading the way. Let the tanking begin!
Let the tanking begin? Hahaha, coulda made that comment a decade ago. Their “framework” is not in place. That’s why many are down on them. The local media and what’s left of their fanbase is beyond frustrating. Their inept and clueless front office has not proven they can even self scout, much less assess other team’s talent. They claimed to be “All In” just a few years back and literally ended up with a worse record than teams ACTIVELY tanking. Boston fleeced them for the only “star” player they had in Sale. Moncada is already being compared to Buxton as a BUST. Giolito, Fulmer, Rodon, Lopez… BUST, BUST, BUST, BUST. You mentioned Kopech?!? Haha, yeah, his arm fell off, so he won’t even pick up a baseball til 2020. So what exactly is this “framework”? In spite of drafting high for several years now, nothing even remotely exciting.
Many have tried what the Cubs/Astros achieved, VERY FEW actually succeeded. It’s pathetic that they signed all of Machado’s bum friends/relatives because they were so thirsty to get an actual stud player. The last time they signed a stud MLB free agent in his prime, it was Albert (or Joey) Belle and that dude was literally crazy. It was also over 25 years ago. If the fans and the media know this front office is a joke, obviously the players and their reps are aware. It’s not like Manny turned them down for a contender.
Exactly ZERO reason to believe that this front office is just gonna wake up and figure it out all of a sudden. Couple that with a notoriously cheap owner, I don’t see the White Sox being even remotely relevant any time soon.
It’s sad really, Reinsdorf is not good for Chicago. He’s turned the Bulls and the Sox into jokes because of his cheapness and irrational loyalty to clown front office guys. Not trolling, not hating, just calling it like it is. I sincerely feel bad for my friends that are White Sox fans. They’re not homers, they are livid with JR and this FO. It would only help Chicago if the Bulls and Sox were relevant. Sadly, I don’t know when that could realistically happen.
Lol Cubs fans…maybe stick to Schaumburg/Naperville (Omaha maybe? Lol) politics; this is a baseball forum.
Jesus man, breathe. They have a top 5 farm, so it’s not like help isn’t on the way. They also have a high draft position from losing in 2018. I agree with you on some points, they’ve had unfortunate luck with upper tier prospects, but prospects are unproven commodities and it happens. Every org has picked and invested in busted prospects. I mentioned Eloy and Kopech because I see them as the real deal. The White Sox started their rebuild after they traded Sale, so if you’re measuring them on the Astros/Cubs 5 year tank plan, they still have a couple more years left, give them a break. Your vitriol is clearly showing.
I’m not a Sox fan, hahaha, I’m breathing just fine. Honestly, my disdain is more for Reinsdorf than the Sox. I’m just glad he doesn’t own the Cubs, Bears or Hawks.
Same copy and pasted post with the same subjective opinions. Bryzzo is incapable of giving an objective opinion as a baseball fan. I think he believes that since he’s a cub fan he is required to hate the Sox. This is the common thought process of a teenager or someone who doesn’t live in Chicago. He post more on Sox stories than he does Cubs….it’s bizarre.
Nope, I actually wish Reinsdorf didn’t own the Sox or Bulls. That’s where my disdain lies. As far as copying and pasting, not quite, but I’m gonna keep posting the truth until the narrative changes. It is what it is.
White Sox owner is investor, not baseball fan, only investor. That said, he is busy restructure for his whole portfolio, sell sell sell other assets, take heavy cash position says news. Someone offer him 1.2 billion for Sox? My predict, sold!
And hopefully too, a lot!
Ejemp2006, Who can really follow this gibberish? Same on almost every article you post on.
Bro WTF?
Great observations. It’s amazing how many Sox fans adore the emperor’s new clothes.
You are spot on with your comments. This team still cannot draft. And, they can trade for the best prospects around MLB… But still can’t develop the talent. That’s because Reinsdorf won’t spend $$$ for premium coaches who can develop players. Until Reinsdorf and his ownership group our gone, MEDIOCRITY will rein on the Southside.
Maybe you should give the prospects they’ve acquired a little bit of time before writing them all off… The only top prospects we’ve seen at the big league level so far are Moncada (who is being written off WAY too early) and Kopech. Most of the talent is still at AA and below. A little bit of patience would leave you a lot less disappointed.
Oh yah, and both Eloy/Cease have taken significant steps forward since joining the Sox organization, so there’s that.
Outside of the normal, incoherent rambling that has been addressed time and time again, I feel like you should know that Kopech has already resumed throwing.
You sure typed a lot of words. Congrats on wasting your time. I stopped reading after Bryzzo2016. For a Cubs fan you sure spend a lot of time thinking (and typing) about the White Sox.
Just release Jay. I’d rather see if Charlie Tilson can become a high OBP 4th OF if we’re looking to have a lefty hitting outfielder with zero pop get significant playing time.
I gave them an A. A for atrocious.
year 3 of the rebuild is supposed to be the one that inspires confidence. this is the model the royals, cubs, and astros have pulled off recently. given the sox failed to sign manny and implicitly announced they’re going to remain cheap for the near future, the only way they’ll inspire confidence is if moncada, eloy, lopez, anderson, giolito, and at least one unexpected player on the ML roster break out in a big way this year before they become marginally expensive. thats highly unlikely, so it looks like 2019 will be pretty bad and 2020 will be “year 4 of the rebuild”
As a ChiSox fan for 23 years I’ll say this: If Eloy and Cease don’t perform well and the other players don’t improve Rick and Jerry better start hitting the panic button because White Sox fans won’t tolerate a failure in free agency next year.
Many have already had enough. Two of my best friends are Sox fans and they both gave up their season tix. Sadly, as long as Reinsdorf owns them, it’s gonna be brutal. You can’t be a major market team and have one legit free agent signing in 25 years especially when you have a front office that has not proven they can develop talent. That’s a brutal combo.
Bryzzo,
Say your piece once. If you have something new to say, add another comment. But PLEASE STOP REPEATING THE SAME THING. Saying it multiple times doesn’t make it more accurate, more incisive, or more original. It only makes you look more desperate to get attention. .
That’s the Reinsdorf way…
If that 23 number is accurate you should take a look at the shenanigans Jerry was pulling in the 80’s threatening to move the team to Florida to get the legislature to fund a new stadium. He’s a sly one that Reinsdorf, he was never moving that team anywhere. The front office sticks around because they are fully on board with crafting the sorts of cockamamie nonsense you see above from Hahn and Williams. Make money, and fabricate a reality in which people don’t realize you aren’t really trying as hard as you can to compete.
Happy with the offseason. Didn’t force any free agent signings. Was really worried they were going to get Machado. Rather get Rendon next year.
Really? What makes you think the Sox will get anybody to come there? Rendon is decent, not a star player though. The Nats will most likely extend him anyway. The Sox are most likely the last team on any top free agent’s list. Reinsdorf expects them to come to Chicago for below market value. That pretty much guarantees they’ll never get any elite talent.
What do you consider a star? Rendon hasn’t had a WAR under 4 in any year he’s played a full season, with 3 of those 4 years he put up at least 6. He’s been a more valuable player, by WAR, than Harper over the last 3 years
A star player is someone with generational talent, like Trout or Betts. Rendon is a good, not great, player.
You won’t get Rendon next year. Reinsdorf will not pay. And in order to get any decent FA to come to the Southside, Sox will have to overpay. Reinsdorf won’t do that.
Forget overpaying. They never offer market value contracts for premium players anyway.
This really isn’t fair. Do you guys have to display and lay out their offseason? Looks like they went dumpster diving to add to an existing dumpster fire. Signing all of Machado’s bum friends/family but then whiffing on Manny himself would be comical if it weren’t so pathetic. JR let the F’n Padres take him from them? It’s like going to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, ordering all the sides and then being to cheap to buy the actual steak. Only these sides are really not good, not even sort of good…. bad actually, BUT you’re stuck with them. It’s criminal what Reinsdorf has done to the Sox and Bulls, it’s infuriating. Gar/Pax Rick/Kenny would have been fired A LONG time ago in any other pro sports franchise that was worth their salt.
Your obsession with the Sox is unhealthy.
Hahaha… wow, thank god I’m not. That would be a pretty sad existence, I feel for Sox fans.
Listen to the cubs fan talk about “sad existence”. The cubs have the longest track record of poor performance in professional sports. Literally no one has been worse.
Looks like they did more than the Cubs, though.
While the White Sox could certainly afford Machado at a higher price than their offer, I think the tone regarding the offer to Machado is overly critical. What other teams were even willing to spend at the White Sox level? Lozano was likely using Chicago’s offers as a bargaining chip the whole time. The White Sox probably thought they were bidding against themselves to an extent.
The from office may have been thinking they could get a star player below cost but when getting a return on the contract became less of a sure thing they choose to stop bidding.
I also don’t think their current roster is nearly as ready to come out of the rebuild as San Diego without significant progress from the likes of Moncada, Lopez, Giolito and still unproven talent delivering i.e. post injury Kopech and other young pitching. Even the Braves, with more talent on hand, needed a lot to go right last season, Phillies too. This roster just has so many holes and not a lot of high ceiling talent to plug them yet.
Not to mention the White Sox’s offer was up to $350M with incentives from what I’ve understood for quite a while now. Machado went for all guarantees. This article is overly critical and biased.
You fail to understand the importance of guaranteed money.
No player would look at the White Sox’ offer and think it was better than the Padres’ offer because it could’ve technically been more lucrative if Manny had stayed healthy as a 34- or 35-year-old. The Padres’ offer was overwhelmingly better for the player.
This organization loves screwing what few fans there are left.
Now people get why Sox fans don’t show up for games. These chumps in the front office can’t ever get on the same page. The GM’s telling the fans about things the owner and execs have no intention of doing. Meanwhile we get the same mediocre players year after year. $250M in revenues every year, and you can’t get one elite player signed? I hope the few fans left stay away until the team is sold, or figures out what a big league baseball roster is supposed to look like. And before cubs fans start running their mouths, the northside club’s in the same boat. Their fans are just too stupid to notice.
B for effort.
the worst organization in baseball why didn’t the rebuild start with front office and then coaches
Exactly. An organizational rebuild. Domestic/International scouting. Player development, both in the minors and international academies. But that cost money to hire proven guys top to bottom, to change the culture of an organization, and Reinsdorf likes money a lot more than building a sustainable winner.
I’m sorry, by far the worst organization are the Pittsburgh Submarines… I mean the Pirates.
Oh, I don’t know about that. I’d actually like to see a poll on who will have the worse record between the Marlins, Pirates and White Sox. In spite of the W Sox playing in easily the worst division in baseball and the Marlins and Pirates playing in VERY strong divisions, I still think the W Sox will have the worse record.
Easy Mr. Cub fan.
Perhaps a poll on where each Chicago team will finish in their respective Central Division standings will be more appropriate and also provide you with a taste of humble pie.
My guess is that the White Sox would finish 3rd in such a vote, besting both the Tigers and Royals. I suspect the Cubs might also claim a similar spot in a very tough to predict NL Central, perhaps ahead of the Pirates and Reds but behind the Cardinals and Brewers.
Honesrt, excellent assessment. Well done, Tim.
I stopped reading after the first sentence. So depressing. When do the Bears start playing again?
Thank God Reinsdorf doesn’t own them.
Best offseason move: Ervin Santana (and maybe Hererra). Worst offseason move: all the rest. You know who had a better offseason? My toilet.
I truly am sorry Sox fans. Well, you can always watch reruns of Eight Men Out.
Well, I posted a few comments earlier. The admin chose not to post it for some reason. They obviously have no problem with me calling the White Sox a third rate organization, owned by a penny-pincher and run by sycophantic yes-men. I’m thinking they didn’t like me calling out the inevitable derisive cubs contingent. The northside organization has been the same train wreck as the southsiders. The cubs fanbase is not savvy enough to know or care. But I digress. The White Sox currently bring in roughly $240M in annual revenues the last I checked. This is slightly below average for a MLB team, but it’s still plenty enough to get ONE ELITE PLAYER SIGNED. JUST ONE. Until the team is sold, or the current regime stops trying to catch lightning with a bottle and actually, you know, puts together a big league roster worth watching for once, the few people who care anymore have no good reason to attend any MLB games, let alone a White Sox game.
ChiSox, I get that selective reasoning is probably the only way you can stomach what’s happening (or not happening) on the south side, but this is a stretch… even for you. Theo&Co did EXACTLY what he said he’d do, actually a year earlier. More importantly, he assembled a sustainable contender. When was the last time the Sox made playoffs 4 straight years and counting? How about 3 straight NLCS? Theo’s 1st rounders and acquired “prospects” all graduated and won a ring. They’re still together with most of them not even at their peak playing ages yet. They signed their free agent targets which successfully completed the CHAMPIONSHIP puzzle… again that is still intact. Blah, blah, blah you’ve heard it before.
Sooooo, what about Cubs is a “train wreck”? As much as you’d love it to be the case, you can’t compare anything about the Sox to the Cubs. Stop yourself. At least try to hold on to some dignity.
Hahaha, as far as Cubs fans showing up to give trolls like YOU your medicine… well, that’s the tax for inexplicably trolling EVERY SINGLE Cubs post. Aside from the obvious irony, why would a White Sox fan troll ANY TEAM in baseball. Are you serious? Many are comparing your inadequacies as an organization to the F’n Marlins.
Ricketts went after a proven guy in Theo. Then he opened up the checkbook and Theo knew exactly what was needed. A COMPLETE organizational rebuild, tear down. Proven scouts, proven managers and coaches to develop the “prospects”. Who did the Sox hire? Scotty F’n Pods?!?!? I’m sorry what about his track record even suggests he is qualified to be on the front line of development and scouting. He was cheap, which is EXACTLY why he’s Reinsdorf’s kinda guy. It’s no coincidence that the HIGH 1st rd picks continue to miss. Why all these “prospects” were underwhelming to say the least when they graduated to the show. ALL OF THEM.
I get that your bitter, I can only imagine watching the clown college on the south side, but it’s not Cub fans you should be mad at. If you don’t like being trolled…. THEN STOP TROLLING. Especially when your team is the most irrelevant joke in pro sports. It’s just a bad look.
I’m glad you’re happy with “four years of playoff appearances”. A short term memory is a prerequisite of any cubs fan, especially now. I needn’t remind you of the 100+ years of utter futility that is cubs baseball then. Merely a distant memory of a bygone age. Surely, that $200M roster makes the cubs a front runner on the senior circuit. No? They’ll have to fight for a playoff spot, you say? Funny what a couple of bad contracts can do. Better keep your eye on the ball, cubs fans.
Hahaha, so when did the Sox go to the playoffs 4 years in a row again? Oh and this isn’t history, this matters because this is the same team that won. The same core. This owner, front office, team has exactly ZERO to do with what happen over the last century good or bad. I personally haven’t gone 100 years with or without seeing anything. Just like the current Sox team has ZERO to do with 1917 or even 2005 for that matter. It doesn’t matter how you desperately try to spin it. How far do you wanna go back? How many times have the Sox made the playoffs in the last 30 years? Division titles? Again, it doesn’t matter how you slice it, it doesn’t look good for the south side. It’s like “winning ugly” only without the winning part.
It’s a near impossible task to talk baseball with a cubs fan, due to the myopic viewpoint and delusion. But take a look at your ballclub, cuz the cubs are not half as good as they were in 2016. You wanna talk about busts? Schwarber, Happ, Contreras, Almora are replacement level. I would call Heyward a bust, but he’s more of a flop since he’s never established much of a ceiling offensively. Bryant may still be an elite player, but he won’t be a cub much longer so it’s kind of moot. They’re an average defensive team with Baez at SS. He leaves a sizable hole at 2nd. This could have been avoided had Epstein not traded Torres for a 2.5 month rental of a relief pitcher, but I digress. I won’t even bother mentioning their rapidly declining rotation. The balls will fly, and the cubs will struggle to score enough runs to win most days. It won’t be pretty. On the flipside of this is the cubs have a lot of money coming off the books the next few years. Blowing it all up should move things along faster though. Hope you’re ready for a rebuild, and more disappointment in the free agent market. Either way, the cubs are no longer a playoff team. The Brewers and Cards are the class of the NL Central.
The Sox bit hard on the Machado sweepstakes and came out losers; it happens. As a lifelong Sox fan I am not discouraged though, because the offer was there. The problem is that unproven talent is a crap shoot and prospects fail more often then not. I am glad they are staying the course, and would love them to spend some money on some higher profiled free agents, but it will not be this off-season. Jerry knows that and so does Hahn. Give Hahn a chance to see this through and keep Kenny out of the decision making process. Outside of that the article feels a bit too scathing for an “unbiased” opinion.
Tim, I respect your loyalty and I do appreciate your positivity. But why on Earth would you feel confident in this Front Office signing any big profile free agents with the way they handled the Machado deal?
They’ve said themselves they had been working on a strategy since last July to sign Machado, and they still missed the mark by a mile.
They then still failed to realize that fully guaranteed deals are the only thing that super stars care about. While continuing to tell their fan base that they had the highest offer, and leave out the part about Machado needing to hit a bunch of at bat benchmarks.
They also failed to mention that they have the ability to control these at bat bench marks and potentially screw Machado out of his money later on.
It’s just a laundry less of messiness, but seriously I’m not trying to be a jerk to you as you seem like a good guy. I’m just warning you, that you may want to take a second look at who is running this team.
It’s beyond messy. It’s a trainwreck in a sandstorm falling off a cliff into a pit of broken glass and fireworks. 100 losses this year. FREINSDORF
This article is spot on. Them helping a division rival by taking on Alonso’s unwanted crappy contract is just flat dumb, and lowballing Machado with that incentive based deal makes it more ridiculous.
Just clueless
Lowballing Machado by offering him $30+M per year, which would make him one of the highest paid position players in all of baseball this year, while also giving him a chance to be the highest paid player in the history of baseball. Stop acting like they offered him 10yr/$200M. This is getting ridiculous. They were willing to go higher on him than literally any other team besides the Padres. He took the contract with less AAV and less potential but more guaranteed money. Move on.
And anyone that thinks they screwed up by not signing other free agents instead is clueless. It was Machado, Harper, or nothing this offseason, and that is ABSOLUTELY the way it should’ve been. Give the prospects another year, then try again in free agency and/or the trade market next year.
Oh yah, and I gave them a D for this offseason. If they weren’t so vocal about going all in on Machado, I would’ve given them a B and been 100% on board with them staying on course. But the fact that they weren’t willing to go all in on Machado from day 1 despite saying they were going all in on him is a bad look. The contact offered was very respectable though and NOT EVEN CLOSE to a lowball, unlike the initially reported ~$175M offer.
Aren’t their two top pitching prospects pretty much done for all of 2019?
One definitely. Second most likely.
Last time I checked, Cease was not hurt. Based on how things have gone the last 2 years, that very well could’ve changed though. But yes, one is out for the year.
They were off $50 million guaranteed bucks for what Machado signed for and put together some silly incentive based deal that no super stars are interested in. They weren’t even close, as much as Kenny likes to act like it was so aggressive. They got beat by $50 Million. That’s low balling
And no one thinks they should’ve signed anyone but Harper or Machado. People think they should have sucked it up and guaranteed what it took instead of using something like plate appearances as an incentive. Obviously everyone know the team can control the amount of plate appearances a player gets.
I gave the White Sox a “D” for:
Duping their fans into thinking they would sign Manny Machado or Bryce Harper.
Dim-witted in prioritizing Machado over Harper when the latter was the better batting order and business fit.
Dumb for the comments Kenny Williams made defending his boss Jerry Reinsdorf.
Disappointing their fans all offseason including at their late January convention when they continued their charade of signing one of the elite FA’s and that other acquisitions where likely to follow. Were still waiting Rick.
The only reason I didn’t give them an “F” was for adding some short term veterans who should provide some leadership to a young team while also becoming flip candidates later this summer. If the team does add FA southpaw Dallas Keuchel or trade for a controllable young talent like OF Alex Verdugo or Kyle Tucker before opening day I will be more than happy to change my grade.
I doubt the White Sox would forfeit the 45th pick in the draft and $500,000 in international spending to sign Keuchel.
Yes. I doubt that as well. I give myself a “D” for delusional wishful thinking!
Keuchel’s not worth the contract he’s asking for anyway. He’s a #3 starter at best.
“He’s a #3 starter at best” He’d easily be the #1 on the White Sox.
Did anyone notice the horrible comments and profanity on the comment section for the polls? MLBTR, get on that! I think it’s fake too because the names doing these comments were Jeff Todd, Tim Dierkas sorry misspelled that, and the infamous xabiel
Agreed. Tim, my children and grandchildren were scarred for life for reading such filth. Please protect them and ban all comments. Thank you.
I don’t believe any of the White Sox player losses this offseason were notable.
It’s not easy being a Sox fan but I do my best to remain loyal mostly for the sake of the players. The off season left much to be desired and they don’t look good on paper but I still hold my judgment until about a third of the way through the season. Hopefully we can look forward to Eloy.
Thinking they could compete in 2016 set them back a little. I’m sure the organization wishes they didn’t deal Tatis Jr for Shields.
They didn’t land that big fish. They’re probably two years away.
Two years away from what? Trading away most of their prospects? I have zero faith in the competence or commitment of this organization to build a contending team. Chicagoans better hope the Bears find a kicker, and run better plays next. That’s all you have to look forward with so many loser teams.
Are you really a Sox fan? Or Is this your way of not being let down by a bad season?
Been a Sox fan for the last 35 years. Was a cubs fan before that, until about 11 years old (cheap scumbags too).
When you follow something that long, you gain a top down perspective on things. That said, the Sox are run by people who want to win, but who lack the commitment to ever see it through.
Starting to believe ChiSoxCity is Bryzzo under a different name
You can be a Sox fan and be disgusted by their Front Office. The optimistic Sox fans are the ones who surprise me. Don’t you hold anyone culpable for 10 years of complete garbage baseball? 1 World Series win in 100 years? No consecutive postseason appearances EVER?
I am in the same boat, wasn’t ever a Cub fan though but I love the Sox and grew up in a family of Sox fans. I tried the pessimist approach since they have been so bad, but I’m trying to be positive about the future. I really am. 2005 was great but I want that again one more time. Hell i’ll even take the playoffs at least.
I may not be a White Sox fan, but I do acknowledge their farm system. Prospects are on the heels of making it to the big leagues. Why go after Harper or Machado when they aren’t expecting to compete for another few years? The moves they made this offseason was to still keep the door open for their prospects coming up. It was just a mere way to have depth until these young kids are ready. Give it time White Sox fans.
Anyone else got tired of reading this by the 3 paragraph because of how many times Machado was brought up? This whole article was about (and repeated throughout) losing out on him. It doesn’t go into depth about the Sox system or where their current positions placement stands. The whole article was about Machado. Worst read today
The only prospects on the heels are Jimenez and Cease, who will probably be victimized by service time antics.
Kopech is out with TJS, Dunning will likely have it soon, and no other prospects of note will likely reach the majors this year, or even be ready for next Spring.
The WS deserve criticism, because the entire offseason plan was going all in on Machado with a pair of 2s and 3s. They had to know they were likely going to get outbid, and had no other plan for going after other players who could help the rebuild. In fact, the only area they bolstered was the bullpen, which is the one area where they have prospects ready to challenge for spots.
This is a rebuild being led by that cousin you know who worked on houses a few years back, who combined you they can do your home renovation cheap.
Tim Dierkes spitting fire! I love it.
I smirked at the part of the article that said ” it’s about that time where a rebuilding process draws to a close.” Where are the building blocks on the ML team? They still have stop gaps all over the roster. None of the young players have lived up to expectations, though some do look like major league players. The shine is still in the minors, and on the disabled list. How about the rebuild start, before putting the finishing touches on it?
The WSox big picture concerns prior to the rebuild remain as they were until proven otherwise……..developing productive everyday position players. Rash of prospect major injuries (especially Kopech/Dunning) not helping either. 250mil was a good guaranteed limit and arguably a stretch for someone who isn’t a leader. Overbidding isn’t a skill. You set confidential internal limits on specific players case-by-case. Desperately paying through the nose is what can and should get you fired when baseball is a game of being flexible to have many good players at various positions rather than a PR “splash’. That said, they did a very poor job managing expectations. Time for Rodon/Anderson/Moncada to look like 1st round draft picks and the hot shot prospect they supposedly were instead of okay players that show flashes of promise.
Far and away the worst front office in baseball. In the group picture for worst front office in all of sports. Ordinarily, this would be a temporary thing- there would be heads rolling before long- but this particular ownership seems to have a thing for lifetime appointments. There IS light at the end of the tunnel- it’s just that it’s a freight train.
Why would you give the keys to a rebuild to the same group of jabronis that ran the whole thing into the ground?