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2011 Contract Issues: Chicago White Sox

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The White Sox face two contractual options after the season:

  • Reliever Matt Thornton has a $3MM club option with a $250K buyout.  This is a good bet to be exercised.
  • Backup catcher Ramon Castro has a $1.2MM club option with a $200K buyout.  He's missed most of the season with a heel injury.

The team's other free agents are earning $26.125MM this year, led by Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski.  If they also let Castro go and we add in buyouts paid to Jermaine Dye and Mike MacDougal, the Sox have nearly $29MM coming off the books.

Increases to players under contract total $11.3MM, with Alex Rios, Juan Pierre, Mark Teahen, and Gavin Floyd getting bumps of at least $2MM.  There are also arbitration cases to consider: Alexei Ramirez goes for the first time, John Danks, Carlos Quentin, and Tony Pena a second, and Bobby Jenks a third.  Technically Ramirez is already under contract for '11, but perhaps he's allowed to choose arbitration if he prefers.  I think Jenks will be non-tendered, meaning another $7.5MM off the books.

Using the above scenarios I think the White Sox would have approximately $15MM to work with if they hold payroll steady.  Keep in mind that's before re-signing any free agents, including 2010 offensive standouts Konerko and Andruw Jones.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

Teams That Could Look For An Upgrade At DH

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Designated hitter usually isn't a position that you'll see teams go out and spend big bucks to fill. Most of the 14 AL clubs have an older and fading player still under contract that can't play the field anymore, so a lot of times he'll get the spot by default. Think David Ortiz and Eric Chavez. Even when a team does go into the free agent market for a DH, they usually won't commit more than one year to a player. 

Here are a few a clubs getting below average production from a roster spot designed to do nothing but hit…

  • Angels: After a hot start, Hideki Matsui has tailed off, and overall the team's DH's are hitting .207/.305/.342.
  • Athletics: Chavez isn't getting the job done, posting a .235/.284/.318 batting line.
  • Mariners: Mike Sweeney and Ken Griffey Jr. have gotten most of the DH at-bats, and overall the team has gotten just .189/.250/.207 worth of production. They've been rumored to have interest in Jose Guillen.
  • Rays: In the second year of his two year deal, Pat Burrell is hitting .222/.321/.375, which is actually an improvement from 2009.
  • Red Sox: Ortiz has gotten most of the action at DH, but is hitting just .178/.265/.411.
  • White Sox: Chicago's DH spot has been a revolving door, but overall they've hit just .204/.297/.310.
  • Yankees: Nick Johnson was signed in the offseason to fill this spot, but he hit .167/.388/.306 before landing on the disabled list with a wrist issue.

If any of those teams want to upgrade their current DH situation, they could turn to the free agent market, where Carlos Delgado (recovering from hip surgery), Jermaine Dye, and Gary Sheffield reside. The trade market could also prove fruitful, as players like Guillen, Lance Berkman, and Luke Scott could be made available.

Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Gonzalez, Torre, Millar

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Ken Rosenthal's latest Full Count video is up at FOX Sports. Let's check out the highlights of this week's clip….

  • Given the Padres' success so far and the slow starts by some clubs who may be interested in Adrian Gonzalez (Mariners, White Sox, Braves), it looks for now as if the slugger could be traded in the offseason rather than in July.
  • If the White Sox made a play for Gonzalez, they wouldn't want to extend him for $20MM+ annually past 2011.
  • Friends of Joe Torre indicate to Rosenthal that the Dodgers' skipper may not want to return next year if the organization is still handcuffed financially by Frank McCourt's divorce. Rosenthal suggests that the Mets, Cubs, or Braves might end up being options for Torre.
  • Rosenthal questions the Cubs' decision to part ways with Kevin Millar, noting that the club could have used the 38-year-old's energy and clubhouse presence. The St. Paul Saints will be the beneficiaries of that clubhouse presence now.

Kenny Williams On Trade Chatter

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The White Sox may or may not have inquired about Astros' first baseman Lance Berkman according to Scot Gregor of The Daily Herald, but there's no chance GM Kenny Williams is putting together a package to acquire him. However, that didn't stop Williams from talking about the state of the trade market…

“I don’t think anyone is really prepared to make any deals right now,” said Williams. “And any interest expressed in any players out there who are impact guys has been done so for quite some time. There really isn’t much substance to anything at this stage of the season. Another 30 games, and you’ll start to see talk pick up."

“But if you’re not playing well it doesn’t make any sense to go down those roads, anyway. You've got to warrant that.”

The White Sox are just 12-17 on the young season, and their offense has been carried by the resurgent Andruw Jones and Paul Konerko. They've gotten basically no production out of catcher (.626 OPS), second base (.554), shortstop (.557), third base (.649), and left field (.644), so there's plenty of room for improvement.

Of course, if the club continues to struggle, then the White Sox could become sellers, rather than buyers.  In that case, a player like Konerko could be an attractive trading chip, as CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler points out.  This is the last year of Konerko's five-year, $60MM contract, so a budget-conscious contender would just have to take on two or three months' worth of Konerko's $12MM 2010 salary without making a long-term commitment.  Konerko could fit right in on a team like the Rays — they have a hole at DH with the struggling Pat Burrell, their minor league system is deep enough to spare a decent prospect even for a short-term rental player, and in Konerko, they get a veteran right-handed bat who knows AL pichers well and has lots of postseason experience.  Konerko has the right to veto a trade, but he might welcome the chance to join a pennant contender like Tampa Bay.

MLBTR's Mark Polishuk also contributed to this post

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Rays, Lackey, Peavy, Cano

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On this date 11 years ago, Hideki Irabu of the Yankees and Mac Suzuki of the Mariners faced off in the first match up of Japanese starting pitchers in Major League history. Irabu allowed one run over seven innings as the Yanks defeated Seattle by the score of 10-1.

Here are some links from around the baseball blogosphere…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Odds & Ends: Santana, Red Sox, Lee, Saunders

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Thursday night linkage..

White Sox Sign Luis Rodriguez

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The White Sox signed infielder Luis Rodriguez to a minor league deal, reports Baseball America's Matt Eddy.  Rodriguez had signed with the Indians earlier in the offseason, but was recently released.

Rodriguez, 29, hit .202/.319/.260 in 251 plate appearances for the Padres last year, with the fourth-worst OPS in baseball for a player with that many PAs.  He was considered the team's starting shortstop at one point, but lost his job to Everth Cabrera.

White Sox Acquire Buck Coats

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The White Sox have acquired outfielder Buck Coats from the Royals according to 610 Sports Radio out of Kansas City (via Twitter). The Royals receive cash considerations in the deal.

Coats, 28 in June, was hitting .315/.377/.389 in 62 plate appearances for Kansas City's Triple-A affiliate, playing left field exclusively. He last played in the majors with the Blue Jays in 2008, and is a .193/.242/.333 career hitter in 62 big league plate appearances. Coats has played all three outfield spots extensively throughout out his career, and even dabbled with the infield a few years ago.

Odds & Ends: Crawford, Raynor, Lackey, Strasburg

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Links for Tuesday, as Tim Lincecum reclaims the MLB strikeout lead…

  • Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times spoke to Crawford, who said he was misquoted in the upcoming Sports Illustrated piece mentioned below. "Nothing's changed, no decisions," he said. "I don't know what Carlos [Pena] is doing.''
  • Pirates' GM Neil Huntington told Chuck Finder of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette that he tried to made a deal with the Marlins that would allow Rule 5 pick John Raynor to remain with the Pirates, but to no avail. Raynor was returned to Florida today.
  • John Lackey said he wasn't surprised when the Angels let him depart as a free agent given their trade record with letting home grown players leave, according to Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. "It's different," said Lackey. "The way they preach the team game and giving it up for the team. That's a little suspect. You're supposed to give it up for the team. When the time comes, they might not want to give it up for you. But I totally knew that was a possibility. I was prepared for that. That's the nature of the game today."
  • Stephen Strasburg has been promoted and will make his Triple A debut Friday against Freddie Freeman and the Gwinnett Braves, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.  ESPN's Rob Neyer notes that Strasburg seems to be on the Mark Prior path to the bigs, perhaps delayed a few weeks for cost savings.
  • MASN's Ben Goessling says Nats 2006 first-round pick Colton Willems has decided to retire.  The team has the pitcher on the restricted list in case he changes his mind.
  • An upcoming Sports lllustrated piece on Carlos Pena features this quote from Carl Crawford: "This core group is going to still be together, me and Carlos are the only two guys that are going to be leaving."
  • The Royals granted reliever Roman Colon his release so he can sign with the Kia Tigers of Korea, according to the team.  Just three months ago, Colon and Juan Cruz were in the mix to be Joakim Soria's primary setup man.  The Royals' bullpen sports an AL-worst 5.56 ERA in 81 innings.
  • White Sox GM Kenny Williams wouldn't rule out a fire sale at a later date, but said the team's aggressive nature will probably prevent it (Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reporting).
  • ESPN's Buster Olney explains that his Saturday story about Cliff Lee being likely to reach free agency was prompted by a call Olney made to Lee's agent.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Blue Jays attempted to sign Kelly Johnson to play left field during the offseason, offering more than the $2.35MM Johnson received from Arizona.  Johnson told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic in March that he strongly considered offers from the Blue Jays, Pirates, and Indians.
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out that the upon acquiring Javier Vazquez, the Yankees considered two 2011 draft picks part of the deal.  Already, Vazquez's Type A status and arbitration offer are in question.  We'll be able to give you Vazquez's exact Elias standing later this month, when Eddie Bajek makes his first pass at 2009-10 rankings.
  • Dejan Kovacevic's latest article for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests the Pirates were overly optimistic about Akinori Iwamura, currently their highest-paid player.
  • Click here to listen to my radio appearance on KFNS St. Louis from earlier today.

Zduriencik Looking For Offense

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On Saturday, Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider looked at a bunch of potentially players who could help the Mariners' anemic offense.  Ms GM Jack Zduriencik talked to the AP about the situation yesterday:

"I've made a tremendous amount of phone calls. I continue to make phone calls. I've made several phone calls in the last three or four days.  But it's like hunting season. It's not hunting season right now. Nobody's selling."

White Sox GM Kenny Williams said something similar to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:

"I don't think anyone is really prepared to make any deals.  And any interest expressed in any players out there who are impact guys has been done for quite some time. There really isn't much substance to anything at this stage of the season. Another 30 games, and you'll start to see talk pick up."

It's true that we shouldn't expect many big trades in May.  I'm not sure why the Orioles and Royals wouldn't be willing to sell, but maybe they'd prefer to let the market develop. 

The Mariners might be able to improve the offense by replacing Ken Griffey Jr.  His .527 OPS is among the worst in baseball, but he's only had 63 plate appearances.  Zduriencik says Griffey still has some time to find his way out of the slump:  "You wait and see. You hope he gets on track.  It's early.  If he continues [to struggle] we will have to have some discussions with that."

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