Ken Williams Discusses White Sox Pursuit Of Machado, Harper
The White Sox took a rare foray into the high-end free agent market this winter but came away empty-handed in their attempts to sign either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. Machado ended up signing a ten-year, $300MM deal with the Padres, while Harper landed the most guaranteed money in baseball history ($330MM) on a 13-year contract from the Phillies.
In the wake of those enormous deals, White Sox executive VP Ken Williams defended his team against criticism from fans and pundits that the Sox should have spent more to come away with one of the two superstars. “It’s a shame if it’s being portrayed that we were on the cheap on this thing,” Williams told Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s really interesting because, holy s—, that’s a quarter of a billion dollars we offered [Machado] with a chance to be higher than what he’s getting.”
In regards to Harper, the White Sox had meetings with the outfielder and agent Scott Boras, but the team ultimately felt Harper’s asking price was simply too high, though Williams liked Harper personally. With Machado, however, the Sox made a much more ardent push, including the contract Williams referenced.
Chicago’s top offer to Machado was a reported $250MM in guaranteed money over eight years, plus a pair of $35MM vesting options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. Additional escalators and incentives could have maxed the deal out at $350MM over the decade-long span. Based just on the guaranteed years, Machado would’ve received an average annual value of $31.25MM per season, topping the $30MM AAV he’ll receive in San Diego.
“People are lost on the fact that on a yearly basis, our offer was more than San Diego’s….So it was about years guaranteed,” Williams said. “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.”
Williams shared in the fanbase’s disappointment that neither player was signed, saying that, “Rest assured that no one is feeling what Rick [White Sox GM Rick Hahn] and I are feeling because every single day since June of last year, this is what we had planned for, the pursuit of both Harper and Machado.
“Harper [was] well out of our range. With Machado, we extended ourselves as far as we could without jeopardizing what we’re going to need to do in the future….Our fans would have been much more disappointed in our inability to keep this next core together. We would have overextended ourselves had we gone to an uncomfortable level.”
Williams isn’t wrong in suggesting that a $250MM offer is a major commitment — after all, prior to Nolan Arenado‘s extension with the Rockies and the Harper/Machado signings, only three contracts in baseball history had ever topped the $250MM guaranteed money threshold. The most obvious counter-argument, of course, is that if the Sox were willing to go that far in their offer, it seems short-sighted to then ask Machado to absorb the risk for the vesting option years. It’s no small feat for any player to “basically stay healthy” in their mid-30’s, and it’s hard to imagine any player passing on that guarantee from the Padres for 2027-28 in order to chase the opportunity for only $20MM-$50MM more in salary from the White Sox. (I say “only” since that amount wouldn’t seem particularly enticing to a player like Machado who’d already amassed a fortune. By that same token, an extra $1.25MM in AAV is something of a drop in the bucket someone already making $30MM.)
The comments about how a Machado deal could impact future contracts might be tougher for White Sox fans to swallow. After all, the team has just $15.25MM on the books for the 2020 season, and Tim Anderson is the only player guaranteed money in 2021 and beyond.
As Van Schouwen notes, young stars like Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Michael Kopech, Carlos Rodon, and Anderson won’t start to get expensive for years. Anderson is already signed to an extension through at least 2022, Rodon has two arbitration years remaining, Moncada won’t be arb-eligible until 2021, Kopech has barely pitched at the MLB level, and Jimenez has yet to even make his Major League debut. Even all five of these players did develop into stars, extensions for all on top of a ten-year Machado contract shouldn’t have been much of a stretch for a club that plays in a major market like Chicago (and just landed a new broadcasting rights contract).
AL Central Notes: Hanley, Sano, Dunning, Tigers
Hanley Ramirez spoke to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel about his comeback bid with the Indians (subscription required), revealing that he had offers to join clubs following his release from the Red Sox last May. At the time, Ramirez told his agent that he preferred to take the remainder of the season to “get my body healthy and come back next year.” Informed that doing so would likely mean settling for a minor league contract — which proved spot on — Ramirez simply said he trusts himself and his ability to hit. As Meisel notes, that ability to hit is key for Ramirez, who’ll be viewed as a designated hitter if he breaks camp with Cleveland. That, in turn, would likely mean Carlos Santana serving as a dedicated first baseman and Jake Bauers playing primarily in the outfield, which would lead to further decisions in a muddled outfield mix.
A bit more from around the division…
- Twins slugger Miguel Sano is still about a week away from having the protective boot from his right foot, writes La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The laceration on his heel is “probably about 80 percent healed,” per Twins trainer Tony Leo, but its proximity to Sano’s Achilles tendon necessitates that it be fully healed up before he can resume baseball activity. That timeline could put Sano in doubt for Opening Day, though if all goes according to plan, he’ll have three weeks to build up to game activity and begin taking at-bats and reps at third base. New manager Rocco Baldelli simply stated that there’s “no way to say for sure” what Sano’s timeline is until the boot comes off.
- White Sox pitching prospect Dane Dunning won’t throw for seven to 10 days after having his recent bout of forearm discomfort examined by team physicians and doctor James Andrews, the team announced (h/t: Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, on Twitter). He’s slated to begin a throwing program at that point, assuming the pain in his arm has alleviated. Acquired alongside Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in the 2016 Adam Eaton swap, Dunning has raised his profile with the ChiSox and has drawn his share of praise on top 100 prospect rankings throughout the industry. However, while he turned in a stellar 2.71 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season, the 24-year-old was also limited to 86 1/3 innings by an elbow sprain.
- Tigers roster hopeful Dustin Peterson chatted with Chris McCosky of the Detroit News about his surprise at being designated for assignment by the Braves late last season and the opportunity he now has before him with his new organization. Peterson, who was promptly claimed by the Tigers upon hitting waivers, said he’d been hoping for a September call-up on the heels of a strong finish to his season in Triple-A Gwinnett. (Indeed, he hit .296/.345/.441 over his final 200 PAs with Gwinnett.) Instead, however, he was informed he’d been designated in order to make room on the roster for Preston Tucker (who’d spend the final month with Atlanta before being cut loose himself). McCosky notes that Peterson has been working out at first base to increase his versatility in a bid to make the Opening Day roster, though he does have a pair of minor league options remaining. Peterson could also see some time at DH, though manager Ron Gardenhire indicated to McCosky that the precise manner in which he utilizes the DH slot will be determined by how often Miguel Cabrera is capable of playing first base
Central Injury Notes: Darvish, Gray, Duffy, Dunning
Though he was clearly carrying plenty of rust, Cubs righty Yu Darvish nevertheless turned in a rather promising first spring outing today, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes. Darvish says he felt great and the radar guns reflected it. While he struggled a bit to stay in the zone, that’s a secondary concern at this point given the major health ailments that ruined his 2018 season. With $101MM still owed to Darvish over the next five years, the Cubs have to be encouraged to see him feeling strong, though he still has a ways to go to reestablish himself as a front-line starter.
More health notes from the central divisions …
- Reds right-hander Sonny Gray, who was scratched from his spring debut due to some elbow stiffness, is expected to throw a bullpen session Thursday, writes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The team’s most notable offseason addition to the rotation, Gray will also throw from flat ground at a distance of 120 feet today, per the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Fay (Twitter link). Manager David Bell told Feinsand that Gray was initially concerned about the elbow discomfort but is in vastly better spirits and has felt improvement each day since being scratched. For the time being, it seems, the Reds have decreasing reason to be concerned about Gray’s status.
- The Royals are “backing off” from using Danny Duffy for the time being, manager Ned Yost tells reporters (Twitter links via Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star). The southpaw experienced tightness in his shoulder and had difficulty getting loose for his latest side session, though he eventually completed that session. Duffy feels it’s a minor issue and some standard-issue early spring stiffness. The Royals are already down a rotation candidate with righty Trevor Oaks perhaps headed for hip surgery, and subtracting arguably their most talented starter from the mix would be a considerably more damaging blow. Duffy, 30, struggled through a down season in 2018 but was Kansas City’s best arm in 2016-17 when he worked to a 3.64 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 326 innings.
- There was some ominous news out of White Sox camp, as Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com tweets that pitching prospect Dane Dunning is due for a closer medical look after experiencing forearm discomfort. The talented young righty has shown quite well ever since he cracked the professional ranks and entered the 2018 campaign as a consensus top-100 prospect leaguewide. Unfortunately, he missed half of the 2018 season owing to an elbow sprain. The hope was that Dunning would be able to pick up where he left off this spring.
Spring Injuries: Davis, Palka, Mesa, Sandoval
With Spring Training games underway, we’ll use this post to track some of the minor aches and pains as they flare up around the game…
- A mild left calf strain has kept Khris Davis on the shelf for the beginning of Spring Training, per MLB.com’s Jane Lee. There’s not much cause for concern, but the A’s don’t want to rush Davis until he is back at full strength. He’s listed as day-to-day for now, though the issue has flared up a couple of times since the start of camp. Shutting down all baseball activity is the prudent move for Davis, who is of course a central piece for Oakland’s offense. The 31-year-old DH hit exactly .247 in each of the last four seasons, while his slugging has increased year-over-year, from .505 in 2015 to .524 in 2016 to .528 in 2017 to .549 last year. Davis is a key contributor in just about any scenarios that has the A’s challenging Houston for the AL West crown.
- White Sox right fielder Daniel Palka was pulled from a Spring Training game in the second inning today with left hamstring tightness, per Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Palka was hitting cleanup for the White Sox, who lost their first two spring contests in a pair of split-squad games on Saturday. Palka became a fan favorite while slugging 27 home runs for the Southsiders as a 26-year-old rookie last year, but he’ll need to develop other parts of his game to survive Chicago’s rebuild. His overall slash line of .240/.294/.484 combined with subpar defense in the outfield corners leaves much to be desired.
- Highly-touted Cuban prospect Victor Victor Mesa left Sunday’s Spring Training game with a right hamstring strain, per Wells Dusenbury of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Marlins 22-year-old outfielder left the game after running out a grounder. He will return to Jupiter to be re-examined, though it would not appear to be a serious injury. He’s listed as day-to-day. Hamstring injuries can linger, of course, and the Marlins will want to be extra cautious with their prized acquisition as they prepare him for his first professional season stateside.
- Pablo Sandoval tweaked a side muscle, though it does not appear to be anything serious. The Giants will hold him back a day or two, but rest appears the only course of action as of now, per Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle (via Twitter). Sandoval isn’t the player he once was, but he did rebound at least a little bit from his horror show days in Boston. Last season, Sandoval hit .248/.310/.417 across 252 plate appearances, which is production the Giants will take given their minimum salary commitment.
White Sox Sign Preston Tucker To Minor League Deal
The Chicago White Sox announced (via Twitter) a minor league deal for outfielder Preston Tucker. He has been invited to Spring Training, where he will wear number thirty-two.
Tucker has bounced around a bit the last few years, going from the Braves to the Reds and back to the Braves in 2018 after coming up in the Astros’ system. For his career, he has yet to find his stroke, hitting only .222/.281/.403, though he was close to league average with Atlanta before they traded him away the first time. Tucker, 28, was hitting .256/.307/.444 through 62 games when the Braves sent him to Cincinnati as part of the Adam Duvall trade. Atlanta bought him back from the Reds in early September, though he didn’t see much action the rest of the way.
Tucker represents a nice buy-low gambit for the White Sox, who have some at-bats to give in the outfield with Daniel Palka, Jon Jay and Adam Engel atop the depth chart for now. Veterans Brandon Guyer and Leury Garcia have also been brought in to camp to compete for a backup role. Tucker consistently put up monster power numbers in the minor leagues, and he has suffered from perennially low BABIP numbers at the big league level. There’s definitely some late-blooming potential here for Tucker, who finds a nice landing spot in Chicago where, if he makes the team out of camp, he could receive a real opportunity to establish himself early in the season.
White Sox, Ervin Santana Agree To Minor League Deal
Feb 23: The deal is official and Santana is present in the Sox clubhouse today, per the Athletic’s James Fegan (via Twitter).
Feb 22, 1:15pm: Santana’s contract comes with a $4.3MM base salary if he makes the roster, Heyman tweets. That’s an abnormally large base salary for a minor league pact and likely speaks to the interest that Santana had elsewhere. In essence, the White Sox gave Santana the opportunity to be guaranteed a rate that many would’ve expected him to command on a big league deal, but did so while delaying the need to make an immediate 40-man move.
10:52am: The White Sox and free-agent right-hander Ervin Santana have agreed to a minor league contract, Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reports (via Twitter). The contract is pending a physical. Santana will head to Major League camp and compete for a spot in a thin rotation mix.
Santana, 36, has been a longtime divisional foe for the ChiSox, having spent the past four seasons leading the Twins’ rotation. The final season of his four-year, $55MM pact with Minnesota was almost entirely wiped out by surgery to repair a tendon in his right hand, however. That injury limited him to five starts and just 24 2/3 innings and led the Twins to decline a $14MM option over the righty.
Prior to the 2018 season, however, Santana was both a durable and high-quality workhorse. From 2016-17, Santana ranked 11th in the game in total innings pitched and also ranked 11th among qualified starters with a 3.32 ERA. In all, while his four-year deal with the Twins was marred by last year’s injury and a PED suspension in 2015, he worked to a 3.68 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 525 1/3 innings with Minnesota. When he was healthy and on the field, Santana was generally a quality option on the mound, making him a logical pick for the Sox — especially at this price point.
So long as he is healthy, it seems quite likely that Santana will break camp in Chicago’s rotation. Currently, the Sox are looking at Carlos Rodon, Ivan Nova, Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito as the top four in their rotation. Santana will compete with Manny Banuelos and Dylan Covey, among others, in trying to secure that final starting job. Given that slate of rotation options, it’d rank as a surprise if a healthy Santana didn’t secure a place on the roster this spring.
Santana becomes the latest but perhaps most surprising veteran player to settle for a non-guaranteed pact in a second consecutive winter that has been unkind to veterans in their 30s. While last season was obviously a nightmare for Santana, he’d averaged 182 innings of 3.52 ERA ball from 2013-17 with the Royals, Braves and Twins.
Bryce Harper Rumors: Thursday
Now that Manny Machado‘s 10-year, $300MM deal with the Padres has been announced, Bryce Harper and agent Scott Boras have a definitive bar to attempt to clear as they seek a record-setting contract of their own. Yesterday’s slate of rumors on Harper had a series of updates on how the Phillies, Nats, White Sox and Giants view the former NL MVP now that Machado is off the board. Here’s a look at the latest chatter on “Harper’s Bazaar” as the long, drawn-out saga inches toward a resolution…
- MLB.com’s Jon Morosi joined Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area for Pavlovic’s latest Giants Insider podcast (audio link; Harper talk beginning around 12:45), wherein Morosi called an 11-year contract for Harper “very possible.” As others have done before him, Morosi suggested that Harper is expected to receive a larger contract than the one Machado received in San Diego.
- Coming away from their pursuit of Machado empty-handed has “heightened” the Phillies‘ pursuit of Harper, writes Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Breen writes that the organization is confident it’ll be able to sign the six-time All-Star, adding that the Phils “will be much more reluctant to walk away this time.” General manager Matt Klentak spoke candidly this week about the fact that Machado’s price point simply got to a point that exceeded the team’s valuation of Machado. It’s not clear whether the organization will take a similarly practical approach to Harper in the end, but Breen notes that the front office and ownership are keenly aware of how the public would perceive a scenario in which the Phillies fail to sign either Harper or Machado.
- Padres ownership will meet tomorrow to determine if it is feasible to make a run at signing Harper in addition to signing Machado, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. As one would expect, Heyman notes that such a scenario is not at all considered likely, but it seems that the organization’s partners will at least perform due diligence and see if such a strategy can be pieced together. Heyman further tweets that for the Nationals, the ultimate call on Harper will come down to Ted Lerner (despite the fact that in 2018, Lerner ceded control of the organization to his son, Mark). The elder Lerner’s relationship with Boras is well-documented, though virtually every report out of D.C. over the past several weeks has suggested that the Nationals won’t be a top bidder for Harper.
- Bruce Levine of 670 The Score / CBS Chicago reports that the White Sox will not bid on Harper, echoing similar sentiments reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale yesterday. Levine notes that the organization is quite high on some of its outfield prospects, noting that the ChiSox could make a short-term pickup in the outfield to help bridge the gap to that young talent.
Injury Notes: Manaea, Kaprielian, Smith, Gibaut, Basabe
The Athletics seem to be receiving more promising news on the pitching front, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has reported (Twitter links). Southpaw Sean Manaea is said to be “well ahead” of schedule in his effort to return from shoulder surgery. Whether that means there’s real hope he’ll be able to make it back on the MLB mound this season isn’t clear, but it appears that’s at least a possibility given that Manaea is beginning to throw. Meanwhile, youngster James Kaprielian seems to be making a quick recovery from the lat issue that sidelined him at the outset of camp. The last thing anyone wanted to see was another significant health problem for him, so that’s certainly promising news.
More on the injury front …
- Tigers righty Chris Smith appears headed for Tommy John surgery, as Evan Woodberry of MLive.com was among those to report on Twitter. It’s dreadful news for a hurler who has only briefly touched the majors but seemed to have a shot at earning a pen spot in Detroit. Smith pitched to a 3.93 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 last year at the Triple-A level.
- The Rays will likely go without righty Ian Gibaut to open the season, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. It seems the broader prognosis for his lat injury is a good one, but the club will likely take things slow with the 25-year-old hurler. Gibaut hasn’t yet thrown at the game’s highest level, but has generally torched minor-league hitters throughout his four seasons as a pro. Last year, he worked to a 2.09 ERA with 12.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 over 56 Triple-A frames.
- Veteran utilityman Sean Rodriguez has a meniscus tear that may require surgery, per Matt Breen of Philly.com (Twitter link). That likely won’t make for a terribly lengthy absence, but obviously knocks out any chance of him breaking camp with the Phillies. Rodriguez could certainly still challenge for a job in Philadelphia or elsewhere after working back to health.
- White Sox prospect Luis Alexander Basabe has a hamate fracture, as MLB.com’s Scott Merkin recently reported on Twitter. That’ll keep him from full game action for about three months, according to initial estimates. Basabe, 22, isn’t a near-term consideration at the MLB level, so this news won’t have much of an immediate impact. It will slow his start to the season, though, which is unfortunate — particularly since he was looking to bounce back from a tepid showing at Double-A and tough trip through the Arizona Fall League.
Latest Bryce Harper Rumors
If you’ve been away from the internet for the last 24 hours, you’ll want to catch up on the major free agent news that broke yesterday. If not, you can safely skip ahead to focusing on what’s next: the final stretch of bidding for Bryce Harper. Here’s the latest:
- The Phillies‘ “total focus” right now is on Harper, Heyman tweets. Another free agent, such as Dallas Keuchel and/or Craig Kimbrel could become a target once Harper signs (be it in Philadelphia or elsewhere), but at the moment, the organization’s efforts are zeroed in on landing Harper.
- Todd Zolecki, Mark Feinsand and Jamal Collier of MLB.com write that the Phillies are wary of bidding against themselves and overpaying for Harper. Notably, the MLB.com trio cite multiple sources in reporting that the Nationals “have no plans to give Harper a mega-deal comparable to Machado’s 10-year, $300 million contract.” If that’s the case, then it’s not clear exactly who’d pose a threat to the Phillies at present, as the Giants’ interest in Harper has repeatedly been reported to be on a shorter term deal with a significant annual value. The report also cites two sources indicating that approximately $100MM of the Nationals’ initial 10-year, $300MM offer to Harper (issued back in September) would have been deferred. Certainly, ownership could still decide to step up and retain the face of the franchise, but the fact that the initial offer was well shy of $300MM in actual, present-day value because of those deferrals doesn’t bode well for the Nats now deciding to top $300MM. Machado’s deal reportedly contains no deferrals.
- Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi didn’t speak with an increased urgency after the Padres landed Machado, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Specifically, Zaidi stated that he doesn’t think the Machado agreement “really changes how we’re viewing our team and what we might still do with it,” going on to emphasize the importance of making the “right decision” rather than acting “in a reactionary way.”
AL Central Notes: Abreu, Moncada, Zimmer, Cowart
White Sox GM Rick Hahn addressed the situation of pending free agent first baseman Jose Abreu, as Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets. It seems the organization may not be optimistic of reaching a deal to keep Abreu from the open market. “Never say never,” says Hahn, “but we prefer to handle our business in the offseason.” Perhaps there’s still some room for talks in camp, but that comment certainly did not strike a tone that suggests it’s seen as a particularly likely outcome.
- Key White Sox youngster Yoan Moncada, meanwhile, appears to be slated to move to third base, as Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Had the team landed a certain prominent free agent target, those plans might have changed, but it now seems reasonably likely that the club will work with its existing infield mix. Yolmer Sanchez is seemingly slated to shift back to second base, with Tim Anderson staying at shortstop. Moncada says he’s happy to move to the hot corner. “I like that position, and with more repetitions I will feel even better,” he said. “I’m just here to help the team in whatever capacity they give me.”
- With an outfield mix that hardly inspires much confidence, the Indians could certainly stand to receive a comeback effort from former top prospect Bradley Zimmer. As Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports, the 26-year-old appears to be making solid progress in his efforts to return from shoulder surgery. Right now, he’s just starting to take cuts in the cage, so there’s still a ways to go. When last we checked in, Zimmer indicated he was hopeful of landing on the earlier side of the eight-to-twelve-month recovery timeframe he was originally given when he went under the knife last July. If he stays on an upward trajectory, perhaps a reasonably early-season return is possible. Of course, Zimmer will be looking not only to come back from the injury but also a less-than-productive start to his MLB career at the plate.
- The Tigers intend to focus on getting Kaleb Cowart up to speed as a pitcher, skipper Ron Gardenhire told reporters including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. That would appear to mean a reduction in his infield reps, though as McCosky tweeted today, Cowart was taking part in drills this morning. However things shake out in camp, Gardenhire says, pitching is the “main reason we brought [Cowart] in.” It’s a bit difficult to imagine Cowart cracking the Opening Day roster as a hurler — as the article explains, unsurprisingly, there’s plenty of rust — but he could still emerge as an option if he’s able to find a groove.