JotCast | White Sox Offseason Chat

Tim Dierkes

8:53

Hello! I'm super excited to be chatting with you today.

8:54

If you haven't had the chance yet, give my White Sox Offseason in Review post a read: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/offseason-in-review-chicago-whi...

8:55

This chat will be all White Sox!

Marty

8:59

Any surprises going North?

Tim Dierkes

9:00

I think the closest thing to a surprise would be cutting Leury Garcia or moving him in a salary dump trade.

Big Hurt

9:00

The Sox have a bunch of utility-type players (Burger, Sheets, Gonzalez, Alberto) who are better than Leury Garcia right now, but none of them have any experience in CF like he does. Do you think there's a chance they keep someone like Marisnick, Reyes, or Haseley for CF insurance, and cut Garcia's and his remaining 2 ridiculously overpaid years ($11M)? I think they may have to send Burger or Sheets down, or trade one of them to make work, so it'd be a commitment. Thoughts?

Tim Dierkes

9:02

On that note! It's tricky to make the bench work without Leury, because there are only three spots aside from backup catcher. The guy I could see fitting pretty well on this team is Marisnick, because Luis Robert seems likely to miss 40+ games.

CHISOX FAN

9:02

Your best guess for Oscar Colas' numbers this year.

Tim Dierkes

9:02

OBP around .300, 22 HR, passable defense that looks pretty good compared to Sheets/Vaughn in RF. You'd take that right?

9:03

If Oscar Colas did what I just said, you'd...

Be fine with it (58.5% | 121 votes)

Be excited about it (31.4% | 65 votes)

Be disappointed (10.1% | 21 votes)

Total Votes: 207

Goose Halpern

9:03

If the Sox disappoint again this season, do they let Giolito walk and possibly trade TA?

Tim Dierkes

9:04

I think Giolito is as good as gone. If they're out of contention by the trade deadline, then it's this summer, and if not, he leaves as a FA.

9:05

TA wants clarity, but coincidentally the team will gain a lot of clarity on Colson Montgomery this year and Anderson has a $14MM club option for 2024.

A $150MMish deal for TA is also not something I expect from the White Sox. If Colson is looking ready and able to stay at SS, TA could be dealt in the summer if the team is out of it or in the winter otherwise.

9:06

Tim Anderson future

Traded this summer (12.6% | 23 votes)

Traded during 2023-24 offseason (28.6% | 52 votes)

Trading summer 2024 (6.6% | 12 votes)

Retained through 2024 but walks as a FA (30.8% | 56 votes)

Gets new extension (21.4% | 39 votes)

Total Votes: 182

I love polls! I should tell our MLB player chatters about polls.

Skipjack

9:07

Why do you suppose Reinsdorf didn't put money into letting Hahn acquire quality major leaguers this off-season? With the exception of Benitendi, Andrus and Clevinger, all they did was collect a bunch of minor leaguers which were cheap options.

Tim Dierkes

9:08

And keep in mind, this is what the White Sox did with $8MM in what I consider found money for AJ Pollock. They must have really put the hard sell on Pollock that he'd be a bench player.

Reinsdorf is not a CBT-paying type, but actually getting payroll into the top 10 in recent years is a big move forward for them.

Skipjack

9:08

With the Sox relying on Jimenez, Robert, Moncada, Vaughn and Anderson to provide most of the offense, do they have a chance at even a wild card considering the upgrades the Twins and Guardians made?

Tim Dierkes

9:09

The Guardians picked up Josh Bell and added Zunino to keep the seat warm for Bo Naylor. It wasn't a very active offseason. The Twins got a lot done though.

9:10

I think there's recency bias in the suggestion that the Guardians are clearly better than the White Sox. I also think people making preseason projections have more confidence than they should. All three teams can reasonably fall in the 75-85 win range, in my opinion.

Skipjack

9:11

Is there any chance Reinsdorf will pay core players like Anderson the money they deserve either with new contracts or extensions, or will he continue on the cheap by filling the roster with minor leaguers and players who were dfa?

Tim Dierkes

9:11

To be fair, the White Sox did a bunch of extensions and indeed extended their control over several key players. TA would've been a FA this winter had they not.

9:12

They've kept guys like Lynn and Abreu out of FA as well, but those required minimal commitments.

9:13

Assuming decent seasons, Giolito and TA are $100MM+ guys, quite possibly closer to $200MM. As a team that set a franchise record with Benny's $75 mil, that's not something the Sox have done yet.

Skipjack

9:13

Do you think a trade involving Anderson is imminent? What kind of players would they get for him?

Tim Dierkes

9:14

Interesting to see the prevailing sentiments in the poll I did (sorry about the typo in there). I actually like where the crowd landed in that one - traded next offseason.

Walter

9:14

What are reasonable expectations for Andrew Vaughn this year?

Tim Dierkes

9:16

Nice solid year with 20-25 bombs, .330 OBP. He's about to turn 25 years old and has new hitting coaches, so there's some chance he adjusts his launch angle and hits 30 HR.

The Guy Next Door

9:16

Honestly, I don't see the White Sox being any better than they were last year. I say: Sharp declines from Benni, Kopech, and Grandal. Jimenez and Robert injured again, and Giolito not so good either. Anyone else think this team's got holes?

Tim Dierkes

9:16

Team got holes

Swiss cheese (39.9% | 57 votes)

Nothing out of the ordinary (60.1% | 86 votes)

Total Votes: 143

9:18

I feel that aside from Cease, almost everything that could go wrong did last year and the team still won 81 games. Luis Robert 98 games, Eloy 84 games, TA 79 games. Even if these guys are injury-prone or the team has a systemic health problem, that has to be the absolute floor of games played for a bunch of position players still in their 20s.

9:19

Thing is Cease basically can't replicate a 2.20 ERA, nor will Clevinger match Cueto's 3.35, so the things that went right will likely go less right.

As I said in my review article, 7 players had significantly disappointing seasons in 2022. Some figure to bounce back. Which ones? How much? That's why they play the games.

Barbarino

9:20

Assuming reasonable health and assuming Giolitto doesn't have a 5 ERA again, this team is winning the division. What say you?

Tim Dierkes

9:20

Given their poor depth to protect for injury, they're not my division favorite even if you were to lock Gio in for 175 innings of 3.50 ball.

kurt the hurt

9:21

They rebuilt like the Astros position players all over the diamond(moncada,anderson,robert,jiminez)They drafted pitchers (Giolito,cease)Why hasn't their rebuild shown ant success ?

Tim Dierkes

9:21

The 2020 team made the playoffs, but that year was obv weird. They made it again in '21 but petered out to the Astros. So really the post-rebuild team has had one hugely disappointing season and that was last year.

Jake Burger

9:21

How much more time can the White Sox give to Yoan Moncada, before they will have to acknowledge the expensive mistake they made?

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