You're the GM: White Sox edition

[BlackBetsy]

1) We lose a significant chunk of contracts this offseason which is how Pauly's 2 million dollar rasie doesn't add payroll when other things are considered.

 

Shingo's salary (2.5 million)

Carl's salary ( 4 million)

Frank's salary (8 million)

Timo + Blum = ~ 1.55 million

Ben Davis something like 1-2 million

 

have you read this thread where that has been detailed?

 

Now, if you trade Marte, El Duque and Uribe, you clear another

 

El Duque's 2006 salary will be about 5 million based on escalator based on incentive with another 2 million in possible incentive...  for this, we'll just call it 5, and the team may have to eat some of it to deal him (or include him with prospects or exchanging money in a deal)...

 

Marte will make 2.25 million in 2006.

 

Uribe will make 3.15M in 2006 and 4.15M in 2007 with a 5M option for 2008.

 

That's over 10 million dollars in additional salary clearance, in addition to what I am projecting as 10 million in increased payroll (based on KW statements that JR had given him additional money that he had available on the order of ~ 5 million plus playoff revenues and projected increases in season ticket sales.

 

So, my plan is based on resigning Pauly and giving the slated raises and ending up where we are today.  Then signing Furcal, trading Marte/ElDuque/Uribe to acquire that DH... in one or multiple deals that may also have to include prospects...

 

Why is this so far-fetched in your mind?  What part doesn't mesh with reality?  (I understand El Duque's salary isn't all that attractive to a team to take it on, but it's all short-term money, not long-term commitment)

 

Spot on analysis.

 

However, I'd be more inclined to trade Garland than El Duque - he'd bring a better return (I think the Jon Garland after the ASB is the true Jon Garland), and El Duque's salary will be similar to Garland's after arbitration this offseason. Both are free agents after 2006, and, to be quite honest, even if Garland is as good as he was in 2005 next year, a Buehrle-Garcia-Contreras (second half) - Garland - McCarthy (last five starts) is overkill in the AL Central and the resources are better spent on left-handed, power hitting.

 

I never thought I'd say the Sox have too much starting pitching, but it really does that way (and the fact that Gio Gonzalez is on the way is even better).

[Randar68]

You keep mentioning guys coming off the payroll and guys we could deal, but don't you think that we might want to keep some of these guys? Wouldn't we probably want to keep Contreras and Dye beyond the coming season? While we're at it, don't you think we'd want to try to keep Buehrle, Garcia, and Garland when their contracts are up? None of them will be cheap, and I'd probably only want to keep Furcal over Dye for sure. Plus these players that you keep mentioning us trading for with all of the newly expendable players are going to result in fairly large committments, especially if it's Delgado and Thome.

 

Yadda yadda yadda. All of the things you have mentioned are contingent concerns beyond 2006, which do not really factor into "What if I were GM this offseason"...

 

If I'm GM this offseason, I want to build on 2005 and come back with an even stronger team in 2006 to take full advantage of the momentum the team has built. Sure we may want to keep Contrerat beyond 2006, but at 9 million next year, that's a big chunk of change looking beyond that for a guy with so far, one half of a dominant season.

 

What if some guy doesn't pan out, what if some guy's numbers drop, what if their home/away splits don't carry over... what if what if what if... Sorry, PECOTA isn't enough reason for me to not sign an impact player at SS to be my #2 hitter.

 

You also keep insisting I'm sacrificing #3 and #4 hitters, which I am clearly not doing since I have addressed those spots in the order.

 

Is Furcal as much of a slap hitter as our .280+ hitting Podsednick? Nope. BTW, a .284 average from Furcal would have lead this team in hitting this year. How is that not a consideration or a significant upgrade? This home and away crap is ridiculous... have you ever watched Furcal play a single baseball game? You're going to sit behind your computer and tell me a 1-2 punch of Podsednick-Furcal doesn't scare the bejeezus out of just about every pitcher and catcher on the face of this earth? That makes the next 2-3 guys in the order better hitters on top of it!

 

 

Don't even ask about the defensive part... SS's don't improve defensively as they get more experience, particularly in the mid 20's??? Check just about any SS in baseball...

[Randar68]

I'd say no for two reasons:

 

(1) The "Where would he play?" problem.  He'd half to play LF, and Kenny and Ozzie think that Podsednik was the reason they won 99 games, instead of Garland (improvement), Contreras (improvement) and El Duque (passable 5th starter).  There's no room for him in the OF.

 

2 letters... D... H...

[Randar68]

Spot on analysis. 

 

However, I'd be more inclined to trade Garland than El Duque - he'd bring a better return (I think the Jon Garland after the ASB is the true Jon Garland), and El Duque's salary will be similar to Garland's after arbitration this offseason.  Both are free agents after 2006, and, to be quite honest, even if Garland is as good as he was in 2005 next year, a Buehrle-Garcia-Contreras (second half) - Garland - McCarthy (last five starts) is overkill in the AL Central and the resources are better spent on left-handed, power hitting. 

 

I never thought I'd say the Sox have too much starting pitching, but it really does that way (and the fact that Gio Gonzalez is on the way is even better).

 

I might be inclined to deal Garland as well, but only if it brought me a Mark Texiera type of young talent (at a semi-reasonable price)

 

I also like the idea of having 5 REAL starting pitchers. McCarthy as the #4 and ??? as the number 5 looks a lot like the way we started 2004. Those 5 guys as starters get you 2 the playoffs. Unless you get a guy like Millwood or (god-forbid) Scott Elarton as a #5 starter, I'm still not terribly thrilled with that trade-off in order to get one hitter, especially when you consider the impact it would have if one starter went down with injury. We don't have anyone in the minor ready to assume any kind of starting role in 2006, maybe not even 2007, other than McCarthy.

[ZoomSlowik]

1) We lose a significant chunk of contracts this offseason which is how Pauly's 2 million dollar rasie doesn't add payroll when other things are considered.

 

Shingo's salary (2.5 million)

Carl's salary ( 4 million)

Frank's salary (8 million)

Timo + Blum = ~ 1.55 million

Ben Davis something like 1-2 million

 

have you read this thread where that has been detailed?

 

Now, if you trade Marte, El Duque and Uribe, you clear another

 

El Duque's 2006 salary will be about 5 million based on escalator based on incentive with another 2 million in possible incentive...  for this, we'll just call it 5, and the team may have to eat some of it to deal him (or include him with prospects or exchanging money in a deal)...

 

Marte will make 2.25 million in 2006.

 

Uribe will make 3.15M in 2006 and 4.15M in 2007 with a 5M option for 2008.

 

That's over 10 million dollars in additional salary clearance, in addition to what I am projecting as 10 million in increased payroll (based on KW statements that JR had given him additional money that he had available on the order of ~ 5 million plus playoff revenues and projected increases in season ticket sales.

 

So, my plan is based on resigning Pauly and giving the slated raises and ending up where we are today.  Then signing Furcal, trading Marte/ElDuque/Uribe to acquire that DH... in one or multiple deals that may also have to include prospects...

 

Why is this so far-fetched in your mind?  What part doesn't mesh with reality?  (I understand El Duque's salary isn't all that attractive to a team to take it on, but it's all short-term money, not long-term commitment)

 

You keep bringing up only the subtractions without factoring in the additions. You come up with this magical $10 million without adding in the necessary raises to the team. Besides Konerko's new contract which will go from $8.75 mil to at least $10 mil, Mark and Freddy have built in raises in their contract, which is an extra $2.75 mil. Garland and Pierzynski are also going to be getting raises from $3.4 mil and $2.25 mil, probably of at least another $3 mil, maybe more. Rowand will get an extra $1.25 mil this year. Hermanson will get an extra million. Dye will get an extra million. Pods gets an extra $1.2 mil. Contreras gets an extra million. Crede is going to be more expensive to keep. Plus I believe that Cotts and Jenks will probably be getting more money. That's an awful lot of raises, and you expect us to add a $10 mil player in Furcal and trade for another player probably in the $10 mil range? I'm not sure what the exact numbers are (sure someone posted them in this thread), but if we bring everyone back that we want, we're already going to be a few mil over last year's total. Like half of our team is getting a raise, much more than the minimal total you make it out to be.

[3E8]

I'd say no for two reasons:

 

(1) The "Where would he play?" problem.  He'd half to play LF, and Kenny and Ozzie think that Podsednik was the reason they won 99 games, instead of Garland (improvement), Contreras (improvement) and El Duque (passable 5th starter).  There's no room for him in the OF.

I was thinking he'd take over the Frank Thomas role at DH. He can spell Konerko at 1B or Pods in LF. Podsednik is one of the last reasons we won 99 games, if you don't count the fact that his rock-bottom salary enabled us to sign several other players we wouldn't have with Lee.

 

What I really wanted to know is can we put together a package that Cincy would be interested in without hurting us. I assume Marte would be one trade chip but I know little about positional depth of teams outside the White Sox. Maybe Rowand/Anderson would be the other piece?

[ZoomSlowik]

Okay, some math on next year's payroll then, as you project it...

 

Konerko- $11 mil

Furcal- $9 mil

Thome/Delgado - $12 mil, variable depending on how much their team eats

Garcia- $9 mil

Buehrle- $7.75 mil

Contreras- $9 mil

Iguchi- $2.4 mil

Rowand- $3.25 mil

Hermanson- $3 mil

Dye- $5 mil

Pods- $1.9 mil

Politte- $1.2 mil

Garland- ~$5 mil depending on deal/arbitration

AJ- ~$3 mil, maybe more

Crede- ~$1 mil, again depending on deal/arbitration

Vizcaino- not entirely sure, made $1.3 mil last year

 

Even assuming their team eats half of the DH's contract that's $77.5 mil, not counting Vizcaino, or the other 9 players on the roster. $77.5 mil on 15 players, and it might be more. Tell me how likely that really is.

Edited October 13, 2005 by ZoomSlowik

[Randar68]

Okay, some math on next year's payroll then, as you project it...

 

Konerko- $11 mil

Furcal- $9 mil

Thome/Delgado - $12 mil, variable depending on how much their team eats

Garcia- $9 mil

Buehrle- $7.75 mil

Contreras- $9 mil

Iguchi- $2.4 mil

Rowand- $3.25 mil

Hermanson- $3 mil

Dye- $5 mil

Pods- $1.9 mil

Politte- $1.2 mil

Garland- ~$5 mil depending on deal/arbitration

AJ- ~$3 mil, maybe more

Crede- ~$1 mil, again depending on deal/arbitration

Vizcaino- not entirely sure, made $1.3 mil last year

 

Even assuming their team eats half of the DH's contract that's $77.5 mil, not counting Vizcaino, or the other 9 players on the roster. $77.5 mil on 15 players, and it might be more. Tell me how likely that really is.

 

I projected an 85 million dollar payroll. Do the math on the other 9 players and then tell me I'm being unrealistic based on an 85 million dollar payroll.

 

Jenks: minimum

Cotts: near minimum

Anderson: minimum

Ozuna: ~500k

Widger: ~500k

Harris: Minimum

Borchard (or other 4th OF'er): ~500k (conservative estimate, maybe)

 

Still have some money left to sign a bullpen lefty arm...

Edited October 13, 2005 by Randar68

[Randar68]

Rowand- $3.25 mil

 

Hey, don't forget that I traded Rowand and will be starting Mr. "I make the minimum" Brian Anderson...

[ZoomSlowik]

I projected an 85 million dollar payroll.  Do the math on the other 9 players and then tell me I'm being unrealistic based on an 85 million dollar payroll.

 

Did you miss the "at least" part? That total can easily be over $80 mil with Konerko/Furcal's contracts, plus Garland, A.J., and Crede's contracts, and whether or not Philly/Florida eats that much of their contract. And with the massive number of guys you want to trade (Rowand, Uribe, Hernandez, Marte at least by my count), you're probably going to have to take on another iffy contract, or end up stuck with one or more of them, and Anderson might have to be part of the deal to get one of your DH's. As I said, Rowand is $3.25, Hernandez is $5, Marte is $2.25, and Uribe is $3.15. Any one of those guys still being on the roster puts a major hurt on your projections. Even assuming all of those things break the right way, the other 11 players aren't all going to be at the minimum. Plus we'd have at least $30 mil for the next three years committed to just 3 players, not counting at least one, probably two of our starters that we're going to have to retain in the coming years. Financial flexibility goes out the window. Paulie was the highest payed guy on our roster this year at $8.75 mil, and you suddenly think we're going to have 5 guys making more than that? I've got a theme song for your plan: "Dream On" by Aerosmith.

[BlackBetsy]

I also like the idea of having 5 REAL starting pitchers.  McCarthy as the #4 and ??? as the number 5 looks a lot like the way we started 2004.  Those 5 guys as starters get you 2 the playoffs.  Unless you get a guy like Millwood or (god-forbid) Scott Elarton as a #5 starter, I'm still not terribly thrilled with that trade-off in order to get one hitter, especially when you consider the impact it would have if one starter went down with injury.  We don't have anyone in the minor ready to assume any kind of starting role in 2006, maybe not even 2007, other than McCarthy.

 

I was thinking El Duque as the 5th starter. I actually thought the Sox misused him a bit this year. I thought they should be using him as a kind of "Sunday Starter" a la Lyons in his late career - once a week on 6 days' rest. He'd be much more effective as a 25-game-a-year starter, spaced out evenly, than to ask him to throw 32 starts as a part of a 5 man rotation. The other 7 starts are made up for by off days.

 

It also depends on the hitter you get. I wouldn't trade Garland unless I could get a real good LH power hitter. I was thinking Overbay, who is in his prime and I think his 34 doubles and 19 homers turn into 27 doubles and 26 homers at the Cell, but there may be other examples. You might even be able to get another arm out of the Brewers for Garland.

 

Garland for Ryan Howard is a no-brainer IMHO.

[Randar68]

Did you miss the "at least" part? That total can easily be over $80 mil with Konerko/Furcal's contracts, plus Garland, A.J., and Crede's contracts, and whether or not Philly/Florida eats that much of their contract. And with the massive number

 

This is a "what would you do if you were GM this offseason thread"...

 

not a

 

"what would you do if you are GM and can't make any of the moves you propose to make" thread...

 

Rowand and Uribe should be attractive enough to force someone to take theirs and possibly El Duque's contract. Marte still has value... a bad couple of months doesn't mean squat... Alan Embree still has a job...

 

If you actually do all the math based on my moves, the 2006 salary is right around $85 million, right where I am projecting it.

[Randar68]

I was thinking El Duque as the 5th starter.  I actually thought the Sox misused him a bit this year.  I thought they should be using him as a kind of "Sunday Starter" a la Lyons in his late career - once a week on 6 days' rest.  He'd be much more effective as a 25-game-a-year starter, spaced out evenly, than to ask him to throw 32 starts as a part of a 5 man rotation.  The other 7 starts are made up for by off days.

 

It also depends on the hitter you get.  I wouldn't trade Garland unless I could get a real good LH power hitter.  I was thinking Overbay, who is in his prime and I think his 34 doubles and 19 homers turn into 27 doubles and 26 homers at the Cell, but there may be other examples.  You might even be able to get another arm out of the Brewers for Garland.

 

Garland for Ryan Howard is a no-brainer IMHO.

 

 

I am not an Overbay fan, certainly not enough of a fan to even think about trading Garland for him.

 

LOL on the Howard one... yeah, I'd pay Garland's contract for the next 4 years to make that trade!

[ZoomSlowik]

This is a "what would you do if you were GM this offseason thread"...

 

not a

 

"what would you do if you are GM and can't make any of the moves you propose to make" thread...

 

Rowand and Uribe should be attractive enough to force someone to take theirs and possibly El Duque's contract.  Marte still has value...  a bad couple of months doesn't mean squat... Alan Embree still has a job...

 

If you actually do all the math based on my moves, the 2006 salary is right around $85 million, right where I am projecting it.

 

You're trying to deal 4 different players that all make at least $2 mil. I highly doubt anyone wants any of those guys badly enough to eat another $5 mil in El Duque, with the possible exceptions being that we take back a brutal contract or include some major prospects. Granted someone might take El Duque on his own because they are pitching desperate, but it's still going to be hard to find a place for all of those guys. I'm curious to see who the other 11 guys would be that wouldn't put you over $85 million, especially past Cotts, Jenks, Anderson, and Ozuna. It seems that we'd lack depth that way, and I can't say I like depending on a rookie to be an everyday starter on team that is going to compete. The teams that have done it did it out of desperation, not by choice.

 

You're making an awful lot of finanacial commitments that this team probably can't handle. This team has been built on pitching and defense, and you moves will make it very difficult to retain any of the pitchers once their contracts are up. Part of being a GM is dealing with your financial restraints, otherwise we might as well put Paulie back at first, Damon in center, Giles as a DH, and Billy Wagner as a closer.

Edited October 13, 2005 by ZoomSlowik

[southsider2k5]

I think Paulie is the #4 hitter next year, and he'll be in line for a $2-$3 million raise only.  ($10-$11 million)

 

A fair amount of money will come off the books in 2006 - Everett ($4m), Thomas ($8m), such that the Sox can get a #3 hitter and stay roughly even with 2005.

 

Mind you, I can also see the Sox giving Big Frank a 1-year, $6 million deal.  Reinsdorf loves Frank, and will want to keep him if it makes sense.  Frank was a very good citizen this year, too.  They'll owe him $3.5 million from buy out, so it'll cost the Sox only $2.5 million.  If Frank is healthy, he'd still be the most dangerous hitter on the Sox, even if he declines to .265/.370/.550.

 

Not sure who else would sign Frank; in the AL (Frank can only play DH at this point), the Yankees are set on DH with Giambi, and the Red Sox with Big Papi.  I guess the Angels are one option (close to Frank's Vegas home), but everyone else is too cheap to dish out the $5 million it'll take to risk on Frank.

 

As close as I can tell the money coming off of the books, pretty well balances out the raises that are on the books. Garland, Crede, and Buehrle are in line for some big raises. A couple of other guys are also working their ways up the ladders of payroll.

 

Frank has a $3.5 million buyout regardless of what we do with him next year. Unless we exercize his $10 million option (which won't happen) we have to pay him that money. Now if we resign him, we have to add that money on top of it all. If we sign pay him $6 million next year, we are only saving two million. It is also under the big assumption that Frank is ready to play next year. It took him a solid year to recover from an indentical injury this year, will it take that long again? Who knows.

 

I was also more dealing with the posters who seem to think that we are going to sign a big price tagged #4 hitter from outside of the system, instead of using an inhouse solution. I keep seeing names like Giles and Konerko bantered about, and the combination of those two, or someone like Giles and someone to replace Konerko would end up costing the White Sox about $15 million a season.

[Frankensteiner]

I was thinking El Duque as the 5th starter.  I actually thought the Sox misused him a bit this year.  I thought they should be using him as a kind of "Sunday Starter" a la Lyons in his late career - once a week on 6 days' rest.  He'd be much more effective as a 25-game-a-year starter, spaced out evenly, than to ask him to throw 32 starts as a part of a 5 man rotation.  The other 7 starts are made up for by off days.

 

It also depends on the hitter you get.  I wouldn't trade Garland unless I could get a real good LH power hitter.  I was thinking Overbay, who is in his prime and I think his 34 doubles and 19 homers turn into 27 doubles and 26 homers at the Cell, but there may be other examples.  You might even be able to get another arm out of the Brewers for Garland.

 

Garland for Ryan Howard is a no-brainer IMHO.

 

You have to do better than Ryan Howard if you're trading Garland. Yeah, I know he's young and cheap, but he's basically Willie Harris hitting against lefties (.148/.175/.246).

[Balta1701]

You have to do better than Ryan Howard if you're trading Garland. Yeah, I know he's young and cheap, but he's basically Willie Harris hitting against lefties (.148/.175/.246).

Hell, I woulnd't care if he was hitting .050 against lefties...I'd make that deal.

 

a.) The kid's going to hit 40 home runs next year if he doens't get hurt, and maybe for the next decade too.

b.) The kid has time to learn to hit lefties.

[ZoomSlowik]

I was also more dealing with the posters who seem to think that we are going to sign a big price tagged #4 hitter from outside of the system, instead of using an inhouse solution.  I keep seeing names like Giles and Konerko bantered about, and the combination of those two, or someone like Giles and someone to replace Konerko would end up costing the White Sox about $15 million a season.

 

That little for those two guys? I keep hearing at least $10 mil for Paulie, and I doubt we could get Giles for only $5 mil. I guess if the replacement is along the lines of Overbay, Tracy, Dunn, or Huff they all cost less than Paulie, but guys like Thome/Delgado/Helton/Griffey are big tickets, and someone like Teixeira would be there shortly.

 

I really don't see wholesale changes to this team happening. We're in the ALCS and have a pretty good chance of moving on. Outside of resigning Paulie I'm not sure we splurge much, maybe an outside chance of getting one of the guys in my first list.

 

I really hope if Giles doesn't get offered something ridiculous that we try to get him though. I really don't know what kind of market he is going to have. There seems to be an impression that he isn't the same hitter anymore, and he's already 34. Plus there don't seem to be as many fits for him on the big money teams as there are for Konerko. What would it take to get him? 4/$30? In my book he's well worth that. Granted we probably don't want to be paying him in the $8 mil range in the last year, but I bet he probably has at least two solid seasons left. His power should come back a bit if he leaves Petco Park. I know it might be stretching the payroll a bit if we also bring Paulie back, but the guy could have a big impact. He could DH like 75% of the time and fill in for one of our OF's to give them a rest. It makes even more sense if we were to lose Paulie and move Dye to first. I really hope Giles is on our radar, because I think he's the only serious difference making position player that's a FA outside of Paulie.

[southsider2k5]

That little for those two guys? I keep hearing at least $10 mil for Paulie, and I doubt we could get Giles for only $5 mil.

 

I was going more along the assumption of Pauly's contract already being factored into the payroll, so the only thing you would be looking at was his raise. (so about 3-4 million to get from 8 mil to 11/12 mil or so) The rest of the money would be to pay for the big time #4 hitter that people are trying to add.

[ZoomSlowik]

Hell, I woulnd't care if he was hitting .050 against lefties...I'd make that deal.

 

a.)  The kid's going to hit 40 home runs next year if he doens't get hurt, and maybe for the next decade too.

b.)  The kid has time to learn to hit lefties.

 

Howard's going to be 26 in a little over a month in his first year as a starter. That's still fairly young, but he's getting a late start.

[ZoomSlowik]

I was going more along the assumption of Pauly's contract already being factored into the payroll, so the only thing you would be looking at was his raise. (so about 3-4 million to get from 8 mil to 11/12 mil or so)  The rest of the money would be to pay for the big time #4 hitter that people are trying to add.

 

I see. I'm not 100% sure Giles will go for quite that much then. I have a hard time seeing someone giving Giles a 4/48 type deal. Maybe 4/40, but he doesn't have anywhere near as much buzz as one would expect.

[Randar68]

Konerko- $11M

Contreras- $9M

Thome/Delgado - $10M, other team paying the difference (at least in the first couple of years)

Garcia- $9M

Furcal- $8M (deal starts there the first year)

Buehrle- $7.75M

Dye- $5M

Hermanson- $3M

Iguchi- $2.4M

Pods- $1.975M

Politte- $1.2M

Garland- call it $5M

AJ- we'll call it $3M

Vizcaino- call it $1.3M

Crede- call it $1M (from 400k in 2005)

 

These veterans = 78.625M

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cotts: 400k

Anderson: 330k

Jenks: 330k

Bajenaru: 330k

Ross Gload: 400k

Ozuna: 400k

Widger: 500k

McCarthy: 330k

4th OF'er - 500k

Lefty Specialist: 1.5M

 

others: 5.02M

---------------------------------------------------------------

TOTAL: 83.625M

 

 

 

Frank's one-time 3.5 million buy-out is a non-salary adder absorbed by JR. Also leaves the option to resign Frank to a small (1.5M base + lots of incentives) deal should the Sox end up with a non-1B type of DH or a guy like Giles in the #3 hole, allowing Frank to DH part-time hitting 4th or 5th. Or they could absorb more money from acquiring a DH. I really like the Giles idea, but I just don't see him leaving the west coast except to play with his brother in Atlanta.

 

The wonderful world of numbers.

 

If you'd like to now divert to the question of whether or not 85 million is realistic, that's an entirely different discussion.

[Balta1701]

If you'd like to now divert to the question of whether or not 85 million is realistic, that's an entirely different discussion.

3 more wins and it stands a chance of being an underestimate. I hope.

 

P.s. Didn't the Yankees send us a total of $6 million or so with Contreras, taking his total cost down by $3 million a year?

Edited October 13, 2005 by Balta1701

[Randar68]

This gives me a lineup of:

 

Pods LF

Furcal SS

Thome/Delgado/Giles DH

Konerko 1B

Iguchi 2B

Dye RF

AJ C

Crede 3B

Anderson CF

 

or possibly even:

Pods LF

Furcal SS

Iguchi 2B

Thome/Delgado/Giles DH

Konerko 1B

Dye RF

AJ C

Crede 3B

Anderson CF

 

with a rotation of:

Contreras, Buehrle, Garland, Garcia, McCarthy

 

Bullpen:

Cotts, Bajenaru, Lefty specialist, Politte, Vizcaino

Setup: Hermanson

Closer: Jenks

 

Bench:

Ozuna: utility

Gload or Harris: Utility

4th/5th OF'er

Widger: backup C

 

Granted, this is carrying 12 pitchers, but still... you could swap one for a cheap utility guy...

[ZoomSlowik]

Konerko- $11M

Contreras- $9M

Thome/Delgado - $10M, other team paying the difference (at least in the first couple of years)

Garcia- $9M

Furcal- $8M (deal starts there the first year)

Buehrle- $7.75M

Dye- $5M

Hermanson- $3M

Iguchi- $2.4M

Pods- $1.975M

Politte- $1.2M

Garland- call it $5M

AJ- we'll call it $3M

Vizcaino- call it $1.3M

Crede- call it $1M (from 400k in 2005)

 

These veterans = 78.625M

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cotts: 400k

Anderson: 330k

Jenks: 330k

Bajenaru: 330k

Ross Gload: 400k

Ozuna: 400k

Widger: 500k

McCarthy: 330k

4th OF'er - 500k

Lefty Specialist: 1.5M

 

others: 5.02M

---------------------------------------------------------------

TOTAL: 83.625M

Frank's one-time 3.5 million buy-out is a non-salary adder absorbed by JR.  Also leaves the option to resign Frank to a small (1.5M base + lots of incentives) deal should the Sox end up with a non-1B type of DH or a guy like Giles in the #3 hole, allowing Frank to DH part-time hitting 4th or 5th.  Or they could absorb more money from acquiring a DH.  I really like the Giles idea, but I just don't see him leaving the west coast except to play with his brother in Atlanta.

 

The wonderful world of numbers.

 

If you'd like to now divert to the question of whether or not 85 million is realistic, that's an entirely different discussion.

 

You're still making the assumption that you could get an acceptable 4th OF and a LHRP for $2 mil total. You're also still assuming you can get Florida or Philadelphia to eat money. You're also assuming that they'll backload a Furcal deal (would probably be like $12 mil a year for the remainder under your structure) despite Buehrle and Garcia both making near or at $10 mil in 2007 while numerous other players' contracts like Iguchi, Hermanson, and Dye get slightly less affordable. Thome's and Delgado's deals also escalate in size in the coming years. So you're going to end up with 3 guys making $12 mil or more and Mark and Freddy right at $10 mil in 07? Highly dubious and unlikely. Plus you're still ignoring the fact that Paulie could easily get more than $11 mil (or that they'll backload that deal too, either way), Garland, Crede and AJ could get bigger raises.

 

Granted they don't have a ton of money committed past 2006, they also don't have a lot of guys under contract past 2006. So you want us to commit large sums of money to a SS that hits under .300 with only mediocre power and an aging 1B/DH that either has been inconsistent (hits in the .270's with low 30's homers one year, .300 with high 30's or 40's another, with some probable decline in the coming years) or has a back problem rather than giving our team the flexibility to resign our own quality pitchers or sign new ones? You're going to end up with a lot of holes unless several of our prospects (by that I mean more than Anderson, Young, and B-Mac) turn into above average players. That sounds like a good way to get an expensive loser in a couple of years.

 

If you can't see how financial crippling that can be down the road, I'm wasting my time.

Edited October 13, 2005 by ZoomSlowik