The Chicago White Sox acquired veteran catcher Max Stassi shortly after the information of Shohei Ohtani’s report $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers was launched.
Suffice to say there have been no Stassi-related celebrations on the South Side posted on Instagram.
The domino impact of the Ohtani signing means free company ought to choose up. The Cubs will now flip to their lesser-priced targets, however whether or not the Sox plan to completely take part stays to be seen.
The acquisition of a 32-year-old, defensive-minded catcher who hasn’t performed since 2022 offers the Sox with a veteran to deal with what ought to be a really younger pitching employees, albeit on the expense of offering any offense.
But the unintentional timing of the transfer, approaching the heels of the Dodgers’ gargantuan expenditure, solely magnified the obvious path (or misdirection) of the Sox. The offseason stasis provides to the litany of Sox lowlights, from the unsolved gunshots at Guaranteed Rate Field to the tip of the 101-loss season, from announcer Jason Benetti’s shocking departure to Tony La Russa’s stealthy return as an “advisor.”
Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was final seen hanging out with the mayor of Nashville, which occurs to be on the lookout for a significant league baseball workforce. Another Sox negotiating ploy for a brand new ballpark? Or simply the chairman attempting to extend his Q-rating?
The addition of a low-priced catcher after the low-risk signing of starter Erick Fedde to a team-friendly, two-year deal suggests the White Sox teardown has picked up momentum.
General supervisor Chris Getz’s subsequent step possible would be the dealing of Dylan Cease for a number of prospects. Or maybe Eloy Jiménez goes first to a workforce that missed on Ohtani. Bye, mother?
The underachieving 2023 workforce’s payroll has been considerably lowered to $151 million, based on fangraphs.com, and subsequent 12 months’s could possibly be among the many league’s lowest if the present pattern continues. The Sox have solely three gamers with assured contracts in 2025: Andrew Benintendi ($17.1 million), Luis Robert Jr. ($15 million) and Fedde ($7.5 million). If Jiménez stays, the Sox determine to choose up his $16.5 million choice in 2025, however they’re unlikely to do likewise with Yoán Moncada ($25 million choice) or Stassi ($7.5 million).
So that’s solely $39.6 million assured, that means the Sox ought to have loads of room to spend for 2025 and past. Well, except they only plan to go away the cabinet naked, as Oakland A’s proprietor John Fisher did whereas plotting his workforce’s escape to Las Vegas.
For now, the Sox are hoping to rework themselves in 2024 from a workforce with too many first basemen/DHs to at least one with extra athleticism and defensive sensibilities. “Fast and Not Furious” could possibly be the brand new White Sox advertising and marketing slogan.
Manager Pedro Grifol advised reporters in Nashville on the winter conferences he’s on the lookout for a special type of participant who performs “faster” and matches into the brand new clubhouse tradition, which isn’t to be confused with the previous one the place relievers fell asleep within the bullpen.
Still, the operative phrase is “fast.”
“One of the things I learned last year is that we played a game that doesn’t win in the big leagues,” Grifol stated. “We must play sooner. We have to be extra athletic. We’ve received to catch a baseball. We should do issues a bit of higher essentially. When we speak about getting extra rounded, that’s what it’s about.
“Being able to bring in Nicky Lopez and Paul DeJong and what those guys can do defensively, and obviously we’re not done.”
DeJong has 23 profession stolen bases in 729 video games, whereas Lopez has 42 steals in 544 video games. They are usually not precisely what would generally be described as a “burner.” Other than 20 steals by Robert in 2023 and 13 by Benintendi, no different Sox participant completed in double-digits final season.
“You talk about playing fast, it’s not literal in the sense of like, you can only run as fast as you can,” Getz defined. “It’s about playing intelligent baseball and finding players and teaching players, nurturing players, teach them to play a certain way because that is the expectation of the Chicago White Sox.”
In different phrases, enjoying “faster” actually means enjoying smarter. Clip and save.
Meanwhile, the Cubs turned the web page on their second failed try at signing Ohtani. Perhaps the third time can be a appeal in 2034, when Chairman Tom Ricketts can be 70.
Cody Bellinger’s pillow deal in 2023 confirmed him all the pieces to like about enjoying in Chicago, nevertheless it doesn’t imply he’ll return and play for a hometown low cost. Agent Scott Boras doesn’t do reductions.
One factor I’ve discovered is the lure of enjoying on the North Side is likely to be overstated by provincial Chicagoans when waxing poetic about Wrigley and the ivy and scoreboard. But cash issues most.
Considering the variety of free-agent superstars the Cubs have signed over time, divided by the variety of superstars basic managers have pursued, it’s actually not a excessive share. (Andre Dawson, who pursued the Cubs in 1987 and performed for mainly nothing, doesn’t issue into the equation).
“I think we’re linked to a lot of free agents,” president Jed Hoyer stated Tuesday in Nashville. “Which is good, because we’re a great city and a great ballpark and brand. It’s a benefit that people want to be there.”
Selling the improved farm system, and the incremental enhancements following the sell-off of the celebs of the final core (and subsequent rebuilding) in summer time 2021, is Hoyer’s present technique. No extra movies of what it will be prefer to play in a World Series at Wrigley, as Jon Lester obtained earlier than he signed 9 years in the past on the winter conferences.
In spite of the 2023 collapse, the Cubs, in Hoyer’s estimation, are an upwardly cell franchise.
“People witnessed a really good trajectory last time and there are some similarities,” Hoyer stated referring to the 2015-20 groups. “We attempt to (transfer on). We took down all the photographs of the World Series out of the clubhouse a very long time in the past to type of shut the yearbook a bit of bit.
“I feel like I want to always avoid the (narrative) of ‘Yes, this is what it can be like,’ but also (saying) ‘We’re not trying to recreate that.’ We have good young players, a good farm system and a lot of momentum in that regard. Wrigley and Chicago kind of sell themselves. We’re fortunate. Obviously I’d be a less good salesman if I worked for someone else.”
But there’s one baseball maxim that by no means adjustments:
The best technique to signal a free agent is by providing probably the most cash.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com