Chicago White Sox: is Manny Machado worth the money?

Everyone knows that the Chicago White Sox are in on superstar Manny Machado, but is he worth the money that he is commanding from teams?

The Chicago White Sox are coming off of several losing seasons in a row following a rebuild plan that saw them strip their roster and their payroll to the bone. It began with the trade of superstar starting pitcher Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and Luis Basabe. They also traded the likes of Adam Eaton, Jose Quintana and others. It was a rebuild through and through.

It’s most recent season in the rebuild saw them show signs of what is to come, but ultimately ended up a lowly 62-100. That was good for the third worst record in all of Major League Baseball, thus the third pick in the draft. They were literally bad by design, even though some young players showed management they had something, and none more hyped than the call up of Michael Kopech in late August.

That all brought us to this current MLB offseason, where two of the biggest free agents in recent memory, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are on the market and have everyone begging them to take their money to come play baseball for them. The White Sox have been in on both , but the likely candidate to join the White Sox is Manny Machado. All the rumors and moves that the team has made support the idea that Machado’s destination is the south side of Chicago.

So that begs the question, is Manny Machado worth the 300 million dollars that he would likely receive from the White Sox? There is no predicting injuries or lack of production in the future, but everything Machado has done in the past seven seasons says that he is absolutely worth it, especially for a team like the White Sox.

In 2018 alone, Machado had a .297 batting average, 37 home runs, 107 RBIs and a .905 OPS. All of which would have led the Chicago White Sox. Machado would be planted right in the middle of a young lineup including the always consistent Jose Abreu, and some young players like Eloy Jiminez, Yoan Moncada Tim Anderson.

Machado is a superstar and would make an immediate impact on this lineup, and with numbers like that, he is due for a payday. Iif he keeps it up he will be very much worth it.

Another thing he will be worth, is something off the field. The Chicago White Sox are often ripped on for their low attendance. The team hasn’t done well on the field during the rebuild so naturally it is hard to sell out on a random Tuesday night against an average MLB team.

With Machado, people will want to go to the ballpark to see him play for their team, and he will also in all likelihood improve the team which will also make it more intriguing for fans to come out and watch the game. Manny Machado could help generate a whole new generation of White Sox fans by his play on the south side.

Are the Chicago White Sox going to be world beaters if Machado chooses them? No. Vegas has them at 74.5 wins as their over/under, and Machado had a WAR of 5.7 last season, so that will likely not make them playoff contenders just yet, but they will absolutely be an improved baseball team. Eloy Jiminez will also likely be added to the roster in mid April and what he will bring this season is also unknown.

The White Sox will be a much better team if they get good pitching, and they have improved their bullpen again, so it would be very fun to see what sort of impact Machado would have, but he will absolutely be worth the money he makes for the majority of the deal.