Chicago White Sox: Did the Sox screw up the Machado opportunity?

In a move that shocked much of the baseball world, Manny Machado is on his way to San Diego thanks to a 10-year, $300 million guaranteed deal. Did the Chicago White Sox screw up their opportunity?

Apparently, both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs need new accountants.

Less than 24 hours after Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts claimed that the team doesn’t have any money to spend on big free agents, the White Sox missed out on the opportunity to sign superstar Manny Machado.

Not long after the deal was announced, White Sox Executive Vice President Kenny Williams explained the loss to San Diego simply as a result of the team (read: team owner Jerry Reinsdorf) being “unable” to meet the $300 million in guaranteed money that Machado’s camp was demanding.

Wait. What?!

There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s stick with the White Sox and the Manny Machado situation.

With just over a month remaining until the 2019 MLB regular season commences, the White Sox have only $79 million committed to payroll for the upcoming season, according to Spotrac.

That’s $127 million under the luxury tax threshold for 2019.

Um, Jerry Reinsdorf knows that that $300 million is for the length of the contract, not one year, right?

Even if the Sox had added Machado for 2019, they would still sit nearly $100 million under the luxury tax threshold for this year.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s possible that the White Sox offer for Machado could have been close to $350 million including all bonuses and incentives according to MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal.

If Rosenthal’s report is indeed accurate, there’s absolutely no reason that the White Sox shouldn’t have just matched or even bettered the $300 million in guaranteed money for Machado.

In what world does it make sense to agree to the possibility of $350 million but refuse to pay $300 million guaranteed?

$300 million is an absurd amount of money for anyone. It’s ludicrous to pay someone that much money for 10 years. Hell, it’s ludicrous to pay someone $300 million for 50 years.

But that’s the reality of the baseball world that we’re living in. If a team wants to contend in late October, they have to cough up the money for that opportunity. And as MLB revenues continue to reach unprecedented levels, the employees will continue to demand that they receive the money that they work so hard to generate. That’s how business works.

In fact, the last World Series champion that had a payroll under $100 million on Opening Day of their championship season was the 2010 San Francisco Giants, who checked in at just under $98 million.

Did Jerry Reinsdorf’s frugality strike again?

We know that the Sox are already loaded with a plethora of young talent. Perhaps all they needed was some pitching depth and a superstar piece.

The numbers aside, the White Sox may have missed out on the opportunity to sign the superstar, veteran piece needed to become a World Series contender.

It’s hard to say just yet, but how the Sox move on from missing out on Machado will tell us everything we need to know about how close they were.

Regardless of where Machado calls home for the next 5-10 years, the Sox still have a season to play and plenty of free agent options to boost their already talented young team.

Bryce Harper, Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel, the floor is yours.