Chicago White Sox are all quiet so far on the free agent front
By Todd Welter
The Chicago White Sox missed out on an opportunity to bring Marcus Semien back to the Southside. Maybe paying a 31-year-old infielder $175 million over seven years was not appealing at all to Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn.
It seems like spending any money on free agents has not been attractive to Hahn. Free agents are coming off the board in a frenzy and so far the Southsiders have only signed reliever Kendall Graverman even that signing has not been officially announced.
The Chicago White Sox need to address needs at second base after the Cesar Hernandez experiment failed. They need to solve the right field issue. They could use another starter and some bullpen help. Finally, the backup catcher needs to be addressed.
All of these issues could be addressed in free agency. Chicago sports talk show host, Matt Spiegel pointed out the Chicago White Sox are a lot like the Toronto Blue Jays.
The White Sox have a young core with a majority of those players on long-term deals. The Sox do not have to worry about arbitration (or whatever the future payment process will be in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement for players under team control) messing with their payroll budgeting like the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Chicago White Sox has a few needs to address during this offseason.
Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has longed to win one more World Series. Maybe, it is time he opens up his pocketbook and lets Hahn spend like every day is Cyber Monday.
It would be nice if Jerry for once ignored the luxury tax and authorized Hahn to go get the players required to win a World Series. Hahn is standing pat because the Chicago White Sox payroll as it stands now is $22 million away from the tax threshold. Reinsdorf will never pay into the tax unless it is the Chicago Bulls, the other team he owns.
This is a good year to use free agency to add the players necessary to get over the playoff first-round hump, get to the World Series, and take home the championship. So far, it has been all quiet on 35th and Shields.
That does not mean the Chicago White Sox can still make some signings or trades to bolster the roster and become full-out Tony La Russa proof.
They have to move fast as a lot of players are looking to come off the board before the potential December lockout.
Would expect plenty of deals to get done in the next couple days. Teams will have to get players in for physicals before a potential lockout on Dec. 1. Talks throughout the game have been described by multiple sources as active.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) November 26, 2021