5 popular moves the Chicago White Sox should make in the offseason
By Todd Welter
Designate Leury Garcia, Joe Kelly, Jake Diekman, and Yasmani Grandal for assignment.
These four players are going to make a combined $36.250 million in 2023. You have better chances of winning the Powerball than owner Jerry Reinsdorf eating that money to have those players not suit up for the White Sox.
Still, getting rid of these bad contracts and polarizing players would go a long way toward healing the wounds from 2022.
Leury Garcia is the longest-tenured Chicago White Sox. He hit one of the most historic postseason home runs in franchise history. He turned that along with his tenure status into a three-year deal last offseason. Then he became the poster boy of Tony La Russa’s bizarre management decisions.
A career utility player, La Russa decided to play Garcia whenever he could. In turn, Leury showed he is not an everyday player. That did not stop La Russa from throwing Leury into the lineup. Garcia went from hero to zero in a matter of a few months.
With La Russa gone, Garcia should go back to being the 26th man on the 26-man roster. A 39 wRC+ hitter should not be making $5.5 million.
Kelly was signed last offseason to reinforce the bullpen. Turns out, he was hurt for most of the season. He ended up with a 6.08 ERA and was a -.6 wins above replacement player. He is owed another $9 million next season. He could bounce back if he gets healthy.
On the other hand, he will be 35 next season and he is a reliever. You can find good relievers that are younger and cheaper.
The same goes for Diekman, the only player Rick Hahn acquired at the trade deadline. He was a disaster coming out of the bullpen with a 6.52 ERA for the White Sox. He will get $3.5 million next season.
Grandal signed the largest free-agent contract in franchise history in 2020. He has rewarded the Sox with a .222 batting average and just 36 home runs in three seasons. To his credit, he has a .358 on-base percentage during his White Sox tenure.
Last season, Grandal battled injuries but when he was in the lineup, he struggled. He put up a 68 wRC+ number and was a -.4 WAR player. He has always been limited defensively at catcher.
All he is doing is taking away money from the franchise and at-bats from better players. He is due $18.25 million next season. There is a good chance he will be on the Opening Day roster but if he continues to struggle, there is the precedent the Sox could move on from him during next season. The Sox got rid of Dallas Keuchel after a bad start to the 2022 season and he was highly paid in the last year of his deal.
If Grandal plays poorly, he could meet the same fate. With the redundancy of players who are a better fit at DH like Grandal, it would be better to just cut ties now and pay him to go away.