After the news broke of Bryan Reynold’s eight-year, $106 million extension with the Pirates, it left some embarrassing news for the White Sox. With that contract, this leaves only the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and the Chicago White Sox as the only teams to not give out a 100 million dollar contract. Considering the Sox are in one of the biggest markets, it is even more embarrassing. It’s not like the White Sox are close to 100 million either, the largest has been 75 million dollars, 25 million off from 9 digits.
Refusal To Spend, Or Just Bad Luck?
When it comes to free agency signings, it is a sore subject for many White Sox fans. The most notable swing and miss in free agency because of the lack of spending was Manny Machado. Most fans know the story about how the White Sox had a chance to match the offer from the Padres, but they refused to guarantee the last two years. Now, Machado has continued his rise into stardom and is one of, if not the best player on a stacked Padres team.
Another sore spot is Bryce Harper. Many people thought that the Sox would sign either Harper or Machado in that same off-season. Harper himself expressed that he wanted to play for the Sox, as he felt like he would fit in well with what they were building. Instead, he would sign with the Phillies, who have been to the World Series, for a measly 25 million per year.
To put that in perspective, Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman, and Leury Garcia, combined will make around 23 million dollars for the White Sox this season. Garcia is not even on the team, Kelly is often injured and nowhere near his former self, and Graveman is good, but he is paid a lot of money for a non-closer. I’m sure 100% of White Sox fans would prefer Harper over that trio.
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The refusal to spend to add a superstar to a young team has been infuriating. They attempted to sign Phillies Ace Zach Wheeler, but he took less money to be closer to his wife’s family in Philly. That is a case of bad luck, but it is not too often that you hear the White Sox offered the most money.
Unfortunately, the White Sox allocated that money to Dallas Kuechel that same offseason, and we all know how that went. The refusal to spend nine digits for great players has come back to bite the Sox. I’ll never understand being worried about the 2032 payroll and how Bryce Harper will be doing when you have Dallas Keuchel costing you games in real-time.
Not Spending Properly Has Cost The White Sox
The refusal to sign star players to long contracts has come back to bite the Sox. Rick Hahn constantly saying he does not want to “mortgage the future” has cost him games in the present. It is not very often 26 year free agents become available as your young team is ready to compete, yet they refused to spend.
Instead, they settle for short-term deals with older players that rarely work out. Players like Adam Eaton, Dallas Keuchel, Adam LaRoche, and Adam Dunn, all have all flamed out with the White Sox and proved that these shorter deals don’t work out when you are signing aging players.
Yet, the White Sox have a 180,000,000 dollar payroll and are one of the worst teams in the league. They have had multiple holes at right field and second base for the last 5 years and refused to spend to fix those problems. Instead, they have loaded up with mediocre players on a high average annual salary and to no avail. At some point, you need to spend big and put this team in true contention.
The biggest free agent signing ever for the Sox is Andrew Benintendi and no slight against him, but on a great team, he is probably your fourth-best hitter. Not great for someone who is your highest free agent contract of all time.
The times are changing and gone are the days of Moneyball, it is okay to sign a good player for a lot of money, Rick Hahn does not seem to understand that. It is not okay to pay many average players to these one-three-year deals for a good chunk of change. The Sox have done just that and it is sinking them.
Despite how great they looked at the time, extending all these young players before they have accomplished much has actually hurt the White Sox more than it has helped them. They were so afraid that they would have to pay these players a lot of money if they panned out, that they did not think about what would happen if they did not get better.
This has left the White Sox with many players that are paid more than they are worth just because of their “potential” and have left the Sox in a bad spot this season. If the White Sox don’t turn it around, they are in for a long off-season.
