SAN DIEGO — When the White Sox signed a lot of their rising stars to long-term offers earlier than their free-agent seasons, presumably getting them below contract for a number of years at team-friendly prices, it appeared like a masterstroke of fine enterprise sense.
Offers for Yoan Moncada ($70 million), Luis Robert ($50 million), Eloy Jimenez ($43 million) and Tim Anderson ($25 million) gave the gamers monetary safety with potential for even greater offers sooner or later. The workforce bought a number of gamers with star potential and efficiency worth at managed prices for a number of years.
Each side ought to profit in concept.
The Sox had executed the identical with pitchers Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. Their team-friendly contracts additionally made them useful commerce items, they usually had been dealt to amass Moncada, Kopech, Jimenez and Dylan Stop.
The Sox banked on their younger gamers with monetary safety to carry out to projections and to be wholesome sufficient to play commonly.
“We’ve bought MVP and Silver Slugger candidates all through that lineup, controllable for an prolonged time period because of some foresight and proactive work on our half,” normal supervisor Rick Hahn mentioned final winter.
However now, three years after signing Jimenez to a six-year take care of membership choices for 2025 and ’26, two years after signing Moncada to a five-year take care of a membership choice by way of ’25 and two years after signing Robert to a six-year contract with two membership choices by way of ’27, their incapacity to keep away from accidents — and, in Moncada’s case this season, to play to expectations when wholesome — has raised considerations in regards to the contracts.
Out of the blue, these offers don’t look as nice as a complete as they as soon as did.
Robert can have performed in 97 and Anderson in 79 of the Sox’ video games this season. Each are executed for the yr with wrist and finger accidents, respectively, and Jimenez, who had surgical procedure to restore a hamstring tear in April, has performed in 82 video games and can hobble round by way of the previous couple of due to it. Moncada performed in his one centesimal recreation Saturday.
After taking part in in 56 of 60 video games throughout the abbreviated 2020 season, Robert performed in solely 68 final season. Jimenez performed in 55 and Moncada in 144, which by these developments appears to be like like a gold commonplace however shouldn’t be.
Moncada set his efficiency commonplace in 2019, when he batted .315/.367/.548 with 25 dwelling runs and a .915 OPS, primarily giving the membership motivation to take a position. However after signing his deal, Moncada was troubled by COVID to unknown extents and batted .225/.320/.385 with six homers in 52 video games in 2020 and .263/.375/.412 with 14 homers in 2021. Hamstring points have been problematic all through, and an indirect pressure on the final day of spring coaching this season set the tone for a foul yr.
When the Sox weigh the professionals and cons this offseason of whether or not to re-sign Jose Abreu, 35, whose contract is up, they must contemplate his age in addition to his diminished energy in 2022. Additionally they will contemplate his 180 hits, which ranked second within the American League by way of Friday, and his sturdiness. Whereas watching nearly everybody else go on and off the injured checklist or get occasional days off to relaxation legs, Abreu stays wholesome and insists on taking part in by way of aches and pains. He performed in all 60 video games throughout his 2020 MVP season after taking part in 159 the yr earlier than. Abreu performed in 152 final season and leads the workforce with 154 in 2022. AJ Pollock is subsequent with 135.
It’s not out of the query that, ultimately, Moncada, Robert, Jimenez and Anderson collectively make all of it worthwhile, however for the primary time, the concept of buying and selling one among them to revitalize and reconfigure the roster might floor this offseason. The issue for the Sox is, commerce values can’t be seen as what they as soon as had been due to sturdiness points.
As a gaggle, the aforementioned 4 had been accessible for 55% of the disappointing Sox’ video games this season, a superb place to start out when figuring out what went terribly unsuitable in 2022.
