Who is the anchor of the White Sox rebuild?

Good day fellow White Sox fans, no matter how you choose to ingest the team you shan’t be fan shamed by the ‘Loaf (unless of course you do the repugnant Wave or Woo, then fuck you!).  Anywho, as someone who has shit on their mind occasionally about the White Sox I figured I should get one of them somethings OFF my mind.  It tis a question (fuck you Chorizy) about our boys in black on the SouthSide.

Who do you consider the ANCHOR of the White Sox rebuild?

When I say ANCHOR, I mean, who is the heaviest piece, who is the lynch pin or as we say these days, who is “Holdin’ it Down” for the future (hopefully) good White Sox teams.  I’ll bring you 3 players, with 3 cases and I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on twitter, because as noted in the first paragraph, we are all in this together.

Yoan Moncada

STRENGTHS – As Prince would say “He’s a Sexy MF”, Damn Fine MLB hitter, Speed

WEAKNESSES – Strikeouts, Made of Glass

CONTRACT – 2020 is his last season where he’s on his pre-arb contract, which means he’ll make around the league min ~$600k, after that he’ll have 3 seasons 2021-2023 where he receives raises that the he and the White Sox negotiate OR they can go to arbitration in which each side goes with a number and the arbiter takes the info presented by each side and chooses a number.  The White Sox have lost their last two arb cases after not having any for a long time.  My guess is the White Sox are fair and settle, but look for 2021 to be a BIG raise, $8-$10M contract and it goes up from there.

Beef’s Au Jus – IN MY WORLD, Moncada is the anchor of the rebuild, he’s the best player that you got from the trade of your best player.  He’s come to the majors and in his 2nd full season has been a top 15 position player in the league.  That being said, much to my worst fears, the White Sox have wasted his first very good season and one of his cheapest (cost wise), hopefully they won’t waste what should be another banner 2020 campaign.

Eloy Jimenez

STRENGTHS – The most charming player to hit the Southside in my lifetime.  Light Tower Power.  The best hitting prospect since Big Frank (and that’s serious, I wouldn’t kid about that).

WEAKNESSES – Whenever he has to put a fielding glove on his left hand.

CONTRACT – Before the 2019 season the White Sox held him hostage used their leverage to get him to sign a 6 yr $43M deal where the contract escalates up over time, in 2020, he’ll only make $1.5M, where as in the last guaranteed year of the deal 2024, he’ll make $13M.  The team has 2 options with buyouts for 2025 & 2026, so if he is Frank Thomas reincarnate (without the walks) he’ll be here for less than the Qualifying Offer, and if he’s not, he’ll be out on his ass for $3M.

Beef’s Au Jus – If Eloy is the best player on this next era of White Sox teams they either aren’t really that good, or he did become Frank Thomas.  Either way, these teams need Eloy to be that super strong 2nd/3rd best ish player.  The guy who contributes with the bat only, but those contributions are substantial.  It’s tough to be a bat only contributor and be the best player.  You gotta be late era Barry Bonds or some shit and Eloy ain’t gonna be that, but he can be very good.

Luis Robert

STRENGTHS – Premium 5-Tool Athlete, Elite Abs for a guy that eats that much pizza

WEAKNESSES – Fatigued (smdh), Strikeouts & Walks, some people call him LaPantera

CONTRACT – #LuBob has yet to appear in the majors for the White Sox so they have all of the pre-arb years ahead of them.  I’ll assume that starts in 2020, so between 2020-2022 he’s basically free.  That’s bad for him, but very good for the team as (in theory) they can sign other players to compliment this roster and improve the teams chances to win.  After that, the White Sox will have him on deals that involve the potential for arbitration through the 2026 season.  It would’ve been through the 2025 season, but yous guys are damn lucky that Rick Hahn is at the helm so he could save that 2026 year.

Beef’s Au Jus – Part of me wants to choose #LuBob as the anchor, but I’m kinda scared that he actually reaches his potential.  I don’t know the mechanics of hitting, but I do know that when I was watching Moncada come up it looked like he knew WTF was going on up there and that he’d be a good hitter.  With #LuBob he appears to be a freak athlete with monster power that doesn’t have a good plan at the plate, but it hasn’t mattered so far as his athleticism lets him do whatever he wants.  Will that change versus major league pitching?  I dunno.  Also, if #LuBob doesn’t hit his ceiling (more than likely) he’s still going to be a solid 3 WAR contributor because he’s a good defender AND he has big power.  So even if the strikeouts eat up most of his batting performance, the pop will still be there and he’ll chase down fly balls.  He might be the best position player on the next good White Sox team, he might be the 4th best or something.  I dunno.

What say you?  Hit me up on the twitters with your thoughts.

-BeefLoaf 

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