3 players the White Sox should sign if luxury tax increases
The current collective bargaining agreement expired back on December 1st, grinding Major League Baseball to a halt. During this work stoppage, teams are not allowed to make any moves until the Major League Baseball and the MLB Player Association come to an agreement on a restructured CBA. How does this affect the Chicago White Sox?
One of the talking points of the new CBA will be what the luxury tax will be. Back in August the MLB proposed a lower threshold for taxes on teams spending. Any spending above $180 million is subject to a 25% tax. The tax rate would increase as teams spent more, with four proposed tax brackets. In return, teams would be required to spend at least $100 million on their team salary.
The previous CBA contained three tiers of luxury tax penalties. The first tier is a 20% tax on all spending above the $210 million mark up until the $230 million mark. Anything above that is taxed 32% unless you spend more than $250 million in which case you have to pay a 62.5% tax. If teams pay the tax in consecutive seasons there are heightened penalties.
The luxury tax is a roadblock for teams trying to spend money. The Dodgers have been one of the few teams who have no problem paying the piper when it comes to luxury tax penalties. The stereotype surrounding Jerry Reinsdorf is that he does not like to spend money.
This is not necessarily true. While they have missed out on some big names such as Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, or Marcus Semien in the past, the White Sox have shown they are willing to spend.
They spent $73 million on Yasmani Grandal and $50 million on Jose Abreu. The White Sox haven’t handed out any massive 10-year mega deals yet but those rarely work out, especially in the back end of the contract. Just look at Albert Pujols with the Los Angeles Angels for reference.
The Chicago White Sox needs to add some players before the 2022 season.
Last season, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Houston Astros were all in similar situations as the White Sox. Yet they all decided to hover around the $210 million mark to avoid paying any taxes. Essentially the luxury tax is baseball’s version of a salary cap.
In all likelihood, the luxury tax will not get any lower in the new CBA. The MLBPA will probably have to settle for a salary floor. The White Sox has a current total salary of just over $169 million. They only have $10 million left to spend if they want to avoid the $25% proposed luxury tax penalty. The White Sox current 40-man roster stands at 37.
The White Sox are in a situation where they should bite the bullet and pay what they have to to win a World Series. If a high-profile free agent is what pushes them over the top and it means sacrificing a lot of money so be it.
However, if the penalty happens to increase and the White Sox wants to play it cheap, then Rick Hahn is going to have to be very careful how he puts together his roster. Here are three players the White Sox should sign if the luxury tax increases:
Ryan Tepera
Bringing back Ryan Tepera would be a smart move for the Chicago White Sox.
After signing Kendall Graveman to a three-year $24 million deal, the White Sox currently has one of the most expensive bullpens in baseball. There is nothing wrong with that in theory. You need a great bullpen to excel in the postseason.
Unfortunately for the White Sox, Craig Kimbrel does not fit the current role he is assigned to. Kimbrel was a disaster for the White Sox during the second half of the season when he was primarily used as an eighth-inning setup man.
He had a 5.09 ERA in 24 games with the White Sox. Before being traded to the south side, he had a microscopic 0.49 ERA. Before the lockout, there were rumors that the White Sox were looking to trade the future Hall of Famer and get his $14.3 million salary off their books.
By trading Kimbrel, the White Sox will still need some help in the bullpen. But they will also have more financial flexibility to sign a quality arm. Enter Ryan Tepera. Tepera was excellent last season, picking up NL Reliever of the Month honors in May as a member of the Chicago Cubs. He had a 2.91 ERA, 22 holds and 2 saves before being dealt to the White Sox.
Unlike Kimbrel, Tepera excelled upon coming to the south side. He posted a 2.50 mark for Tony La Russa’s squad and picked up six holds and a save. Despite the bulletin board material that he provided the Astros during the ALDS, he was solid in the postseason as well.
He tossed a perfect sixth inning in Game 2, needing only five pitches to dispatch the Astros. In Game 3, he ensured the White Sox kept the momentum by throwing a 1-2-3 fifth inning in just nine pitches then striking out the final two hitters he faced in the sixth, making it nine in a row retired by Tepera.
His last contract was a one-year deal for $800,000. He will be expecting a multi-year deal worth a little more but he is still well within the White Sox price range, especially if they get Kimbrel off the books. Tepera would help them solidify the bullpen and stay under the luxury tax threshold.
Starlin Castro
If Starlin Castro was brought to the White Sox, he would fit in really well.
The White Sox still needs a second baseman. Most of the big names have already been poached in free agency but there is still a four-time All-Star available for the White Sox to snag. At the age of 31, Starlin Castro has built up a solid resume. However, he comes with some baggage.
He finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2010 when he burst onto the scene with the Chicago Cubs. The next year, he batted .307, with a league-leading 207 hits. He earned his first trip to the All-Star game and finished 23rd in the MVP voting.
He was an All-Star once again in 2012, hitting .283 with 14 home runs, 78 RBIs, and 25 stolen bases. He made one more All-Star team in 2014 before his departure from Chicago in 2016 when he went to the New York Yankees.
He made another All-Star team in 2017 for the Bronx Bombers and had a career-high 86 RBIs. He played two seasons with the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals but was suspended in 2021 for violating the MLB’s domestic violence policy. He was released by the Nationals shortly after.
There is an obvious moral conundrum surrounding Starlin Castro. It is hard to justify signing someone who was suspended for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. However, we saw the White Sox hire Tony La Russa despite having multiple DUIs on his record and the Cubs still traded for Aldrois Chapman despite his checkered past.
Teams have looked the other way before when it comes to these matters. Is Starlin Castro the type of person you want in your clubhouse after what he did? That’s for Rick Hahn to decide. But from strictly a baseball perspective the move makes sense. Castro still has some more baseball left in the tank.
In 103 games with the Nationals, he logged a .280/.238/.387 slash line. He should also come at a discount after his 30-game suspension. He was making $6 million a year with the Nationals, and assuming he signs for around the same price the White Sox would still have $4 million left to fill out the final two roster spots and stay under the new proposed luxury tax.
Micheal Conforto
Michael Conforto would be a great fit for the Chicago White Sox in 2022.
One of the White Sox biggest holes is arguable in right field. They have tried cheap band-aid solutions in the past such as Jon Jay, Nomar Mazara, and Adam Eaton in the past but none of them have panned out. Micheal Conforto is a player on the market who could solve this problem and has an estimated value is about $19 million.
Conforto is 28 years old and rejected the Mets $18.4 million. It looks like he is on his way out of New York. Conforto struggled in 2021 but has a good track record. From 2019-2020 he slashed .274/.376/.499.
Those numbers were 35 percentage points above the league average by the measure of wRC+, which calculates weighted runs created. That was also good enough to rank in the top 20 of qualified MLB hitters. In 2017 he made the National League All-Star team after posting a .279 average to go along with 28 home runs. In 2019 he hit a career-best 33 home runs.
However, Conforto only hit 14 home runs in 479 plate appearances and his batting average dropped to .232, the worst of his career since 2016. Because of Conforto’s struggles, he could come at a reasonable price.
If the White Sox want him they will need to do some juggling with the current roster. By trading Craig Kimbrel they can free up the extra money needed to sign Conforto and still be under the luxury tax.
They probably won’t get that much in return for Kimbrel if they expect the other team to eat most of his contract. To have a shot at Conforto, who is a Scott Boras client, the other team would have to take on about $10 million of his $14.3 salary.
For the White Sox, he could be worth the risk because of some promising signs that suggest a bounceback year in 2022. He had a career-low 21.7% strikeout rate. With the White Sox, he would be surrounded with lineup protection and play in a hitter-friendly ballpark that should help his power numbers.
The White Sox could also backload the contract to stay under the luxury tax in 2022 pay the majority of it in the future when they don’t have so much money on the books.
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