On Thursday the White Sox agreed to one-year contracts and avoided arbitration with the following seven players:
RHP Dylan Cease — $8 million
LHP Garrett Crochet — $800,000
RHP Michael Kopech — $3 million
INF Nicky Lopez — $4.3 million
RHP Michael Soroka — $3 million
RHP Touki Toussaint — $1.3 million
INF Andrew Vaughn — $3.25 million
That represents the full arb-eligible class remaining for the White Sox, so there will be none of that contentious negotiation awkwardness this spring.
Some early estimates had Cease signing for around $8.3 million, so I suppose the club got a smidge of a discount on Dylan. Of course, whether or not Chicago ends up being the one to cut his checks remains to be seen; plenty of rumors still surround the possibility of a Cease trade, but so far, it’s still just chatter. If he does get dealt, $8 million for a top-of-the-rotation arm is a pretty darn good deal.
On the other end, of course, Chris Getz and Co. overpaid for both Lopez and Soroka, who came over from the Atlanta Braves in the Aaron Bummer trade. Spotrac projected them for $3.6 million and $2.8 million, respectively. Instead of $5.5 million of Bummer being, well, a bummer in 2024, we get the misfortune of watching Lopez and Soroka being terrible — for more money. Hey — a two-for-one! White Sox are always gonna White Sox.
Even with Crochet coming off of a tough season after Tommy John surgery, he signed for a bit more than Spotrac estimated, at $770,000. However Michael Kopech, who also had a rough year, agreed to significantly less than his $4.2 million projection. Touki Toussaint was almost right on the money with his $1.3 million contract versus a $1.2 million estimate, and Andrew Vaughn came in well below his projection of $4.1 million.
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