Chicago White Sox Face Myriad Issues After Hitting An Expensive Dead End

The Chicago White Sox are limping toward the finish line riding a seven-game losing streak after a season that’s been a disappointment almost from the start. Fangraphs gave them a 72% chance to make the playoffs on opening day, but the Sox need a quick turn-around to avoid a losing season, and it is clear chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will have to make some difficult decisions when the season ends.

Reinsdorf invested a franchise record $193.4 million in payroll for the 2022 season, a 50-percent increase over the record set a year earlier, and it could cost more than $210 million to keep the team together.

Three of the five players earning the most rWAR this season — Jose Abreu (4.0), Johnny Cueto (3.4) and Elvis Andrus (2.5, including 1.2 with Oakland before he was released) — are headed for free agency. The two others, Dylan Cease (6.5) and Michael Kopech (2.2), join the projected ace, Lucas Giolito, among 10 players eligible for arbitration. Then there’s $130 million already on the books, much of it to players who spent long stretches of ’21 on the Injured List.

But there are more essential questions hanging over the White Sox than roster construction. Here’s a look at the five biggest issues that must be resolved:

1. Is Reinsdorf committed to remaining as chairman of the team he and the late Eddie Einhorn bought from Bill Veeck for $19 million?

Reinsdorf will be 87 when the 2023 season begins and wouldn’t be blamed for selling his interest in the team. Forbes recently estimated the White Sox’s value at 1.76 billion.

Reinsdorf has been a loyal steward for the franchise, making major contributions on the financially challenged South Side while keeping the team viable. He had carefully managed the payroll before spending heavily after a wild-card trip to the postseason in the 2020 season, which was abbreviated and played before empty stadiums due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The White Sox won the AL Central in 2021 but lost to Houston in the ALDS. Reinsdorf has increasingly become a target for fans, who point to his hiring of Tony La Russa over A.J. Hinch as a critical mistake made for his personal reasons.

2. Will Reinsdorf continue to entrust the baseball operation to General Manager Rick Hahn and Executive Vice President Ken Williams?

Williams, who played for the White Sox in 1986-88 and ran the team in 2001-12, and Hahn have spent a combined 46 years in Reinsdorf’s front office. It is difficult to imagine Reinsdorf’s baseball operation without at least one of them. But the depth of disappointment after the excitement created by Abreu, Giolito, Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada must make Reinsdorf and his partners at least consider new leadership.

3. Will La Russa resign to avoid the question of whether Reinsdorf will fire him for the second time?

La Russa turns 78 next Tuesday and has been on a medical leave of absence since August 31, reportedly to deal with issues involving a pacemaker he uses to control a heart issue. He managed the White Sox in 1979-86 and then rode World Series championships in Oakland and St. Louis to a place in Cooperstown. Reinsdorf coaxed him out of retirement after Rick Renteria managed the Sox into the playoffs in 2020, reportedly giving him a three-year deal worth almost $4 million a season.

Miguel Cairo has a 13-12 record as the Sox’s interim manager. La Russa could simplify a difficult process for Reinsdorf by stepping aside.

4. Will Reinsdorf’s front office continue to spend heavily to retain Abreu, Cueto and Andrus?

It’s hard to envision the Sox not re-signing the 35-year-old Abreu, who has been one of the most reliable run-producers in the majors since emigrating from Cuba to win the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year. While his home run totals are down his rWAR is his best since 2017.

Abreu has said he wants to spend his entire career in Chicago but would project as the top free agent on the market if he isn’t signed to an extension. Cueto and Andrus were financial bargains when they joined the Sox after being discarded by San Francisco and Oakland, respectively, and could be difficult to re-sign.

5. Could the White Sox trade away the arbitration-eligible Giolito, Cease and Kopech like they did Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton?

Those deals executed by Hahn at the 2017 winter meetings yielded a bonanza of prospects, including Giolito, Cease, Jimenez and Moncada. Along with allowing Cueto and Andrus to leave as free agents, trading just one of the pitchers — Giolito — could cut as much as $35 million off the 2023 payroll.

But without two of their top starting pitchers, could the Sox rebound to the playoffs in ’23? If Reinsdorf and his front office don’t believe they have the depth to win, will they look to reduce the payroll below $150 million? That could mean even more trades or personnel cuts.

It’s going to be an interesting off-season at Guaranteed Rate Field, one way or another.