Whether or not or not the 2024 White Sox finally set a brand new report for probably the most losses in a single season, there isn’t a denying their efficiency this yr has been a large disappointment. The South Siders completed with a dismal 61-101 in 2023, but someway, they’re on tempo to lose an extra 23 video games in 2024. So, it shouldn’t come as any shock that the White Sox are planning to cut back their payroll subsequent season, in response to Bob Nightengale of USA Right this moment. Nightengale suggests the finances cuts are resulting from “sustaining substantial losses in income” this yr.
Whereas it’s not possible to guess how a lot the White Sox’s income may need really declined in 2024, there’s little question attendance has gone down at Assured Price Discipline. Based on ESPN, the White Sox have dropped from twenty fourth to twenty seventh in common attendance, going from 21,405 to 17,910 spectators per sport. That’s the fourth-largest drop-off this season, and the one groups who’ve seen their common attendance fall by a bigger quantity – the Mets, Cardinals, and Blue Jays – are all outpacing the White Sox in common attendance by no less than 11,000 followers per sport.
Normal supervisor Chris Getz has loads of challenges forward of him with this White Sox workforce, however reducing payroll gained’t be one in every of them. The best-paid participant on the workforce, Yoan Moncada, is making $24.8MM this season. Subsequent yr, the White Sox will solely should pay him a $5MM buyout. Extra impending free brokers embody Mike Clevinger ($3MM wage in 2024), Michael Soroka ($3MM), and Chris Flexen ($1.75MM). The workforce may additionally non-tender Nicky Lopez, who’s making $4.3MM this yr in his second season of arbitration eligibility, and Andrew Vaughn, who’s making $3.25MM in his first. They actually gained’t non-tender Garrett Crochet, who’s due for a sizeable increase in his second offseason of arbitration, however Getz may look to commerce Crochet this winter. He could be one of the coveted gamers on the offseason commerce block.
Additionally off the books would be the tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in wage the White Sox paid/are paying to gamers not within the group, together with Eloy Jiménez, Erick Fedde, Martín Maldonado, Leury García, John Brebbia, Michael Kopech, Tommy Pham, Paul DeJong, Tim Hill, and Touki Toussaint, in addition to the $6MM they spent on buyouts for Clevinger, Jake Diekman, and Tim Anderson. All informed, RosterResource estimates the White Sox payroll is roughly $148.8MM this yr. And as issues stand, they solely have $35.3MM in payroll commitments for 2025. Thus, barring an unprecedented offseason spending spree, the White Sox payroll might be a lot decrease subsequent season.
Any important spending from the White Sox this offseason already appeared unlikely earlier than Nightengale’s report. Earlier this month, Getz mentioned his membership’s horrible season, saying “You attempt to make one of the best of it, and I believe it’s a possibility to embrace the scenario that we’re in.” Whereas these feedback are imprecise, Getz implies he’s transferring towards a protracted, multi-season rebuild. In different phrases, he gained’t be trying to make a splash on the free agent market this winter. Certainly, Getz mentioned as a lot in a current look on the NBC Sports activities Chicago TV broadcast, remarking: “We’re not gonna be working heavy in free company.”
It’s hardly shocking, however that doesn’t make it any much less disappointing for White Sox followers. The previous few years have been laborious to observe, and it doesn’t seem like the workforce goes to get meaningfully higher any time quickly.
