13 Mar 2022 14:05:13
Proposal for the rest offseason for the White Sox:

Sox/A's

White Sox Get:
LHP Sean Manaea

A's Get:
1B Gavin Sheets
RHP Andrew Dalquist

Sox/Rays

White Sox Get:
OF Kevin Kiermaier

Rays Get:
RHP Craig Kimbrel

- Sign Ryan Tepera 2 years/$17 million
- Sign Stephen Vogt 1 year/$1.5 million

Lineup:

SS Anderson R
3B Moncada S
RF Robert R
1B Abreu R
C Grandal S
LF Jimenez R
DH Vaughn R
CF Kiermaier L
2B Harrison R

Rotation:
1. Giolito R
2. Lynn R
3. Cease R
4. Manaea L
5. Keuchel L

Bullpen:
Hendriks R
Bummer L
Graveman R
Tepera R
Kelly R
Crochet L
Kopech R
Lopez R

Approx. payroll = $212 Million

1.) 14 Mar 2022
14 Mar 2022 14:54:32
The reason for the Rays looking to trade Kevin Kiermaier is to save money.

Trading him for Craig Kimbrel costs them more money.

Kimbrel- owed 16M in 2022
Kiermaier- owed 12M in 2022 with a 2.5M buyout in 2023.

The Rays would be taking on $4M more in '22, which seems to go against their goal here.

2.) 14 Mar 2022
14 Mar 2022 16:23:01
Is it really though? They could do that in the process, but Kiermaier represents a redundancy on their roster. Brett Phillips is a Kiermaier-lite still on a pre-arb deal. Reallocating the money that isn't disappearing for either team could make sense.

I'm sure the Sox could throw in the $1.5 million to make the money even too if need be.

That said, I can still see why Tampa doesn't do this due to their ability to turn recently DFA'd bums into playoff bullpen pieces.

3.) 14 Mar 2022
14 Mar 2022 18:23:28
The Rays are most likely wanting to get out from that money, not just reinvest it into an overpriced, overrated relief pitcher.

The Rays don't exactly *need* Craig Kimbrel, so taking on more or equal money for him wouldn't even make sense.

(Also, your regular reminder that Craig Kimbrel is simply not a good pitcher anymore. )