[Luke Smailes is a college baseball player and an analyst who joined our staff when we were writing on the White Sox at Sports Illustrated. He comes over with the group now to SSS, debuting with his highly-detailed offseason plan.]
After a successful 2020 season that signified the White Sox turning the corner into contention, a normal set of circumstances would likely have the team compounding the spending of last offseason and pushing the limits of Jerry Reinsdorf’s debt threshold. The team will still hold a lot of surplus value from currently-controlled players, a fact that usually gives mid- to large-market teams the ability to theoretically overspend on players in the free-agent market.