Kenny Williams, executive vice-president of the Chicago White Sox, spoke to reporters today about his team’s failed pursuit of Manny Machado, who will, per reports, sign with the San Diego Padres for $300 million or so:
As he speechified, Williams—possibly unaware that his team plays in the third-largest media market in America and that it’s embarrassing to have spent the winter in pursuit of a player everyone expected to sign for $300 million without being willing to pay them $300 million—proclaimed that signing a 26-year-old future Hall of Famer to a contract worth $300 million wasn’t “feasible” because the team needs to have money on hand to pay its good young players, who will reap rich salaries in arbitration and long-term contracts in the years to come:
The White Sox’s best young player, Eloy Jimenez, isn’t a White Sox as of yet because the team has wisely refused to put him on the major-league roster so as to maintain control of his contract for as long as possible; their next-best young player, Yoan Moncada, strikes out in over a third of his at-bats and has yet to prove he can reliably play at a league-average level; their next-best young player, Michael Kopech, blew out his arm last year (and was recently blamed by one of the stars of Don’t Be Tardy for their breakup). Per Spotrac, the team projects to have an $80 million payroll this year, the 25th-highest in the majors; adding $30 million this year would leave their payroll below average and put them on par with though somewhat below the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. Neither team plays in a city with an economy that would be among the 20 or so biggest in the world if if were a nation.