RUMBLINGS OF A SAMARDZIJA DEAL

I'm not sure what to make of it, but on Friday night when there were rumblings of a big trade involving Oakland, Jeff Samardzija's name was mentioned, as were the White Sox as a possible landing place. That wasn't the big deal Oakland pulled off, as it sent Josh Donaldson to Toronto in a deal I didn't understand, but that doesn't mean Oakland is done yet.

Susan Slusser, who covers the Athletics and was the first person to start tweeting about a big trade coming, sent out these tweets as well.

Again, source tells me that #Athletics nearing major deal that involves Samardzija for several players, team targeting hitters.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 29, 2014

I'm told 10 teams have expressed interest in Samardzija; #RedSox and #WhiteSox among them. But he is not in deal as @Ken_Rosenthal says.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) November 29, 2014

Now, that doesn't mean anything, as it's not a shock that the Sox would at least check in on the availability of Samardzija. But then late Friday night, just before I curled up into bed, this tweet made its way into my timeline.

WHITE SOX HAVE CHECKED IN ON JUSTIN MASTERSON

We don't know who it's going to be, or how he's going to get here, but at some point the White Sox are going to get a right-handed starting pitcher this winter. The current starting rotation consists of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, John Danks and then there's Carlos Rodon waiting in the wings. Should Danks not be traded at some point, that's four lefty starters in the rotation.

That's not really a terrible thing, but you want to find a righty to throw in there somewhere, and the Sox just don't have a realistic option available aside from Hector Noesi, but you don't want to go into next season guaranteeing Noesi anything.

So Rick Hahn will find a starter, and I like where his head is at according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The paper says the White Sox have "inquired" on Justin Masterson. This is an idea I can get behind.

THE WHITE SOX HAVE SIGNED TONY CAMPANA

I have no idea why, and I have no idea if it's a Major League deal or a minor league deal (Update: it's a minor league deal with a spring training invite), but based upon this tweet it looks like the White Sox have signed Tony Campana.

Excited for the new opportunity with White Sox organization!
— Tony Campana (@Tcampana_24) November 28, 2014

Campana has made a career out of being tiny, fast and not very good at hitting the baseball. I sincerely hope he helps the Charlotte Knights win an International League title.

WHAT'S WITH THE LOVE FOR YOENIS CESPEDES?

With the Red Sox signing both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez there have been plenty of people willing to tell you that Yoenis Cespedes is now available for trade. Many believe that the Red Sox will have Hanley in left field before long, which makes Cespedes expendable.

And that makes sense.

What makes less sense to me is the amount of White Sox fans I know that think they should trade for Cespedes. I've even seen national writers like Jon Heyman tweet that Cespedes could be used by Boston to trade for a pitcher like Mat Latos which only leads to one simple question from me.

Why?

ADAM LAROCHE WILL SERVE PRIMARILY AS A DH

The White Sox made the Adam LaRoche signing official on Monday, which meant that we were finally able to get some clarity on what role LaRoche will fill exactly. It was obvious that the plan was for LaRoche to fill the DH spot and spell Jose Abreu at first base, but what we didn't know was how often LaRoche would need to bring his glove to the park.

We received some clarification from Robin Ventura Monday.

Ventura was doing an interview with MLB Network and was asked about his plans for LaRoche.

IS MIGUEL MONTERO NECESSARY?

Tyler Flowers had his best season with the White Sox in 2014. That's a good thing, but like most things, it's all relative.

Flowers had set the bar rather low for himself, and it's somewhat sad that a season in which he finished with an OBP of .297 and an OPS+ of 95 could be considered a career year, but that's the situation Flowers finds himself in. It also leaves the White Sox in a position in which they have to wonder whether or not an upgrade is something they should pursue, or if the money should be spent elsewhere.

The fact they've apparently checked with the Diamondbacks on Miguel Montero might give us an indication about how they feel. Montero is still owed $40 million over the next three seasons, which is a sizeable investment for this White Sox team to make. But the question is whether or not it'd be worth it.

THE WHITE SOX AREN'T GOING TO TRADE ALEXEI RAMIREZ

I guess anything is possible. The Cubs could one day win a World Series. Jay Cutler might one day lead the Bears to a Super Bowl win. A leaked nude photo of Kate Upton with my jizz on her back instead of Justin Verlander's could one day make it's way through the internet.

Who knows?

But while things may be possible, that doesn't mean they're probable, and that leads me to all these trade rumors surrounding Alexei Ramirez. The White Sox have reportedly talked to a number of teams about their malnutritioned shortstop, though Rick Hahn says he's not shopping him.  He's just listening, as any good general manager would do. The two teams we've seen mentioned are the Mets and Dodgers, with the Dodgers apparently pushing harder than anybody else.

Let them push, they aren't going to get him barring some ridiculous offer. Sure! We'll take Clayton Kershaw!

REACTIONS TO THE LAROCHE SIGNING

Let's take a look at how the internets are reacting to the White Sox signing Adam LaRoche. I can only assume the rest of the baseball world is trembling in fear at the juggernaut that Rick Hahn is assembling here.


South Side Sox

LaRoche has hit at least 20 homers in every season in which he qualified for the batting title (nine out of 11 years in the big leagues). He's typically lousy in April, but he defied that trend with a .312/.413/.495 performance in the first month. In fact, he carried a .300/.400/.500 line through mid-June until regression crushed him in July (.159/.238/.227 over 101 plate appearances). 

He rebounded back to his usual levels over the final two months, resulting in a season that perfectly fits in with his respectable MLB career. Now we'll see how he fares in his first tour of the American League.

WHITE SOX SIGN ADAM LAROCHE

The White Sox offseason continues to take shape as it was reported Friday night that the Sox had signed free agent Adam LaRoche. The White Sox are yet to officially announce the deal, but it was reported by Bob Nightingale that LaRoche received a two-year deal worth $25 million.

And that's fine.

Two years isn't going to hamstring the Sox, even if LaRoche is now the second-highest paid member of the team, sliding in behind John Danks.

As for what the signing means to the Sox next season, my initial reaction was a bit trepidatious. Maybe I'm just put off by the idea of signing a left-handed slugging first baseman from the Nationals considering what happened with Adam Dunn, but that's stupid. LaRoche isn't Adam Dunn. At least I hope he isn't.

What we know about LaRoche is that he's coming off a pretty good season with the Nationals. He hit .259/.362/.455 in 140 games with 26 home runs and 92 RBI. He was worth 2.2 WAR. That's not bad at all. What isn't great is that LaRoche just turned 35 a few weeks ago, so he's not exactly coming to Chicago in the middle of his prime.