Casper Wells was designated for assignment by a Blue Jays team that’s willfully playing Rajai Davis and has already conjured up 113 plate appearances for Melky Cabrera and his .298 slugging percentage.

Casper Wells was traded by an Athletics team that actually has a lot of good of outfielders and had exhausted their use for Wells on their roster, but the point remains.

Let no one say we entered into this deluded about the capabilities of the White Sox’ newest traded acquisition.

But this would be the rare case where we can be thankful for the presence of Dewayne Wise on the White Sox roster. With Wise and his whopping .234/.269/.403 career batting line against right-handed pitching hanging around, it really sets a low bar for even the situational offensive utility of White Sox reserve outfielders. Can Casper Wells be more valuable than a guy who can’t hit a lick even with the platoon split and whose defensive utility is completely redundant on the roster? I am bold enough to suggest he could be.

At 28 years-old and with the best successes of his career had while a being a tad old for whichever minor league level he was crushing at the time, no one’s calling on the White Sox to be the first team to answer the question of “what would happen if Casper Wells got 500 PA’s,” but a .261/.345/.482 career line against left-handed pitching (with much of that coming in places like Seattle and Detroit) suggest he very much could serve some purpose for the worst offense in the league.

The immediate uses, with the lineup beset by injuries, are numerous.

• Hey, guess who doesn’t have to start two left-handed outfielders against every left-handed starter anymore?!
• Guess who doesn’t have to sit idly by while opposing managers line up LOOGY’s against Conor Gillaspie and Alejandro De Aza!?
• Guess who could make the occasional appearance in center field if necessary?!?

Answers: Robin Ventura, Robin Ventura, Casper Wells

It’s not as though an acquisition such as Wells needs to have a long-term purpose and any real optimism about the White Sox and Wells is contingent upon Ventura & Co. throttling down their open displays of faith in Dewayne Wise. Yet in the long-term–which in this case means “through the month of August”–a successfully lefty-mashing (or at least, lefty-troubling) Wells would allow the Sox to try to aggressively platoon their way out of some of their offensive troubles as well as provide some insurance for Dayan Viciedo if he struggles with his health or spirals into further, heartbreaking ineffectiveness.

Of course this all assumes optimal usage and Casper Wells being everything his statistical record suggests he can be and not a diminished shell of himself that three teams have taken a gander at and moved on from. He could breeze in, sit on the bench and be a source of indignation, and roll right out of town in under a month. That’s often how these things go, actually.

For the moment, I’ll allow myself to be optimistic about Wells, since there’ll be plenty of time to wail in agony over the next five months.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Typically, sensible is viewed as a code word for “inexpensive”, because otherwise it’s code for nothing at all, since the only team that actually terms their decisions as not being sensible is the Marlins, whose business offices are located on the 19th floor of Pixiestix Huffin’ Heaven.

The Sox are right at their own proposed spending limit, and Merkin’s piece included the line “The White Sox don’t believe the top-of-the-line free agent is the only way to make a major change”, as if the Tigers paid Prince Fielder trash barges full of cash out of dedication to the practice.

But as much as the White Sox seem more likely to shuffle cards with others than add new ones to the deck, Hahn’s most recent comments seem far more dedicated to holding his cards close enough to tuck them under his chin than preparing everyone for disappointment. He’s not giving any specifics, and it’s hard work to spin that into a story. These quotes are immaculately noncommittal.

“Given the options we have internally, we don’t feel like we have to make a move. We aren’t going to make one to say we did something.”

They will not act desperate and reckless.

“If we have a chance to add to the depth, we will explore it. We aren’t going to turn our back to adding quality depth.”

The budget may not be enormous, but the White Sox will not willfully shun the possible addition of good players.

“Let’s put it this way: I don’t want to go into specific conversations about specific free agents.”

 Because, who would?

“Historically, we’ve checked in on the big names, via free agent or trade. By exploring all options, by having conversations with one club or free agent, you might unlock the possibility to make a move you didn’t anticipate.”

The White Sox front office is up to date on what is happening in major league baseball.

“It could happen before or after. We are in the process of having fairly substantive conversations with other clubs or other agents, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a greater amount of activity in Nashville because the foundation has been laid.”

Something could happen.

Jim Margalus preached patience to Nick and I regarding the Dewayne Wise situation, citing that the White Sox obstinance toward cutting dead weight dissipated in 2012. And I think the principle used there–that the Sox haven’t actually over-emphasized Wise, or stuck with him for too long, until they actually have/or more directly, they haven’t screwed up until they actually have–applies to the Winter Meetings and the off-season as well

The White Sox haven’t actually delivered a weaker version of last year’s club to compete against a revamped version of the two-time division-winning Detroit Tigers, while doing nothing to accelerate the construction of a new core besides no longer being incompetent in terms of drafting and international signing…until they have.

Until then, these opaque words are all we have to look at, which is vexing enough on its own after a while.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan