White Sox rumors include links to two veteran pitchers, designated hitting slugger. The team appears to be aggressive this offseason.
The Chicago White Sox rumor train continues to roll along this offseason as the team is linked to another group of players. Now, the Sox are rumored to be interested in three other free agents with two of them being starting pitchers.
According to Jon Morosi, the Sox are active in the starting pitcher free agent market. Morosi tweeted on Wednesday morning that the Sox are rumored to have interest in Patrick Corbin and J.A. Happ. Both pitchers are free agents and should have a lot of interested suitors.
The Sox need to add veteran starting pitching this offseason as they didn’t pick up James Shields option and will have two spots to fill in their rotation. With Michael Kopech recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Sox have two open spots in their pitching rotation going into next season. They could fill one or two of those spots through acquiring a starting pitcher this offseason.
Sources: #WhiteSox active in starting pitching market, with interest in Patrick Corbin and J.A. Happ, among others. The reason: Reynaldo Lopez is the only current White Sox pitcher who threw 50+ IP this year with a sub-4.00 ERA. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 7, 2018
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Another player the Sox are rumored to have interest in is Nelson Cruz. On Tuesday, Jon Heyman tweeted that the Sox were one of many teams to be in on Cruz. The 38-year-old designated hitter is coming off a year where he hit 37 home runs with 97 RBIs for the Seattle Mariners. Since signing with the Mariners before the 2014 season, Cruz has hit 163 home runs over four seasons with Seattle.
Cruz would be a major upgrade for the Sox as a DH going into next season. The Sox, however, will have to likely outbid other teams to sign Cruz this offseason. At 38, Cruz would likely make sense on a one or two-year deal for the Sox. The Sox need a DH that can hit for power and Cruz could fill that void.
Teams on Nelson Cruz: astros, white sox, rays, more
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 6, 2018
With the Sox rumored to be showing interest in the aforementioned players along with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, the team appears to be very aggressive in targeting free agents so far. That’s a good sign as many Sox fans would like to see the team become competitive sooner rather than later.
The Sox don’t appear like they will allow an opportunity to add free agents this offseason pass them by. Coming off a 100 loss season, the Sox aren’t wasting time in targeting players that could help the team avoid a losing year in 2019 as they continue their rebuild. At some point, the Sox will need to add quality veterans and it appears that the time to do so is now.