Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez – the White Sox won’t just need to add one starting pitcher for 2019 but perhaps two or three. The only sure things in the rotation are Reynaldo Lopez and Carlos Rodon. Dylan Cease could join the rotation by mid-season but the Sox need a placeholder for him as well as some legitimate studs to lead the staff.
Nelson Cruz – The White Sox are reportedly interested, but this one doesn’t make much sense. The past-their-prime steroid user might have been a typical thing for the White Sox to go for in the past, but this team needs to move in a different direction.
A DH platoon of Matt Davidson and Daniel Palka could probably be at least average, so it’s hard to find a place for Cruz on this team, given that this man certainly cannot play outfield very well. Maybe the White Sox want Cruz to help pursue Machado, given that they were formerly teammates with the Baltimore Orioles – but Machado was teammates with Wellington Castillo too, so why not use Castillo as a recruiting tool instead? I have a hard time believing this one is real.
James Shields – Yeah, let’s not do this again.