How Will White Sox Be Affected by Early Hot Stove Moves?

With news of trades and signings coming daily, this offseason’s hot stove is off to a much bigger start than last year’s stagnant market.

Two of the bigger starting pitching names on the free agent market have already signed before the Winter Meetings have started. Patrick Corbin signed a six-year, $140 million deal with the Washington Nationals earlier this week. Nathan Eovaldi has agreed to terms to return to the Red Sox, per news on Thursday morning.

Arizona Diamondbacks superstar Paul Goldschmidt also is on the move. The Cardinals and D-Backs have agreed to a trade sending the All-Star to the Cardinals for catcher Carson Kelly, pitcher Luke Weaver, minor league second baseman Andy Young and a 2019 compensation round B draft pick. These moves seem to indicate that the Winter Meetings should be very exciting this year

How will this affect the White Sox?

I believe, because of these early deals and signings, the White Sox will leave the Winter Meetings with at least one new starting pitcher, a reliever and a couple position players. Look for Rick Hahn and company to be quite active this December. Sox fans should be checking their twitter feed every 30 minutes or so looking for updates during the meetings. Don’t expect a boring and inactive session this year like it was last year. So, who are the Sox still eyeing?

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J.A Happ is still one of the names the White Sox have been linked to that is still available. He won’t command the price that a player like Dallas Keuchel will. While Keuchel would be the better pitcher the first two years of his new deal, he could be looking for a six-year deal which could potentially be a crutch to the team in years three through six.

I don’t believe the Sox will spend on a long-term contract on a 30-year-old pitcher. Especially one whose analytic numbers have decreased over the last year. So expect Happ to be a new White Sox this time next week.

Bryce Harper? Manny Machado? While I fully believe the Sox will be all in on the two prime prizes this Winter, I’m not entirely sure they will get signed next week. I’m not predicting the Sox won’t get one of them, I just don’t think it will happen at these meetings,

A reliever is still on Hahn’s wish list and there are quite a few still out there. Jeurys Familia is the name I see the Sox going after hard. With the New York Yankees focused on Adam Ottavino and everyone in on Craig Kimbrel, look for Hahn to swoop in and get Familia. He would be a great addition and suddenly the Sox have a tremendous one-two back end of the bullpen along with recently acquired Alex Colome. The Sox would easily have the best closing tandem in the division.

In the next article I’ll go over the possible position players I believe the Sox will be targeting during the meetings. Both obvious ones and under the radar guys. Stay Tuned. This December is going to be exciting!!