According to Ken Rosenthal, the White Sox have cooled on Aaron Rowand as they do not want to give him a five-year contract. Instead, they’ve set their sights on Kosuke Fukudome and Jason Bay.
This isn’t the first time they’ve been linked to Fukudome; Dan Graziano noted back in August that the Sox had scouted him. The White Sox could entertain using Fukudome in any of the three outfield positions. He could easily handle left field if Joe Crede is traded and Josh Fields plays third. He could probably get by in center. And he’s probably better than Jermaine Dye in right, so maybe it would be Dye switching to left.
New Pirates GM Neal Huntington perhaps hasn’t made an impression on the team’s fans yet. A Bay trade this winter will be big for him in terms of PR. It’d be a sell-low move, however. I do think the White Sox could throw something together to make it work.
Meanwhile Mark Gonzales says the Sox still like Coco Crisp as a center field possibility. The only problem is that Crisp could be headed to Minnesota in a Johan Santana deal. That will have to unfold before Crisp becomes available to other teams – unless the other team makes a ridiculous offer.
