A total rebuild makes no sense given the starting pitching the Sox have.

If the Sox jumped out and signed Dexter Fowler, got a real DH, and a couple bullpen arms, they'd be contenders.

Its makes perfect sense given that you trade some/most of that pitching for MANY prospects. In two years this team could be real good. Going after a DH, bullpen arms, and spending money on old players is exactly what they have done for years now. Do you realize It has not worked?

Its time for something different from the Sox and you.

This is said, EVERY year. Sign a big bat, they do and he ends up hitting .200. I am starting to think, they tell him to worry about HRs and not your avg or OBP. Frazier seems to of entered this little club with Dunn and Laroache.

How are the Sox doing at picking prospects? That drafting has been going real well.

I'll leave it to others to handle the specifics but the 2016 Sox draft is highly regarded

How are the Sox doing at picking prospects? That drafting has been going real well.

If La Roche and Dunn hit 40 HRs and drove in 100 each year, people would have been satisfied with their production

It's been rumored that Cespedes will be opting out of his contract with the Mets. I'm going to assume wants to stay in NY and is using it to get more money out of them. He would fit with the Sox. However, this year signing him requires losing a draft pick.

I still think the better move is Fowler if the Cubs don't offer.

Move team out of Chicago. Crash into a telephone pole on the way out of the city. Die in ensuing fire.

Fowler and Trumbo.

Rick Hahn should make a serious offer to Jose Bautista

Matt Enuco November 2, 2016 AL Central, Chicago White Sox, MLB, Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista becomes a free agent this off-season and there will be more than a few teams clamoring for his attention. The Toronto Blue Jays slugger turned in a respectable season hitting. 234 with 22 home runs and 69 runs batted in. It will certainly be difficult for teams to woo Bautista away from Toronto, but with reported demands of $150 million over five years and nothing but a qualifying offer on the table, Bautista seems poised to walk.

Bautista will have to assuage fears of two enormous issues—his increasing age and declining offensive production. He is a far cry from the three-year stretch he had from 2010-2012 where he combined for 124 home runs and 292 RBI. With all of that offensive production, Bautista walked over 100 times in two of those seasons and was issued 24 intentional walks in 2011. That same year, his WAR peaked at just over eight but has yo-yoed back and forth since, and in 2016, Bautista’s WAR was a measly one.

Most people believe Bautista will stay with the Blue Jays because of their bright future, however, his numbers are hard to justify in the middle of the line-up. Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson provide a lot of protection, but the Blue Jays will use other marquee free agents, like Mark Trumbo and Colby Rasmus as leverage in negotiations.

If the Blue Jays want to contend in the American League East they need to avoid overpaying Bautista, especially if they can replace him with another offensive powerhouse for similar money.

Bautista will probably end up with a five-year deal for the same yearly wage. It’s hard to believe Jay Alou, Bautista’s agent, could make a case for an increase given his anemic numbers. The Chicago White Sox could swoop in and gain veteran presence from Bautista for young players like Rymer Liriano and hope for quality production.

In 2016, Bautista earned $14 million in the final year of a club friendly five-year, $64 million deal. It’s hard to believe that any general manager is in a rush to give Bautista his reported demands, but if Rick Hahn could structure a two to three year deal worth $24-$42 million with club options on the back end, we could see Jose Bautista in black and white pinstripes.

The only fly in the ointment in this scenario is if Bautista accepts the $17.2 million qualifying offer that Toronto plans to tender —although it seems clear that Bautista will test the market.

Bautista would be thrilled if Toronto offered that sum in a long-term format, considering his poor offensive season, but the Blue Jays would be incredibly foolish to make that kind of deal. With the World Series coming to a close and little media buzz from either camp, it seems likely Bautista is more concerned with tenure rather than money for his final contract.

Matt Enuco is a Staff Writer for Outside Pitch MLB covering the Chicago White Sox.

Cespedes isn't worth the draft pick or the money he'll demand. I'd love to have him, but, as you said, he'll probably stay in NY. Fowler would be worth it. And the Sox may actually be able to sign him. Plus, there's this:

not a single man looking at the back of the jersey