Will White Sox rumor mill deliver Edwin Encarnacion on Christmas?

The White Sox left at least one item of business to complete after Christmas, as they have yet to announce the Dallas Keuchel signing.

An Edwin Encarnacion deal might not be far behind if multiple reports are to be believed. Bruce Levine’s been on it:

Jon Heyman’s been on it:

And Daryl Van Schouwen is on it:

An industry source confirmed Encarnacion has been engaged in serious discussions with the Sox, who would be looking to give their lineup a DH boost not unlike what the Twins got from Nelson Cruz last season at age 38. The Blue Jays also are courting Encarnacion, who played for them in 2009-16.

We’ll see if further, more authoritative word leaks out over the next 24 hours, but I’ll assume the White Sox are taking it easy on Christmas and/or the third day of Hanukkah, and so will we. Happy holidays to you and yours.

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anthonyprinceton

Merry Christmas Jim! Merry Christmas everyone!

It would indeed be a Merry Christmas if the Sox can sign Encarnacion and cap off a remarkable offseason, at least by White Sox standards. Twins are weaker today and the Indians are looking to reduce or limit payroll heading into 2020. An ideal time to go for it.

mikeschach

As i posted on hitpen on response to their brilliant holiday poem…tis the third day of hanukah, and tho not from the torah, some of us Sox fans are lighting menorahs…. so however you celebrate this season of light let’s enjoy that they’re turning past wrongs into right
We’ve gotten some great gifts – happy holidays to us all – here’s hoping for meaningful Sox games next fall

lifelongjd

Confusing signing because it’s not a true need.  I would think RF would be more of a priority, especially with guys like Mercedes, Collins, Abreu, and Grandal all potential candidates to rotate at bats in DH spot. Maybe Rick has something up his sleeve. 

evenyoudorn

I think maybe they’re driving towards making McCann eminently tradeable. Maybe he nets a RP?

Right Size Wrong Shape

I don’t get why McCann can’t just be the backup catcher. Teams have those.

evenyoudorn

I’m not really suggesting he can’t, more that they might see him as more valuable for what he can bring back.

Yeah, and I don’t think anybody wants to see 50+ games of Collins behind the dish, especially not the pitchers.

Any future Collins has is a DH and I doubt he’ll ever hit lefty’s well…

roke1960

Rick is really loading up on bats. It seems like they are kind of following the Twins blueprint from last year- no 9-figure signings, but several impact signings and breakouts from their young stars.

If they sign EE, they will have five new bats in the lineup. Timmy, Yoan, Eloy and Abreu will return, and McCann, Yolmer, Leury, Engel/Cordell, Yonder/Castillo will be replaced by Grandal, Madrigal, Robert, Mazara and Encarnacion. That is quite an improvement.

In the rotation, Nova and the slop that started 44 games will be replaced by Keuchel and Gonzalez.

Hopefully they add another solid arm to the pen. But I am hoping that at least one of Hamilton or Burdi also has a big impact on the pen.

There is no reason that this team can’t go toe-to-toe with the Twins and Indians in the Central.

Merry Christmas to all!

ImmortalTimeTravelMan

Rumor is it’s a one year deal for 12 mil and an option. No reason not to add another solid bat for cheap on a one year deal. Hoping they get Castellanos to platoon with Nomar and we may actually have a major league line-up.

Foulkelore

That would be ideal, as the Sox one weak spot remaining would be in RF vs. LHP, and Castellanos destroys lefties, but I doubt either Encarnacion or Castellanos would sign to only play about 30% of the time. Signing both means one of them is relegated to that (Mazara in RF vs. RHP, one full DH spot, someone for the 30% of time in RF vs. LHP).

ImmortalTimeTravelMan

Castellanos isn’t terrible enough against RHP that he couldn’t take a lot of those at bats. I’m guessing if anyone has his feelings hurt it would end up being Nomar.

Foulkelore

Agreed. It all depends on how they feel about Mazara. I said in the original post about the trade that the Mazara acquisition could be a hedge in case they didn’t get Ozuna or Castellanos in a competitive market, so maybe they do still go for one of them.

anthonyprinceton

Engle hit .313/.360/.482, 125 wRC+ against LHP. Leury was also good, .311/.344/.443, 110 wRC+. Castellanos would be amazing in a platoon, .370/.425/.713, 190 wRC+ against southpaws in 2019 and he has been good over his career. However, not sure he would sign for a limited role unless he is getting paid. Any additions now, unless too good to pass up might come for the pen. Although the White Sox pen of 2019 wasn’t that bad. Codi Heuer and Tyler Johnson could be ready to help at some point in 2020. Not sure what the status of Ian Hamilton or Zack Burdi is heading into 2020.

lil jimmy

Matt Foster is also a guy you might see next year. He was added to the 40 man for a reason.

5742mail

I would rather see what Mercedes can do.

AdamH

Over Collins or Encarnacion?

ImmortalTimeTravelMan

The time for testing out AAAA players should be over at this point unless an injury crops up. If neither guy warranted a ton of playing time (or any in Mercedes case) last year I’m telling myself there must have been a reason…

Then why did the Sox go out of their way to protect him from the Rule 5 draft?

andyfaust

To trade him hopefully. 

Eagle Bones

Depth?

tdublya

I’m hearing EE is a done deal. This lineup is going to rake, a couple more soft additions and the Twins will look nice in the rear view. 

Marty34

SS Anderson
3B Moncada
LF Jimenez
C Grandal
1B Abreu
RF Mazara
DH Encarnacion
2B Madrigal
CF Robert

Lots of upside coupled with some risk. Something to watch at the very least.

Gus

Santa Rick delivered.

Merry Christmas you guys.

Now, what relievers are still out there?
Let’s tighten this thing up.

carbiner

God Bless Us, Every One

soxfan4life

Well with this addition of EE ive been a sox fan for almost 40 years and IMO this has been the BEST OFFSEASON EVER TY JERRY&HAHN for finally trying to build& win now.