Will the Sox go after Yoennis Cespedes?

Bruce Levine:

After trading both Carlos Quentin and Sergio Santos, the Chicago White Sox have cleared some payroll, upwards of $10 million off their 2012 salary base. That money may be used to bid on 26-year-old Cespedes or 19-year-old Jorge Soler, also a multi-talented Cuban defector, but White Sox general manager Kenny Williams was reluctant to say how far in the White Sox are in relationship to the Cuban free agents.

Scott Merkin:

“What I will say is that there are some doors now open for us that were not open just yesterday because of savings of dollars,” Williams said. “But which direction we are heading with that, it would be counterproductive in getting something done to say we are deciding to go down that road. So we can take some of that little bit of payroll we cleared and invest it in something that helps the Major League club now, or something that helps on the horizon with another prospect. We could end up making this a 3-for-1 deal instead of a 2-for-1, albeit with two guys we really like.”

Well, with teams like the Yankee$, the Red Sox, the new Marlins, and the Cubs involved I think we can be pretty sure the Sox won’t land Cespedes. Kenny will only kick the tires. Probably…

Other White Sox links:

• James looks on the Carlos Quentin-Simon Castro/Pedro Hernandez trade, the 5-year extension to John Danks, and how the Oakland A’s are damaging the Sox trade market.
• J.J. looks on the players coming to Chicago on the Carlos Quentin trade. FutureSox looks on Simon Castro and Pedro Hernandez too. colin warned us the return might be disappointing.
• Fornelli looks at what Kenny Williams thinks rebuilding is.
• Final 2011 White Sox payroll: $125,814,762.
• THT’s Bruce Markusen looks back on the career of Dick Allen.
• Mya wants a Sox pillow for Christmas.

Happy new year folks!