Can Chicago White Sox Sign Pablo Sandoval?

The Chicago White Sox are rumored to be heavily interested in former San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who is now an MLB free agent this winter.

While the expectations for Pablo Sandoval’s free agency are still that he will remain with the San Francisco Giants this winter, an intriguing new possibility has emerged for the third baseman’s services in the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have some cash to play around with, and while they understand the Giants are the favorites for the Panda, they can offer some unique incentives to bolt for the South Side.

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The White Sox have Conor Gillaspie at third base, but the former first-round pick (by the Giants in 2008, ironically), put together his first decent season in the big leagues last year at age 27, and most of his 1.2 Wins Above Replacement came from his bat. Gillaspie is a decent stopgap, assuming he can repeat the performance, but he isn’t a long-term solution. Sandoval is a massive upgrade for almost any team at third base, is a decent fielder, and is only a year older than Gillaspie, and doesn’t have the same flukey red flags surrounding him.

One red flag potentially on Sandoval is his weight; he’s called Panda for a reason. While the weight has probably been overexamined as a potential injury factor down the road, the White Sox, as an AL team, have a built-in safety net to sell to Sandoval: the designated hitter. If Chicago were so inclined, they could offer Sandoval an extra year on a potential contract as a sweetener to get the White Sox deal over the top, with the idea that by the end of the contract he would be a DH. And a lineup featuring Sandoval and Rookie of the Year-winner Jose Abreu is a great start.

It still seems likely Sandoval returns to the Giants, the only team he’s known, but the White Sox have enough going for them to make them an interesting dark horse for the Panda.

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