The White Sox after the current season will bid farewell to the retiring Paul Konerko and outgoing free agent Adam Dunn. As such, they figure to have a vacancy at DH. One possible target to fill that role? As one source tells Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago, Victor Martinez, presently of the division-rival Tigers, may be of serious interest to the Sox.
Martinez is indeed a seasoned and established bat. In this, his age-35 season he's batting a stellar .328/.395/.553 (158 OPS+) in 522 plate appearances, and he has 26 homers and 54 walks against just 38 strikeouts. For his career, V-Mart owns an OPS+ of 124 across parts of 12 big-league seasons. Obviously, though, sudden decline is possible with a player of Martinez's age. He's wrapping up a four-year, $50-million deal with the Tigers.
It's left to question whether the White Sox can contend in 2015 (this would be a contender's type of move, to be sure), but there's something to be said for plucking a frontline bat from one of the teams ahead of you in the standings.
As with all things offseason put forth in the month of August, consider this to be: developing!
