Chicago White Sox Rumors: Team Exploring Trade For OF Andre Ethier

The Chicago White Sox were surprisingly quiet in free agency over the offseason, considering they still need quite a bit of help on offense if they have designs on truly contending in a tough AL Central. There’s no denying the White Sox have an excellent starting staff led by Chris Sale, but they were unable to score runs last season, finishing second-worst in MLB (622) behind only the lowly Miami Marlins (613). Acquiring Todd Frazier from the Cincinnati Reds was huge, but they clearly need more help.

It appears they are finally going to make a move to acquire another bat as we approach spring training. The White Sox have been linked to a number of players recently, including Ian Desmond and Dexter Fowler, but MLB.com’s Phil Rogers is reporting they could be working on a deal for Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier.

Not clear if there’s a match but #WhiteSox are exploring #Dodgers Andre Ethier. His 2.7 WAR in ’15 would be 4th best in their lineup.

— Phil Rogers (@philgrogers) February 1, 2016

The Dodgers are said to prefer dealing Carl Crawford, but he doesn’t carry an incredible amount of value on the trade block, so they could be forced to move Ethier, who’s owed a hefty $38 million over the next two seasons. While he’s undoubtedly making more money than he’s worth, Ethier was solid for the Dodgers in 2015. In 142 games, he batted .294 with 14 HRs and 52 RBIs, along with a solid .366 OBP.

The addition of Frazier means that paired with Jose Abreu, Chicago’s two biggest bats are right-handed. Thus, the White Sox could undoubtedly benefit from Ethier’s solid presence from the left side of the plate.

Los Angeles’ payroll is somewhere between $200-250 million currently, and there’s a feeling the Dodgers won’t be asking for a king’s ransom in return should they trade Ethier as long as a potential trade partner is willing to eat a significant portion of his contract. The White Sox are currently somewhere between $110-120 million and have the wherewithal to take on at least half of Ethier’s contract. Put simply, the deal makes an abundance of sense for all involved and must get done.