CHICAGO -- The 2014-15 offseason has become the holiday gift that keeps on giving for the White Sox fan base.Melky Cabrera became the latest present, as the switch-hitting outfielder agreed with the White Sox on a three-year contract worth between $42 million and $43.5 million, a Major League source told MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez early Sunday morning. The club has not confirmed the agreement.
The deal, which is pending a physical, was first reported by Bruce Levine of The Score 670 AM, the White Sox flagship station. 
Cabrera, 30, not only provides the White Sox an upgrade offensively and defensively in left field, but he also fits perfectly into the two spot in the White Sox lineup behind Adam Eaton. He hit .301 with a .351 on-base percentage and a .458 slugging percentage for the Blue Jays in 2014, to go along with 16 homers and 73 RBIs.Of Cabrera's 171 hits last season, 54 were of the extra-base variety.Adding Cabrera completes one of the more impressive and important weeks in recent memory for the White Sox.They acquired Jeff Samardzija in a six-player deal with the A's to give the team an elite one-two punch at the top of the rotation along with Chris Sale. They added David Robertson as closer via a four-year, $46 million free agent deal, and they picked up left-handed reliever Dan Jennings in a trade with the Marlins.All four of these moves, including Cabrera, followed the addition of left-handed reliever Zach Duke to open the Hot Stove maneuvers and the addition of first baseman/designated hitter Adam LaRoche. The White Sox not only did a tremendous job of speeding up their reshaping process, becoming a legitimate contending team in '15, but they did so by hitting on their top target at each spot, while also filling the veteran leadership void.The team's 2015 payroll jumps over $100 million after the Cabrera addition, despite general manager Rick Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams stating they had spent pretty much all they could after the Robertson move was announced at the Winter Meetings in San Diego. But under White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf's leadership, they have been able to exceed payroll projections if the player seems like the right fit.Left fielder Dayan Viciedo appears to be the odd man out with Cabrera's arrival and the LaRoche/Jose Abreu combination entrenched at first base/designated hitter.
Scott Merkin MLB.com
Cabrera, 30, not only provides the White Sox an upgrade offensively and defensively in left field, but he also fits perfectly into the two spot in the White Sox lineup behind Adam Eaton. He hit .301 with a .351 on-base percentage and a .458 slugging percentage for the Blue Jays in 2014, to go along with 16 homers and 73 RBIs.Of Cabrera's 171 hits last season, 54 were of the extra-base variety.Adding Cabrera completes one of the more impressive and important weeks in recent memory for the White Sox.They acquired Jeff Samardzija in a six-player deal with the A's to give the team an elite one-two punch at the top of the rotation along with Chris Sale. They added David Robertson as closer via a four-year, $46 million free agent deal, and they picked up left-handed reliever Dan Jennings in a trade with the Marlins.All four of these moves, including Cabrera, followed the addition of left-handed reliever Zach Duke to open the Hot Stove maneuvers and the addition of first baseman/designated hitter Adam LaRoche. The White Sox not only did a tremendous job of speeding up their reshaping process, becoming a legitimate contending team in '15, but they did so by hitting on their top target at each spot, while also filling the veteran leadership void.The team's 2015 payroll jumps over $100 million after the Cabrera addition, despite general manager Rick Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams stating they had spent pretty much all they could after the Robertson move was announced at the Winter Meetings in San Diego. But under White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf's leadership, they have been able to exceed payroll projections if the player seems like the right fit.Left fielder Dayan Viciedo appears to be the odd man out with Cabrera's arrival and the LaRoche/Jose Abreu combination entrenched at first base/designated hitter.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
