The White Sox' hot stove rumors keep on growing

Now that the afterglow of the White Sox' Zach Duke signing is starting to fade, we can get back to the other rumors floating around about the Sox.

The biggest rumors involve the possibility of a trade of Alexei Ramirez to the Dodgers.  As Dan Hayes points out, Rick Hahn and Andrew Friedman have a fairly extensive history together already.  The Jesse Crain deal between Sox and Rays started the somewhat disappointing relationship between the two teams.  Jim summed it up perfectly after the Crain deal was announced.

/opens birthday present /it's a savings bond

— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) July 29, 2013

In September 2013, the Sox and Rays also made a deal that sent LHP Frank De Los Santos to the Sox.  De Los Santos, who lost his father while a teenager, spent one day on the White Sox active roster this season without pitching and was outrighted to Charlotte at the end of the season.  I expect cornfields to whisper his name someday.

Additional rumors about the Rays' Jose Lobaton and the White Sox continued throughout last offseason until the Rays finally traded him to the Nationals, leaving the Sox with the same catching staff as 2013 plus Adrian Nieto.

Now, with Friedman joining the Dodgers as their head of baseball operations, he's rekindled his relationship with Rick Hahn.  With outfielders to move and the Sox needing a corner outfielder, it seems like a perfect match.  Unfortunately, Friedman might be offering Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford (and their sizable contracts) are available while Rick Hahn might be asking for Joc Peterson.  While this sounds like the most promising rumor so far, the gap between the two sides could be too far to apart.

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Apparently, the Sox have "checked in" with Adam LaRoche.  The 35 year old former Nationals first baseman is a free agent after the Nationals bought out his option for 2015 for $2 million.  LaRoche hit .259/.362/.455 for the Nationals last season with 26 HRs and 92 RBIs.  His previous contract after the 2012 with the Nationals for 2 years / $24 million.  He accumulated 3.1 bWAR / 2.1 fWAR over the past two seasons.

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The Sox have a tendency to bring guys back, so it wasn't much of a surprise to hear that the Sox are talking to Sergio Santos.  After saving 30 games in 63 appearances with the Sox in 2011, Santos has only pitched in 61 games for Toronto over the past three seasons.  After a very solid 2013, Santos's had a bad season in 2014 with an ERA over eight and a FIP of 6.04.  After the Blue Jays DFA'd him twice during the season only to bring him back to the majors again.  After his third trip back, the Blue Jays finally had enough and outrighted him to the minors.

Even after his season ending shoulder surgery in 2012, Santos is still throwing in the mid-90s.  He also has two full season of control left.  With Nate Jones as a question mark still for 2015, Santos is a known commodity that could be worth a minor league deal.

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Today is the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft coming up next month.  larry wrote about the likely candidates to be added back in August, but late August moves cleared out spots for Chris Bassitt, Scott Snodgress, and Andy Wilkins.  There is also the possibility of additional players being waived or outrighted to make room for others today.  The White Sox 40-man roster currently stands at 37.

Also, in case you were wondering, Nolan Sanburn still has one more year before becoming Rule 5 eligible.