Hahn in no rush to make more moves for White Sox

Before the White Sox open the 2015 season with an April 6 game at Kansas City, general manager Rick Hahn is very likely to add a right-handed starting pitcher, be it a high-end arm such as Jeff Samardzija, Max Scherzer or James Shields. Or a lesser (and cheaper) choice such as Brandon McCarthy, Justin Masterson or Ervin Santana.

Hahn is very likely to add a right-hander or two to the Sox' bullpen, with free-agent Luke Gregorson an obvious candidate.

Hahn is somewhat likely to trade Dayan Viciedo in an attempt to get more consistent offense in left field.

Even after signing left-handed reliever Zach Duke and designated hitter/first baseman Adam LaRoche, Hahn still has plenty of holes to fill.

He could be very active at major-league baseball's winter meetings, which open Monday in San Diego. But Hahn said the calendar is not yet a factor when it comes to making moves.

"We enter the meeting pleased we are able to address a couple of our more important needs with the Duke and the LaRoche moves," Hahn said. "But there's really no added wins to our summer total based upon acquiring a player in the second week of December.

"What's important is getting that player under control prior to Opening Day and having him for the entire season. If we are able to make multiple moves over the next week or so, that's fantastic. We certainly are going to be prepared and eager to get the right things done.

"If for whatever reason we leave San Diego without having converted on any targets, that's fine as well. Again, there's nothing magical about getting anything done in the winter meetings. It's about getting the right deal done when the time is right."

A week ago, multiple reports had Samardzija joining the White Sox in a trade from Oakland.

While there is little doubt the former Cubs ace would fit in nicely between left-handers Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, Samardzija is eligible for free agency at the end of the 2015 season.

Samardzija has said he is looking forward to testing the open market for the first time, so he could be a one-year "rental." Unless Hahn is convinced Samardzija would agree to an extension before he reaches free agency, why would he send a promising prospect like shortstop Tim Anderson to the Athletics?

As for Viciedo, he played in 145 games with the Sox last season and had a subpar .231/.281/.405 hitting line along with 21 home runs and 58 RBI.

At 25, Viciedo is still viewed as a developing player with upside, but he likely has played his way off the White Sox' roster.

"He's obviously still young and he obviously still has that commodity of right-handed power that we talked about as being scarce," Hahn said. "He got an opportunity this year to play more than we probably originally anticipated due to the injury to Avi (Garcia), and we certainly saw at times him make that progress in his offensive approach that we were looking for from him.

"He still has a world of talent. He still has power that is tough to find in this game, and it's just a matter of finding the right fit for him on this club or assessing the value that's out there for him."

If Hahn decides Viciedo has worn out his welcome with the White Sox and would be better off in a different uniform, a trade could come as early as this week. Last year Hahn acquired center fielder Adam Eaton in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks during the winter meetings.

"A year ago at this time having just added basically Avi at the trade deadline and (Jose) Abreu a few weeks prior to the meetings, we felt we had two potential pillars that were going to be around for a while," Hahn said.

"Now, as we look back, we've got Eaton. We have Quintana signed for an extended period of time since then. We've been able to draft Carlos Rodon and have the development of guys like Frankie Montas and Micah Johnson.

"You've seen with our moves with LaRoche and Duke we've moved to the next phase of adding players to help us take that next step sooner as opposed to over the extended period. We are going to continue to look for pieces to add to that group, but we certainly feel better today than we did a year ago."