Look for Chicago White Sox to be low key this winter

At this time a year ago, the Chicago White Sox had already signed free-agent relief pitcher Zach Duke to a three-year, $15 million contract.

The Sox had already signed designated hitter/first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year, $25 million deal.

Moving into the winter meetings, the White Sox stayed active by trading for starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija and signing free-agent closer David Robertson to a four-year, $46 million contract.

They weren't finished.

Encouraged by the positive reaction from the fan base and increased ticket sales, the Sox signed free-agent left fielder Melky Cabrera to a three-year, $42 million deal.

Looking back, the White Sox were lauded by the local and national media for "winning the winter." Heading into the 2015 season, they were expected to push for their first playoff appearance in seven years.

That didn't happen.

All of the new addition were flops to certain extents, with LaRoche (. 207, 12 home runs, 44 RBI) and Samardzija (11-13, 4.96 ERA) topping the list.

Samardzija reportedly agreed to a five-year, $90 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

On the heels of their third straight losing season, the Sox figure to be much less active this winter.

They've added two catchers - Alex Avila and Dioner Navarro - but both are on one-year contracts at a total cost of $6.5 million.

Heading into this week's winter meetings in Nashville, the White Sox are still looking for upgrades at third base, shortstop and second base. Unlike last year, they don't figure to break the bank to fill the obvious holes.

"We are active both in trade conversations as well as with a handful of free agents," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "We'll have to see what makes the most sense here in the coming days and weeks."

Starting pitching remains the White Sox' strong suit with Chris Sale and Jose Quintana locked in on team-friendly contract extensions and Carlos Rodon, Carson Fulmer and Erik Johnson emerging as quality arms.

Every winter, Sale and Quintana are widely mentioned as trade candidates that would bring back multiple quality players to the Sox, but it would be a shock if Hahn deals either starter.

"I think as I have probably said, we don't have anyone on our roster who is untouchable," Hann said. "We would not be doing our jobs if we at least didn't hear people out. We certainly know the value of some of the unique talent we have here and have under control for the next several years, and the value they provide to us as well as the value they could potentially yield on the market. We're certainly not looking to move anyone who would fit that description.

"We want to have nice things here, too, and we believe that premium talent belongs on this roster. But at the same time, we have a responsibility to listen and hear other peoples' ideas. If we are overwhelmed on such a player, perhaps there would be something there. But it's not something that we're actively pursuing."

After the White Sox finished last in the American League with 136 home runs last season, Hahn is pursuing a power bat or two.

"The power output last year was obviously below what we needed and had a direct impact on our ability to score runs," Hahn said. "So ideally, yes, you add players who bring power to the lineup. But at the same time, you have to look at what he does from an offensive standpoint, not just with the power, but the ability to get on base or hit for average and at the same time what they bring defensively.

"At the end of the day we need to outscore opponents. One way to do that is obviously bash them with a ton of runs, which would be ideal and certainly make things a lot easier on our pitching staff. At the same time, if we could improve our run prevention that would also serve to improve us. But certainly, power was lacking from the lineup last year."