So what will the White Sox do to improve their chances in the second half? Kenny Williams is notorious for making moves when the team has a chance. Let me refresh your memory:

2009 – Acquired Tony Pena, Mark Kotsay and Jake Peavy in July.
2008 – Acquired Ken Griffey Jr. in July
2006 – Acquired Dave Riske, Sandy Alomar and Mike McDougal in July
2005 – Acquired Geoff Blum in July

None of these moves meant major contributors down the stretch, but all virtually guarantee the White Sox will do something.

The resurgence of Carlos Quentin the last 3 weeks or so likely means that they don’t need a middle of the order hitter, Konerko/Rios/Quentin appear to be appear to carry the load. If Dayan Viciedo explodes like he might, they are set 3-6. Alexei Ramirez and Juan Pierre have been great in the field (the latter very suprisingly).

From a position player standpoint the only thing that makes sense to me is someone who can play better defense at 1B or RF, both major holes right now. With Quentin’s penchant for getting banged up, putting him at DH makes a lot of sense. If the guy they get could hit 2nd that would be swell. There is a guy that fits this mold, KC OF David DeJesus. I don’t see the Sox meeting their price or KC trading them to a rival. Trying to find a way to pry Michael Bourn from Houston would be nice. If they decided to move Konerko to DH, Casey Kotchman could cheaply be acquired from Seattle, but he is a negative value offensive player.

Pitching is trickier. Floyd and Danks have been the stars, Floyd especially the last 2 months. Mark Buehrle hasn’t been pitching very well, but there is room for improvement. The loss of Peavy was devastating. Meanwhile Matt Thorton and JJ Putz have been amazing. Bobby Jenks has been unlucky and could actually pitcher better in the 2nd half. All this means the Sox are set from the 7th inning on. Sergio Santos has been good, not great but as long as what we have seen is for real, he adds another option. If Threets can be the LOOGY (Lefty One-Out GuY) the Sox might be OK in the pen.

With the trade deadline just two weeks away, my guess is that we will only see two more Daniel Hudson starts before the Sox have to make a move. That means that the most likely move might be getting some insurance in the rotation. Roy Oswalt is available but doesn’t want to pitch for the White Sox and would cost a lot in terms of players and money. Dan Haren would cost even more in terms of players and he gets expensive next year. There likely isn’t much else that would be an improvement over Freddy Garcia.

The most likely scenario of all would be deepening the bench. Brent Lillibridge has been hitting out of his mind but he isn’t a great defender and can’t hit this well forever. Andruw Jones has cooled off and despite what anyone tells you he has been terrible in the field. Mark Kotsay as been one of the least valuable players on the team and can’t play the OF. And “utility” player Omar Vizquel has only added value with his SS defense, but Ramirez has been so good there that doesn’t help.

Kenny Williams will make a move this month. History has shown us there. The question as to what still has to be answered.