The White Sox have traded righty reliever David Aardsma to the Red Sox for 22-year old righty reliever Willy Mota and 21 year old righty Miguel Socolovich. Mota is a coverted outfielder. He pitched in 17 games (0 starts) last season in A-Ball for the Red Sox and he was 5-3 with 1 save, a 2.60 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. Socolovich pitched in 25 games (13 starts) last season in A-Ball and he was 7-6 with a 4.30 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. The White Sox did o.k. in this trade as they were running out of time before they would have had to put Aardsma on waivers.

The Chicago White Sox have signed 34-year old righty reliever Octavio Dotel to a 2-year, $11 million dollar contract. Dotel pitched in 33 games (0 starts) last season for the Royals and Braves and he was 2-1 with 11 saves, a 4.11 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Dotel has now pitched in 428 games (34 starts) in his major league career and he is 39-32 with 82 saves, a 3.76 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. Adding Dotel to a bullpen that already included Scott Linebrink and Bobby Jenks will mean that if you’re going to beat the White Sox…you better do it in the first six innings.

The White Sox have said publicly that Josh Fields will remain at third base this season. He played left field last season but with the White Sox adding Nick Swisher and Carlos Quentin in the off-season, he likely won’t get any PT in the outfield. That brings us to Joe Crede. Crede had back surgery last season but his rehab appears to be going well. It’s possible that the White Sox could trade Crede if he proves he’s healthy in Spring Training or the Pale Hose could wind up trading Paul Konerko and move Crede to first base. Unless Crede or Konerko is moved before the season starts it’s entirely possible that Fields could begin the season in AAA ball. Still, the White Sox know that Fields will be a building block for the team in the very near future.

The White Sox have signed Brad Eldred, Jeff Liefer, Paul Phillips and D.J. Carrasco to minor league contracts. Eldred is a 27 year old mountain of a man with outstanding power but he has issues making contact. Eldred played in 19 games for the Pirates last season and he was 5 for 46 (.109 avg, .389 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 2 homers and 3 RBIs. Eldred has now played in 74 games in his major league career and he is 47 for 236 (.199 avg, .670 OPS) with 26 homers, 14 homers and 30 RBIs. He also has whiffed an amazing 99 times in his career already. 33-year old lefty swinging Jeff Liefer last played in the majors in 2005 with the Indians. He has played in 288 games in his major league career and he is 179 for 779 (.230 avg, .679 OPS) with 89 runs scored, 31 homers, 113 RBIs. Liefer also whiffs a lot as he has 223 in his career. 30 year old righty swinging catcher Paul Phillips played in 8 games last season for the Royals and he was 2 for 14 (.143 avg, .414 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Phillips has now played in 58 games in his major league career and he is 39 for 151 (.258 avg, .635 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 2 homers and 16 RBIs. 30-year old righty reliever D.J. Carrasco last pitched in the majors in 2005 with the Royals. Carrasco has pitched in 101 games (22 starts) in his major league career and he is 14-15 with 2 saves, a 4.81 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP.

The Chicago White Sox have acquired 27 year old switch hitter Nick Swisher from the A’s for outfielder Ryan Sweeney and pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Faustino De Los Santos. The White Sox paid a high price for Swisher but he will likely be worth it as he brings another power bat to the line up. Swisher played in 150 games last season for the A’s and he was 141 for 539 (.262 avg, .836 OPS) with 84 runs scored, 22 homers and 78 RBIs. He has now played in 458 games in his major league career and he is 406 of 1,617 (.251 avg., .825 OPS) with 267 runs scored, 80 homers and 255 RBIs. This was a good move by the White Sox to help counter all of the good moves the Tigers have been making this off-season.