SUPPORT » White Sox break the ice with a "freebi

e" acquisition of Iv n Nova"Update Whitey Herzog Jersey , 9:43 p.m.Because, why shouldn’t the White Sox be linked to every major free agent of significance?Update, 9:17 p.m.Not exactly transactional, but noteworthy:Update, 6:38 p.m.I find the White Sox being linked to Michael Brantley rather curious, but, here it is:The Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and White Sox seem to be the leaders in the Brantley race, per Twitter.Update, 6:28 p.m.Now, I wouldn’t take much of Jim Bowden’s output to heart, but MLBTR picked up a tweet that said the Colorado Rockies were on the prowl for first basemen. Among the candidates they’re kicking the tires on:Cleveland’s Edwin EncarnacionOur very own Jos AbreuSan Diego’s Wil MyersSeattle’s Carlos SantanaOf course, this was his tweet ... who is this etc guy? OK, sorry, “possibly including,” lord, dumb update. My bad.This is how desperate we are for White Sox news.Update, 6:12 p.m.I sort of blew off updating this today, but the Toronto Blue Jays made the bold choice to release Troy Tulowitzki and eat the $38 million remaining on his contract. Given that Tulowitzki is purportedly in great health and ready to play in 2019, it’s a curious move. With Toronto paring payroll, are the White Sox a good fit to grab Russell Martin on the cheap? He’s owed $20 million, of which the Blue Jays would presumably eat at least half. Martin basically gives you Welington Castillo production http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , with framing skills that still seem to make Baseball Prospectus grow weak in the knees.Of course, if the White Sox can strike for Yasmani Grandal, cool. But Martin could be an intriguing one-year rental, now that Rick Hahn has made it clear the White Sox aren’t counting on Seby Zavala or Zack Collins any time before 2020.Update, 3:37 p.m.And on the Machado side of the ledger ...Update, 2:49 p.m.Cutch deal, three years/$50 million to Philadelphia, is now official.Also getting a little heat building out there about the White Sox’s interest in Yasmani Grandal. Grandal, Harper/Machado, Eloy, a few other tweaks, the White Sox are contending in a weak ALC. Who says no?Update, 1:26 p.m.The pieces continue to fall into place for the White Sox and Bryce Harper, as Jim Salisbury, one of the few remaining Comcast beat writers, is now reporting that the Philadelphia Phillies are looking to add Andrew McCutchen:Ken Rosenthal, et. al, are reporting that adding Cutch will not prevent the Phillies from signing Harper, but, c’mon.Update, 12:47 p.m.Hey, the White Sox made a trade! Ivan Nova is now our No. 3 starter. Not sure it’s gonna reel in Bryce Harper, but it can’t hurt Orlando Cepeda Jersey , either.The White Sox take on $9 million in salary in the deal, leaving them with plenty of room to add Harper and, what the hell, Manny Machado.With the Yankees and Nationals peeling off of Bryce Harper, is it down to the White Sox and Phillies?Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty ImagesDay 2, same drill, please post news nuggets as they come. I’ll be updating all day with whatever little tidbits pop up, so hit refresh once in a while, as well.Of course, if today is as quiet as Monday, well, we’ll just resort to debating the Harold Baines HOF election some more, or licking our chops in anticipation of the Rule 5 draft on Thursday.What seemed at first improbable — the Chicago White Sox snagging either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper this offseason — is looking slightly less impossible, as the meetings wear on. A few factors brightening our South Side corners these days:Washington Nationals management made its 10-year, $300 million offer to Harper, and says that’s as high as they can go.New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman, when not trying to toss Sonny Gray in a dumpster, pretty much said there’s no way Harper is coming to New York.The Los Angeles Dodgers are said to still be players, but as pointed out last week, L.A. has like 8,000 outfielders and a payroll, while theoretically limitless, currently unable to add a $30-40 million per year player.Teams like the St. Louis Cardinals Keith Hernandez Jersey , thought to be sort-of suitors, are begging out.Purportedly a “mystery team” flew in to see Harper. With Scott Boras calling the plays, that team could be the Yomiuri Giants, for all we know.Teams easing off of Harper means the Machado sweepstakes may end up hotter, and too hot for the White Sox to handle. But, then ...Ken Williams emerges from his Las Vegas suite to give a halftime football speech about how the time for the White Sox to be aggressive is now, with a distinct nod to the uniqueness (read: guys like Harper and Machado are available, long-term and at the perfect ages) of this offseason.So it seems the lead suitors for Harper, at least, are the White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. A 50/50 shot at signing Bryce Harper — and, dude, Chicago is not Philadelphia, so I’m sorry, I’m thumbing the scale to break the White Sox north of 50% on this — is unbelievable.Arguably, the White Sox are now the team to beat in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes.Coming out of a day of no news and general Hot Stove malaise? That’s not a bad outcome at all. NEW YORK (AP) — The batting average for the major leagues is on track for its lowest finish in nearly a half-century.This comes despite slightly more robust offense of late — hits topping strikeouts the last two months.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there were 7,134 hits and 6,818 strikeouts in August. That left the season totals at 34,350 hits and 34,103 strikeouts, the first time this season hits led at the end of a full month.The season’s batting average rose one point during August to .249. Unless it goes up to at least .251 it would be the lowest since .244 in 1972.Strikeouts topped hits in April (6,656 to 6,360) and June (6 http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey ,776 to 6,640) while hits also exceeded strikeouts in May (7,033 to 6,971) and July (6,546 hits to 6,195). Before this year, the previous low differential for a full month was in April 2017, when there were 138 more hits than strikeouts.Strikeouts per game averaged 16.47 in August, down from 16.6 in July, 16.9 in June, 16.75 in May and 17.5 in April, which was a record for a full calendar month. Strikeouts project to 40,964, which would be the 11th consecutive season setting a record, topping last year’s 40,104. The total was 32,884 in 2008.There were 989 home runs in 414 games last month, an average of 2.39 that raised the season average to 2.31. The average was 2.54 through August last year, just above the record-setting final figure of 2.51.