Yeah Palka can play LF 2-3 weeks, go to the minors, and I'm sure he'll be back at some point between when Eloy comes up and September. Injuries happen during the season so he should be back up throughout the year. Especially since Abreu looks like a guy who needs a couple 10-day dl stints throughout the year to stay healthy.
Palka is out of options correct? The only reason why I mentioned that Pederson and Jay can both play CF is that they could carry Palka on the bench. So you can probably go with a McCann, Sanchez, Rondon, Palka bench.
If the Sox sign Machado and trade for Pederson, what does the bench look like? McCann and Sanchez for sure. But with Jay, Alonso, Pederson you may need a righty offset. Maybe that guy is Rondon? And you wouldn't necessarily need Engel on the roster having Jay and Pederson capable of playing CF.
"* Two things to like about Joc Pederson, who is drawing interest from the White Sox and possibly the Braves and others: His strikeout rate has dropped for four consecutive seasons, from 29.1 percent to 27.3 to 21.1 to 19.2. He also crushes right-handed pitching: .893 OPS with 24 homers in 386 plate appearances last season, .842 OPS for his career."
When is the last possible day this week for them to agree to a deal, get a physical done, and have him there for Soxfest? I guess he can always get the physical done Friday morning before Soxfest starts. So to answer my own question, maybe Thursday afternoon?
Well no. It is relevant since he won't be in the starting lineup.
Fine I'll take it a step farther:
Machado, Jay, Yolmer on bench > Yolmer at 3B every day, Avi, 8th reliever (since we're likely looking at 4-man bench this year).