George Offman broke this story ten minutes ago.

 

Apparently, El Duque is flying in tomorrow for a physical. If he passes, official announcement will likely follow.

 

While he's certaintly not my first option, I applaud management for finding a suitable SP replacement outside our organization.

 

EDIT: If various incentives are reached, deal could reach 12 million.

 

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EDIT by aboz56:

 

Report: El Duque Close To Signing With Sox

 

Complete Chicago Tribune Coverage of El Duque to the Sox

 

The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday that Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez has agreed to a two-year, $8 million deal to join the South Siders, pending a physical. Hernandez already has been a part of the White Sox organization, if only for a period of a couple of hours

NO PLEASE GOD NO

 

:puke

Very interesting. I guess he's better than nothing.

Better than Grilli and Diaz.

 

But consider the source!

El Duque is much better than Grilli or Diaz. I would have no problem with him coming in, as it seems that Odalis, Lowe, and Wade Miller will go for a lot more money.

You mean he's not headed to Montreal this time?

Well you will find out tommrrow. Remember that bruce and score reported we offered for aj. Lol all I care is when its done lol

Severe fly ball pitcher is all i have to say.

I feel a whole lot better about our pitching staff now though. Not a bad move.

I don't mind El Duque as a number 5. However, with the incosistency surrounding our 3 and 4, this is crap. KW going on the cheap again.

I think this will happen, and yes its better than Grilli or Diaz. I think its a fine choice for a fifth starter. Now you have a veteran staff of five, go to work on your second baseman or utility infielder. Alex Cora maybe next.

Severe fly ball pitcher is all i have to say.

That scares the s*** out of me.

This is just f***ing great, out of all the Free agent pitchers out there we get the 48 year old Cuban, who almost didn't even play last year.

Last year, he gave up 9 homers in 84 innings. That's good enough for me. I think the people that will complain about this thought the Sox would actually get in a bidding war for an average pitcher like D. Lowe or Milton. If we really do get him for about 5 million, we should still have enough money left to get a quality middle infielder.

LMAO.

This is just f***ing great, out of all the Free agent pitchers out there we get the 48 year old Cuban, who almost didn't even play last year.

You can argue he was their best pitcher last year at times.

This is only probably happening because the Sox feel that they can't sign Cora or Cairo if they signed a Perez or Miller. At least the it won't be Jason Grilli as the 5th starter next season by the looks of things.

You can argue he was their best pitcher last year at times.

You can also argue that he's never had any success outside of New York. Let's see what type of effect Don Cooper has on him instead of Mel Stottlemire for a change. I think El Duque knows he has something to prove, if he makes this move.

lol I'll be honest, it is pretty bad that he's the only one coming to Chicago out of all the other pitchers.

You can argue he was their best pitcher last year at times.

That's not saying much considering their rotation.

El Duque is much better than Grilli or Diaz.  I would have no problem with him coming in, as it seems that Odalis, Lowe, and Wade Miller will go for a lot more money.

I agree. No more false assurances of Grilli/Diaz rising above expectations.

Sox management wins. I've finally heralded a cheap signing due to the dwindling market.

 

Odalis Perez negotiations may have put us in this position. I'd prefer Williams signs Perez, but my main concern is our involvement in a potential bidding war could leave us with no one if Perez signs elsewhere, and remaining SP's/IF are signed.

eh, not bad. i would of liked them use that extra money for a SP though. but as long as they get some IF depth its all good. we're lookin pretty solid IMO

Only on the White Sox board would people complain about having El Duque instead of Jason F'n Grilli. We begged KW to get a 5th starter...and it looks like he may get us one without taking too big of a risk.

if true, and if healthy, this is a decent pickup. Even if he only starts 20 games, you know they are going to be pretty good starts and with days off and so on, there will only be a few starts where someone outside Buehrle/Garcia/Garland/Contreras/Hernandez pitch.

considerign Cora's brother is our third base coach I would think he will strongly consider the whitesox. just thinking if my brother were on a team.