No really, what are the White Sox doing?

I can't say for sure. The winter meetings are still a week away, and the Sox have already cut their projected '09 payroll down to the $96M range. Perhaps the economy has hit them hard. Perhaps they are embarking on the rebuilding that should have started in May of '07. Perhaps they're clearing payroll to make a run at a mystery free agent, even though they'd swear otherwise. Perhaps they're clearing room to lock up their arbitration eligible (Jenks) or soon-to-be eligible players (Q!, Danks and Floyd) and buy out a couple years of free agency, a return to the cost-certainty-era Sox. There's only one thing I can say for certain, this will not be the White Sox last move of the off-season. I'm almost expecting Dye to be dealt at the Winter Meetings, netting a young starter in return, and picking up a free-agent outfielder on the cheap as the market craters late in January. Whatever happens figures to be exciting, surprising, and should give us plenty of discussion fodder for the rest of the off-season.