There has been a shakeup on the South Side. You had to know it was coming, not just because James Shields -- pitching well or less so -- wasn't the only fix the Chicago White Sox roster needed. They're 12-22 since April, and with their fall below .500 after Wednesday night's loss in Shields' Sox debut, you knew changes were coming.

A couple of things have happened. Not only have the White Sox squandered their hot start, they rank last in the major leagues in getting home runs from the left side of the plate with eight, and last in isolated power (ISO, slugging minus batting average) at .094. They lean right in the lineup, and Adam Eaton, Melky Cabrera and Alex Avila aren't big-time lefty power sources in the best of times. And at DH, the Sox have given Avisail Garcia enough rope to hang himself, as his OPS has slipped back under .700, killing off those expectations he might grow up to be the new Magglio Ordonez or whatever.

Even before that happened, the decision to sign Justin Morneau for the remainder of the season was predictable -- heck, I called it back in March. (Just call me Captain Obvious.) Thanks to Adam LaRoche absenting himself, the Sox had money to spend and not a lot of targets to spend it on at that point of the season.

Morneau's availability -- he was recovering from elbow surgery -- made him the guy to get for a team with money to spend, even with some past bad blood between Morneau and the White Sox going back to his days with the Twins. Signing him for a prorated portion of $1 million is a bargain.

Now that we're closer to Morneau being ready to play -- perhaps another five weeks more -- does Morneau answer their needs? Absolutely, if he's healthy and caught up. Those are both big ifs, but we'll get to those. While his past couple of seasons playing at altitude for the Rockies might make you think his power was heavily park-produced, over the last three seasons on the road he has hit .278/.350/.440 against right-handed pitching.

So, about those big ifs: The Sox need to see if Morneau can get up to speed in time to provide that kind of production. If you remember how ugly Kendrys Morales' return in 2014 was after signing a midseason deal to get back in action, you get a sense of the challenge ahead of Morneau. The health question also is a big factor for Morneau, but the hope is that the White Sox can rely on Herm Schneider's industry-leading training staff to keep him in working order. So he isn't a perfect patch, but given the modest price tag, there's nothing to lose and a potential power source to gain.

Meanwhile, designating Mat Latos for assignment was a function of roster management and performance, pure and simple. As I got into Tuesday night, Latos had flopped badly after running off an initial four quality starts for the White Sox, giving up 31 runs in his last 36 innings across five starts. That adds up to a lot of short starts on the field and crooked numbers on the scoreboard, and it wasn't the kind of retreading operation a win-now White Sox team could afford to indulge any longer.

In contrast, post-spring dumpster snag Miguel Gonzalez was pitching better and is optionable, a happy combination for a potentially skippable fifth starter. Gonzalez doesn't have overpowering stuff and might be more of a "five and dive" guy who needs to be hooked by the sixth inning -- having let up three of his four home runs allowed in the sixth while surrendering a .944 OPS the third time through an opponent's order. But if you're getting five good innings from your No. 5, you can win with that.

Add it up, and the White Sox have spent a big chunk of their "LaRoche dividend," the $13 million that went back into the till once LaRoche decided to put parenting ahead of profession. (No judgment from me there, the guy made the call he felt he had to.) They've done that by absorbing some -- not all -- of the expense of Shields' contract, plus eating the rest of what they owe on Latos' $3 million deal, plus signing Morneau.

However, the Sox have questions still to answer if they're going to get back over .500 and back into the AL Central race. They need to see if pitching coach Don Cooper will be more successful working his magic with Shields and his less-deceptive stuff inside a season than he was with Latos with the benefit of a full spring training. If it works they've got a strong front three in the rotation rounded out by Carlos Rodon and Gonzalez.

And they could almost certainly use some of the remainder of their "LaRoche dividend" to buy some additional help in the bullpen, ideally a true power lefty to use instead of situational plaything Zach Duke. Sox relievers are generating swinging strikes just 11.2 percent of the time, 12th in the American League, a number that goes down to 7.2 percent and 29th in all of baseball when you look at their fastballs.

And they need to see Morneau back in action as soon as practicably possible. The sooner they get some lefty power in the lineup, the sooner things won't keep going south on Chicago's South Side. Will it happen in time to turn the season around? We'll see where the Sox are at the trade deadline.

Christina Kahrl writes about MLB for ESPN. You can follow her on Twitter.