White Sox: No Surprise Rebuild Is Moving Fast
By Matt Manetti
The White Sox committed to the rebuild in 2017. Now it appears the organization could be on track to compete in 2019.
The Chicago White Sox did what we all thought they’d never do. They decided to tear the house down and rebuild it from scratch. They’re committed to building through the draft and farm system rather than trading for and signing guys past their prime. Management probably should have embarked on this journey sooner rather than later. Better late than never I guess.
What’s crazy is how quickly this all came together. The Sox went from having one of the worst farm systems to one of the best. And it happened in just one season. It seems strange but it shouldn’t really come as a surprise.
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Sure the White Sox weren’t a great team but they did have talented players on extremely team-friendly deals. And they have a wily general manager in Rick Hahn who wasn’t going to settle for less than what he wanted. It would have been easy for him to settle. But if he settles in a trade with Washington, he may not get Dane Dunning. And that’s why the organization is in such great shape.
The way things are shaping up now, it would not be a surprise to see this team competing for the division championship in 2019. That’s how much talent has been added to the organization. It also doesn’t hurt that the AL Central isn’t the best division out there. But every baseball fan knows all you have to do is make it to the playoffs. If you do that, there’s no telling what happens during playoff baseball and you could find yourself carrying home a World Series championship.
If the Sox didn’t have the likes of Adam Eaton, Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, there still a long ways away from competing. But they did and they had them on team-friendly deals, meaning their value just went up and up. Hahn has been very smart all season about when to pick his spots and make a deal. The Quintana trade illustrated this. That netted the organization Eloy Jimenez, who has all the makings of a future stud.
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Now it’s up to the coaching staff to develop all this young talent into becoming ready for MLB. We’re likely to see some growing pains but once everyone is locked in, watch out. Because the White Sox are coming and are out to prove Chicago isn’t just a Cubs town.