Chicago White Sox: Time to trust Rick Hahn’s plan

The Chicago White Sox are in a good spot when it comes to their future. The present has its ups and downs but that is what happens when you rebuild a team.

The Chicago White Sox have lost six in a row! Everyone is super mad about it online but the thing is 2019 was never about being world-beaters! It is about exactly what it has been, development. They aren’t going to win 90+ games and run at the Wild Card. Instead, they are going to go through ups and downs and right now it is a down. The thing fans have to focus on is general manager Rick Hahn’s plan. He has been slowly but surely rebuilding this team from the ground up after tearing it to the ground first.

2016 was a disaster of a season. The White Sox wanted to be good that year but they weren’t. They were actually pretty bad, and that was with a dominant Chris Sale on their team. After the way the season ended that year the team gave up and committed to doing it the right way. They decided to rebuild and build a team made for sustained success.

It officially started on December 6th, 2016 when the White Sox traded their ace Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Basabe, and Victor Diaz. This was the trade that defined the rebuild because the ceiling of Moncada and Kopech were very high. Moncada has now turned into a superstar third baseman and Kopech should round into form next season when he returns from Tommy John surgery, he might even be an ace himself.

Then the very next day, another trade happened that the White Sox absolutely needed to make. They knew that Chris Sale would net them the return that it has, but the Adam Eaton trade arguably got just as good of a return. They received Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dane Dunning from the Washington Nationals in exchange for Eaton. Eaton is a great baseball player but that is a lot of prospect capital to give up for him. Clearly, that one is working out for the White Sox.

The biggest trade that Hahn made is one of the most fun for White Sox fans to talk about. This player being traded was expected but it took longer than initially thought. On July 13th, 2017 the White Sox traded Jose Quintana to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose, and Bryant Flete. This is the type of deal that you return a future Hall of Fame pitcher nets a team but the Cubs really wanted Quintana. This was might be the most important because it was the least expected, it was with the crosstown rivals, and Quintana shouldn’t have gotten that much in return.

Hahn has also had a bit of luck on the international free-agent market with the signing of a guy named Luis Robert. Robert has emerged as one of the best prospects in the world and could be a key contributor to the White Sox as soon as next season. He is going to be a great MLB player and he will be one in a White Sox uniform.

He has also had a few good drafts in a row now. Specifically with Andrew Vaughn in 2019 and Nick Madrigal in 2018. These two players are right there with the other young players and should provide a lot of value to this team in the near future.

There have been a few mistakes along the way of course. Trading Fernando Tatis Jr. to the San Diego Padres for James Shields to try and save that dreadful 2016 season is probably the biggest one. It would have been awesome to have Tatis Jr. right now but don’t think Hahn hasn’t learned from this mistake. He has held himself accountable for it and mentioned it multiple times.

All of this has been going on for almost three years now and the prospects are starting now to grow and become contributors. This is why you need to trust the process and Rich Hahn. Enjoy the low times before they get really good because it is coming. We will look back fondly at these development years in a few years as they are the necessary building blocks to sustained success.