Rozner: On paper, White Sox' turnaround impressive

Rebuilding on the fly at the major-league level is no easy task.

Many would say it's improbable at best in the short term, and highly destructive at worst in the long term.

But without busting it up and starting from the bottom, it appears as though GM Rick Hahn and the White Sox have done the unthinkable.

At least on paper, and with SoxFest in full swing at a downtown hotel this weekend, the team is primed for a big 2015.

With a few weeks left before spring training and teams still forming rosters, the Sox right now would be picked by some to win the American League Central, just a year removed from a brutal 2013 season.

The process began in late July 2013 with the trade of Jake Peavy that netted the Sox $22 million and Avy Garcia. It continued all the way through Melky Cabrera in December 2014. And in between, the Sox pieced together a baseball team.

"Because of where we were at the time (of the Peavy deal), not having a good season, it was actually a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to start the process toward 2014 and 2015," Hahn said. "As we enter '15, we're not just a team in transition now looking for an identity, but rather a team that found a bit of its identity in 2014 and is now in a position to contend.

"We knew eventually we would have a strong enough core to be aggressive and augment our core. I knew it would come at some point, but we needed the 2014 season to see how good that core would be and, in turn, give Jerry (Reinsdorf) a chance to be aggressive with payroll and make the moves necessary to compete right now."

The tricky part for Hahn and Ken Williams was trying to rebuild by acquiring players like Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, Matt Davidson and Garcia before moving on to proven commodities. Those young guys were on the cusp of making it and relatively cheap, but possessing high ceilings.

The criteria are rather narrow, but the Sox shot high and scored big, thus speeding up the rebuild and putting 2015 in play.

"We target a lot of players that are on the verge of breaking into the majors, which puts us in a position to contend quickly and also grow something sustainable," Hahn said. "Jerry and Kenny are never lacking for wanting to be aggressive, so in the end we decided, 'Let's shortcut this process and get there as quickly as possible.' "

Reinsdorf, Williams, Hahn, Robin Ventura and Don Cooper met after the 2014 season and spoke objectively about where the team was, and everyone shared their opinions about what it would take to contend in 2015.

"No planning is done for one season, and every move you make has implications for several seasons," Hahn said. "We had a fair number of holes to fill if 2015 was the goal, but we also felt like we had time to wait on some guys without moving them to help us right away.

"Well, Jerry left the meeting making it very clear that if we're close, let's go for it without compromising the future."

Again, they don't play the games on paper, but the Sox appear to have closed the gap on Detroit while Kansas City has taken a step back, and the baseball world is understandably surprised that the White Sox have spun an ocean liner in a bathtub.

"At the start of the off-season, we have guys ranked by position on a board in my office, by who's available in trades and free agency, listed 1 to 30. These are guys we think we might have a shot at," Hahn said. "At the start of the off-season, we had maybe seven positions on the board that we needed to fill.

"If there's a surprise at all, it's that we filled almost all those spots and got one of our top two or three targets at every position."

Just this week, Williams and Hahn happened to glance at that board.

"We were in the office and I said, 'Do you realize we got pretty much everything we wanted?' That's a pretty good winter," Williams laughed. "Everyone is involved. Sometimes we have to go back to Jerry if we're over budget, and sometimes we have to involve (marketing and sales director) Brooks Boyer and see where we are with projections.

"With Melky, Rick called me and I called Jerry. Jerry said, 'Go get him.' I called Rick and said 'Get him.' He said, 'What?' I laughed. I said, 'Rick, the man said do it.' So Rick did it.

"Heck of an off-season."

This kind of plan is often a one-shot deal, following by years of losing, but the Sox insist they have done nothing to harm the future of the team.

"Our absolute belief is we're going to compete this year," Hahn said. "But our plan was not just to compete this year. Instead, we wanted to compete for several years.

"I promise you that if that weren't the case, we wouldn't have done it."

Welcome, White Sox fans, to 2015.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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