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Rozner: Where do White Sox go from here?

A year ago at this time, Theo Epstein was a fool at best and a con artist at worst, if you were to believe all those who couldn't understand what the Cubs were building and why they dealt Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.

Now, many of the same experts consider Epstein a genius and moving quickly toward what most Cubs fans thought impossible in their lifetime.

Four months ago, the White Sox had stolen the winter, completing a roster good enough to win a division and go deep into October.

Now, Rick Hahn should be fired, Ken Williams sent to Siberia and Jerry Reinsdorf stripped of his ownership.

Perspective within the Chicago sports scene is down the list somewhere behind hysteria, overreaction and a plea for dumb luck.

Such is life for a front office in 2015.

It is somehow fitting in this Bizarro World that the screaming for heads was never louder than last weekend when the Sox celebrated the 10th anniversary of their World Series victory, a championship orchestrated by - wait for it now - Reinsdorf, Williams and Hahn.

It remains the only World Series won by a team in the last two centuries of combined Chicago baseball, as if anyone needs reminding.

And those same architects put together a team this season that was universally considered a playoff team with a legitimate shot at going deep because of their rotation and the damage it could do in a short series.

That was conventional wisdom not just here in Chicago, but also around the game, where the American League feared what the Sox might be able to do this season.

It did not work out as expected, but it was not from a lack of effort by Hahn, legwork from Williams and spending by Reinsdorf, who will still be labeled "cheap" by a certain percentage of fans and media that fall back on a disturbing attack regardless of facts that say otherwise.

The Sox have never been the rebuilding type, preferring to reload and go for it again as often as possible, and while "all in" hasn't worked the last few times, they do take their shots.

So now what?

The Sox have some marketable assets and the assumption here is they will move some before the deadline, stopping short of a teardown and rebuild, choosing again to hope for more offense and a better 2016 season.

To start all over would require moving Chris Sale, the best player they possess and the one that would bring back the most in return, but there's been no hint they have an appetite to trade perhaps the best pitcher in baseball.

They also have a fan base that has never indicated it would sit still for a rebuild, though one could argue attendance couldn't be much worse if the Sox did bust it all apart and embark on a plan that would take a few years to complete.

But the notion that this group of men who built one title team can't do it again dismisses entirely the work they put in before the 2005 team came together.

In 2004, they got Freddy Garcia for Miguel Olivo and Jose Contreras for Esteban Loaiza, and in January 2005 they signed Orlando Hernandez as a free agent.

There's three-fifths of a rotation.

In December 2004, they signed Dustin Hermanson as a free agent, claimed Bobby Jenks off waivers and in early 2004 signed Cliff Politte as a free agent. Luis Vizcaino came over in the December 2004 trade for Carlos Lee.

That's more than half a bullpen.

They traded Lee for Scott Podsednik and replaced Joe Borchard with free agent Jermaine Dye.

That's two-thirds of an outfield.

They replaced shortstop Jose Valentin with Juan Uribe and second baseman Willie Harris with Tadahito Iguchi.

That's half an infield - and they replaced catcher Ben Davis with free agent A.J. Pierzynski.

They did it all fast and without giving up much, though there was concern among the faithful when Olivo and Lee were sent packing.

Talk about rebuilding - er, rather, reloading - on the fly.

Yes, it was a long time ago and they've tried it several times since with only a single playoff victory in 2008 to show for it, but the people responsible for that 11-1 postseason run in 2005 are still on the job, and they built a team this season that many forecast as a playoff team.

Perspective does not come easy during a season in which expectations were so high and results so low, but the next 10 days may determine much about their 2016 fortunes and beyond.

It might be more entertaining than anything we've seen on the field in 2015.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.

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