Rozner: Cubs show White Sox road map back to top
Funny what a World Series title can do to change the narrative.
The Chicago White Sox have properly embarked on a long and painful journey through the world of rebuilding, a trek that can take a team to the depths of baseball misery, and maybe all the way back to the top.
It worked for the Chicago Cubs.
But, oddly enough, the Cubs' success currently benefits the Sox, who have received praise from much of the fan base and Chicago media.
The Cubs did not get the same room to breathe from so many who insisted the plan would never work, that the Cubs were getting away with a scam and the fans were paying the price.
Theo Epstein was criticized at nearly every turn and with almost every move.
Now he is a hero.
White Sox GM Rick Hahn also profits from being able to move considerable assets that can speed up a rebuild, which took the Cubs five years from start to finish.
"I think it's too soon to put a firm end date on this," Rick Hahn told me on the Score a couple weeks ago. "That said, when we started this process we had a general idea of how many more drafts, how many more trade deadlines, offseasons, free-agent markets, it would take to get us back to where we want to be, in a position to win on a sustainable basis.
"In all candor, if you had asked me in November how long I thought it would take, that answer would probably be slightly different after the December trades because we feel good about what we were able to accomplish, and that arguably moved up the clock a little bit."
If it's better to be lucky than good, the Sox will need to be both, just as the Cubs were, hitting on draft picks, trades and signings.
There are no guarantees, but great scouting - and self-scouting, at that - is a must.
It's easy to forget now - or maybe smart to forget - that when Epstein took over, his first Opening Day lineup consisted of the following: David DeJesus (RF), Darwin Barney (2B), Starlin Castro (SS), Alfonso Soriano (LF), Ian Stewart (3B), Jeff Baker (1B), Marlon Byrd (CF), Geovany Soto (C) and Ryan Dempster (P).
Yeah, go ahead and take a minute with that.
The following Cubs pitchers started at least 16 games in 2012: Jeff Samardzija (28), Travis Wood (26), Chris Volstad (21), Paul Maholm (20), Matt Garza (18) and Dempster (16).
The relief corps consisted of these men: Carlos Marmol, Shawn Camp, James Russell, Manny Corpas and Rafael Dolis.
Take another deep breath. We can wait.
The point is what you see with the Sox over the next year or two will look nothing like what you see in two or three years, and with some luck you'll be unable to remember the 2017 White Sox.
The Cubs got there by August of their fourth season, which was a surprise to everyone involved except for possibly Joe Maddon, who genuinely believed the Cubs would compete in that fourth year, his first with the Cubs.
They took their first step in competing that season and made it all the way to the NLCS, where they ran into a ferocious Mets pitching staff.
How quickly the Sox can make the pivot really depends on how fast the kids develop, and it's impossible to put a clock on that.
As they continue to collect top prospects, some will fizzle out, some will make it and some will make it big.
It's the nature of the prospect game.
But between a terrific draft last summer and the inroads they've made already with a couple of big deals, the Sox are well on their way to rebuilding a team that has won a single, lonely playoff game since 2005, a John Danks victory in the 2008 postseason.
Patience will be much more than a virtue for everyone participating in what is certain to be some difficult years ahead.
It will be essential.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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