Imrem: Chicago White Sox's rebuild creates something of interest

Chicago White Sox introductions before their season opener were odd Monday afternoon.

Lining up along the third-base line were reasonable facsimiles of 2016 Sox like Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier and David Robertson.

The impostors were all over Sox Park all day, making the place look like a wax museum.

Except on the field, that is. Rain canceled batting practice and eventually postponed the game until 1:10 p.m. Tuesday.

It's almost as if the baseball gods needed time to identify who those people were in Sox uniforms.

Wait … say what? They were who the names on the back of their shirts said they were?

Apparently, general manager Rick Hahn is taking his time executing the club's rebuild to give Sox fans something to be interested in this season.

So that was the real Quintana, who was supposed to be pitching for the Astros, Rangers, Pirates, Cardinals or any team but the Sox by now.

The Sox aren't going to be much to see this season during their rebuild fueled by exchanging veterans for prospects.

"I'm just worrying about Game 1," Todd Frazier said in the Sox's clubhouse.

Sox players insist they aren't jittery about where else they might be playing five minutes from now.

Either they assumed that posture on their own or Ricky Renteria indoctrinated them with Sox Say along with the Sox Way.

"For me, for our club," the Sox's new manager said, "we come out and play the game. We get ready for today's game."

Easy for Renteria to say from the inside out. From the outside in, it's easier to be antsy for the rebuild to move along and for more vets to move out.

Within days of each other in December, Chris Sale - boom! - was traded to Boston and Adam Eaton - boom! - was traded to Washington.

It was out with the old and in with the new in the form of some of the Red Sox's and Nationals' top prospects.

Then … nothing since.

While the Sox figure to be hard to watch, it's easy to watch other games and scout whom Hahn can trade to whom for whom.

The 2017 season began Sunday with three nationally televised games, each featuring at least one team that looked like a natural trade partner for the Sox.

Quintana would fit nicely with the Cardinals, who are an arm or two short of contending, or the Yankees, whose Masahiro Tanaka was smacked around by the Rays.

St. Louis' cleanup man against the Cubs was third baseman Jhonny Peralta, who isn't a serious cleanup man. Wouldn't the Cardinals look a lot better with Frazier's 40 home runs batting behind their three high-on-base hitters at the top of the lineup?

You might recall the Giants' bullpen meltdown that enabled the Cubs to beat San Francisco in last season's playoffs.

Well, the Giants gave Mark Melancon a lot of money to close games, but he blew the save and opener at Arizona. Wouldn't they like Robertson from the Sox to share Melancon's role and Nate Jones to set them up?

Every team needs something, and the Sox have some of what some of those teams need.

Hahn is taking his time, surveying the market, playing liar's poker with other GMs, walking a thin line toward the July 31 trade deadline.

That game within the game figures to be a lot more interesting than the game on the Sox Park field the next few months.

mimrem@dailyherald.com