Hahn has reason to be happy with first phase of White Sox's rebuild
When he traded Miguel Gonzalez to Texas late Thursday night, the heavy lifting was finally done for Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn.
Dating back to the end of July last season, veterans Zach Duke, Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle. Anthony Swarzak, Dan Jennings, Tyler Clippard, Melky Cabrera and Gonzalez were sent to contending teams for minor-league players.
The end result?
A lot of losing on the big-league level, but the Sox's once barren farm system is already starting to produce quality young talent, with much more likely to come.
"When we set off down this path, we were ambitious," Hahn said. "We knew we were in a position that was different from a lot of clubs that headed down this path. We knew we had some premium assets at the big-league level that we were likely going to move, so we were very ambitious in terms of our expectations about what we were going to be able to bring back."
Sale was the biggest trade chip Hahn had in the early days of the rebuild, and the left-handed starter is positioned to win his first Cy Young Award this season with the Boston Red Sox.
But Sale brought back Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech to the White Sox. Moncada was baseball's No. 1 prospect before being called up from Class AAA Charlotte on July 19.
Kopech ranked No. 20 overall on Baseball America's midseason Top 100 list.
Add in other trade acquisitions Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, who are both in the Sox's current starting rotation, Eloy Jimenez, Blake Rutherford, Dylan Cease and Dane Dunning, recent draft picks Zack Collins, Alec Hansen and Jake Burger and international finds Luis Robert and Micker Adolfo, and it's easier to understand the excitement level on the South Side.
"There's no guarantee that we were going to be able to do it," said Hahn, who remained incredibly patient between moving Sale and Eaton in early December before trading Quintana and the remaining vets seven-plus months later. "Certainly, you can't force certain trade opportunities to come through. You can't force the opportunity to get a guy like Luis Robert to break your way. But it's what we as a group set off to do 12 months ago or so, whenever this process officially started.
"We're pleased with how this first stage went. We know there's more work to do, but the first element of it has gone for the most part according to plan."