Rozner: White Sox won't get ahead of themselves

It was only about seven weeks ago that Rick Hahn was taking a beating for the failed White Sox rebuild.

The general manager blew it with Jose Quintana, said the skeptics, having failed to trade his most valued asset before the season.

And then he got a haul from the Cubs.

Since then, Carlos Rodon has been terrific in the majors, Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito have been called up to join Yoan Moncada and several monster prospects have caught fire in the minors.

And now the suggestion is that this could be a two-year rebuild instead of five.

Seriously, pick a narrative.

The White Sox are ahead of schedule, thanks to the team-friendly contracts of Chris Sale, Adam Eaton and Quintana, pacts that allowed Hahn to move those players for huge returns.

It might not take the Sox five years, or even the four it took the Cubs to compete for a playoff spot, but to suggest the Sox will be a postseason threat in 2018 is a bit optimistic and the Sox are not about to rush anyone to the big leagues.

Some players, like Michael Kopech, might not give them a choice, as he could force his way onto the roster at any time next season.

Still, prospects are merely that. They are terrific young players with high ceilings who might get to the big leagues and become all-stars, and they might never get to the big leagues.

They are prospects. So let's just slow it down a bit.

What's exciting if you're a Sox fan is this group of players is elite. The Sox's top 10, or even top 20, is not routine by any stretch.

If you were to take an average top 10 list, you would be lucky to get one good and one average major league player.

The road to Helena (Montana) is paved with the prospects that have brought down organizations.

But this is no average list. The Sox are loaded with some of the best young talent to come through the South Side since the early 90s.

The problem is the Cubs have set a ridiculous standard by which teams are now judged.

And that's unfair.

It's abnormal to see player after player emerge from the minors, perform like they're 10-year vets and go to two straight NLCS as if they're taking a stroll down North Avenue Beach.

It's just not supposed to work that way — and it usually doesn't.

Hahn has said repeatedly that there's no clock on this rebuild, but with each trade and each draft, the Sox edge closer to a projection.

“I think it's too soon to put a firm end date on this,” Hahn told me in the spring. “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 (of Sale and Eaton) because we feel good about what we were able to accomplish, and that arguably moved up the clock a little bit.”

The last three months have done much of the same, with so many veterans traded for so many kids, and another draft adding to the stockpile.

You can start dreaming of lineup that includes Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Zack Collins and Jake Burger, and a rotation that boasts Rodon, Kopech, Giolito, Lopez and Alec Hansen, or maybe Dane Dunning, Dylan Cease, Carson Fulmer and Spencer Adams, to name just a few more.

Yeah, the list of arms is very deep, offering many chances to find high-end rotation arms and potential closers and setup men.

And this is the tip of the iceberg.

Not all of them will make it, and yet there are many other pitchers and position players not even mentioned here that have an opportunity to reach the majors or eventually get moved for the pieces the Sox need to become a title contender.

Yes, this rebuild is moving quickly, but there will be setbacks and there will a lot more losing before there's a lot more winning.

There's just no reason to flip those pages on the calendar before you have to.

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 and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.