White Sox moving on from disappointing news on Machado
GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Manny Machado mourning period is not going to last long at White Sox camp.
"I'm going to take the next few hours to continue to be pretty (ticked) off about this," general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday after learning Machado is signing with the Padres. "But the good news is tomorrow I get to come back through these doors and I get to look around at what's in that clubhouse and who's showing up on the minor-league side. I get to have conversations with our scouts about who we're looking at amateur wise and I can pretty quickly get refocused on the fact that very bright days remain ahead for this organization."
The Sox were willing to spend over $31 million per year on Machado, and that money is still there.
Hahn said it is going to be spent as the White Sox's rebuild moves forward, and he is also working on the trade front.
"I'm not going to talk about any specific guys that are out there," Hahn said. "I will say this isn't going to be our last conversation about free agency or potential free-agent targets. Whether we convert, I obviously can't predict."
Hahn reiterated a message he sent several times at SoxFest in late January.
"We said from the start that the rebuild would not be about one guy, one star, one acquisition," Hahn said. "There are certain elements of this pursuit that as an organization, I think we should be proud of. We're going to be better Opening Day than we were at the end of last season.
"We will be better at the end of this season than we will be on Opening Day. The trajectory continues to point upward and we're going to continue to be aggressive in the future to add players like this."
More bad news:
The Sox were hoping for better luck on the injury front after watching one top prospect after another go down last season.
They are not off to a great start.
Luis Alexander Basabe, a promising young outfielder, is going to miss 4-6 weeks after being hit by a pitch during batting practice Monday.
Basabe broke the hamate bone in his left hand and is scheduled to have surgery in Chicago Wednesday.
"They will be able to clean it up," manager Rick Renteria said. "Take 4 to 6 weeks to heal and then we get him back on the field. He'll be fine. He'll come out of it OK."
Last season, the 22-year-old Basabe batted a combined .258/.354/.445 with 15 home runs, 56 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 119 games with Class AA Birmingham, and high A Winston-Salem.