Why winning now would be a 'good problem' for White Sox
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The White Sox are still practicing patience as their rebuild moves into the third year.
Even though they made a big offer to free-agent Manny Machado last month, the original plan of letting a slew of promising prospects develop in the minors and eventually transition to the majors remains in place.
"Obviously, on a daily basis we are looking to win every ballgame and ideally win a heck of a lot more than we lose over the course of the '19 season," general manager Rick Hahn said. "But in terms of where we are as we enter Year 3 of a rebuild, how we get to that win total is more important than the actual number.
"By that, I mean whether it's young guys like (Yoan) Moncada and Eloy (Jimenez) and Tim Anderson, our pitchers taking that next step, against some veteran players like (Yonder) Alonso or (Jon) Jay or (Welington) Castillo playing larger roles in those victories.
"At the end of the year it's going to matter in terms of where we are for the long-term plan."
The Sox would obviously prefer if young players like Moncada, Jimenez, Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito become building blocks for the future.
But let's take a look at the present for a moment.
If the White Sox were playing in a tough division like the NL Central or AL East, they'd be given little or no chance to contend.
Fortunately for the Sox, they are in the AL Central - far and away the worst division in baseball.
The Indians are the obvious power, but they are in the beginning stages of a collapse and might wind up trading standout starters Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer this season if things really fall apart.
Could the White Sox challenge Cleveland, and possibly Minnesota, this year?
"We don't rule anything out," Hahn said. "We know this is baseball and there's a tremendous amount of young talent coming on the scene here today and over the course of the summer. We are not ruling out anything in terms of the upside of this team."
Hahn was extremely active at the trade deadline the past two seasons, dumping one veteran after another for prospects.
That could happen again this year, but Hahn could drastically change course if the Sox turn the corner.
"Look, if things go well we would love to be in the situation in July where we are making tough decisions about prioritizing the long term against feeding this season and putting us in a better position to win now," Hahn said. "That qualifies as a good problem to have. We've talked about it over the course of the offseason. We started talking about potential veteran trade acquisitions and we are starting to be asked for some of our young players we certainly are not eager to move.
"But we are in fact within a year or year and a half of being in a position where we are going to have to start trading from this prospect base."
That's what a winning team would do, and that's where the White Sox need to be, either this year or in the very near future.
"Everybody needs to see more victories," manager Rick Renteria said. "I think that's what everybody wants to measure success, and rightfully so. At the end of the day, victories are what everybody's looking for.
"I can look at the micro aspect of it, the macro aspect of it, and see that things are going well. We all know what everybody's ultimately looking for, including myself and the players in the clubhouse. But it's not just about me talking about it, it's about us actually doing it. So I don't want to talk about it. We'll let the players, by their performances, tell us where we're at."