Rozner: All's quiet on South Side front as White Sox open

As home openers go, this one had a decidedly even vibe.

It is rarely so for the White Sox, which is newsworthy for a team that has made a habit for two decades of going all in and raising expectations.

Or in the case of this rebuild, going entirely out and waiting for the program to take shape.

There is usually great anger or optimism in White Sox Nation this time of year, but Friday's first game on the South Side brought a guarded hope for the future, and thoughts of 2020 and beyond, but little concern for what might occur in 2019, past the need for continued development both in Chicago and the minor leagues.

“We've talked about there being milestones that build momentum, that show the progress of this rebuild,” GM Rick Hahn said in his pregame State of the White Sox. “And a home opener with Eloy (Jimenez) in left field is one of those milestones.

“It's not just him alone. Albeit over only five games, the progress you've seen from (Yoan) Moncada, Lucas Giolito's last start, (Carlos) Rodon's couple of starts, people are seeing what this could potentially look like in the coming years.

“We're excited not just for the continued growth of the young guys we have here right now, but for what we're going to be potentially adding over the course of the next six to 12 months.”

Adding to the major league roster will occur from within again this year, but adding from the outside has become much more difficult since the drama surrounding monster free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

Players are signing extensions rather than go through the process, taking a bird in the hand over living through a winter of unknowns.

Someone like Nolan Arenado would have looked pretty nice on the South Side, but he's off the market along with several other big names. That trend is likely to continue.

“The one thing I'm certain of is that when this team is ready to contend for championships, we're going to have needs,” Hahn said. “That's, unfortunately, the reality of this game.

“The way we're going to address those needs is by using our economic flexibility via free agency, or we're going to use it via trade.

“When we made the (Chris) Sale and (Adam) Eaton trades, we received a lot of praise and accolades from our peers, and people bought in.

“Kenny (Williams) and I had a conversation that day about how much we look forward to being on the other end of these deals when we're in a position to add because we feel like it's time to win a championship.

“Part of being able to make those trades is having the economic flexibility to absorb salaries. If it doesn't necessarily come through free agency, there will be ways to spend that money when the time comes.”

The Sale, Eaton and Jose Quintana deals were all front and center Friday, with Quintana starting for the Cubs in Milwaukee, and Jimenez, Moncada and Reynaldo Lopez all in the starting lineup for the Sox, not to mention Giolito off to a good start and Dylan Cease expected to arrive in a few months.

But with Michael Kopech out for the year, it was crucial that Moncada not fall into the same rut that plagued him in 2018, and he's begun 2019 with a big bang.

Moncada had 2 hits and 4 RBI on Friday in the Sox's 10-8 win over Seattle, hitting .458 with a pair of homers, 10 RBI and a 1.394 OPS through 6 games. His sharp single to left-center drove in 2 runs in the seventh as the Sox rallied to take a 9-8 lead.

“Obviously, a huge at-bat,” manager Rick Renteria said of the game-winning single. “All of his at-bats were really good except one. He's seeing the ball really well from both sides of the plate.”

But Renteria doesn't necessarily buy into the narrative that Moncada is a different guy, an argument that might hold water when you consider that the 23-year-old has played only one full year in the big leagues.

“I still contend,” Renteria said, “that the whole year of experience under his belt last year, and the conscious effort he's made to make adjustments and just feeling more comfortable in his own skin, is allowing him to be himself and do what he's doing.”

After allowing 4 runs on 4 walks and 6 hits in 4 innings of his first start, Lopez followed that Friday by surrendering an early 6-1 lead and left in the sixth after the Mariners had come all the way back to tie it at 6-6 on a 2-run homer from Ron Healy, the third Seattle blast off Lopez.

Maybe just as important was Renteria going to the mound to talk to Lopez before the home run, and letting him face Healy with a reliever ready to go.

Said Lopez, “He told me that was my job.”

He didn't get the job done on this occasion, but there's value in letting players grow at this level and finding out who belongs here.

That, in a nutshell, is what 2019 is all about.