Are White Sox going to ease off brakes when it comes to promoting prospects?
When Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn came out to the dugout to talk to reporters before Friday night's game against the Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field, Ervin Santana was the alleged hot topic.
Earlier in the day, the Sox released Santana after only 3 starts. In the grand scheme of the White Sox's rebuild, the move is not much more than noteworthy.
This is still an organization that is looking ahead, not back on six straight losing seasons and no playoff appearances since 2008.
At the age of 36, Santana was a low-risk gamble for one year. He didn't pan out, and the Sox wasted little time cutting ties with the right-hander.
The White Sox are all about the future, and that's where Hahn made some news Friday.
Since launching the rebuild in December of 2106 by trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, the Sox's GM has been preaching patience with a growing list of prospects.
There's nothing wrong with that, but Hahn hinted the path to the majors might become quicker for young talent like Dylan Cease, Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal and Zack Collins.
In other words, let them develop more at the major-league level than in the minors.
"We have some young position players and pitchers who we've talked about, there does come a point where perhaps they come to Chicago and they take whatever lumps or growing pains or experience that comes with being a young player in the big leagues now, as opposed to next season," Hahn said.
That's a pretty major shift in philosophy, but it makes sense.
Eloy Jimenez returned to the White Sox's lineup Friday night and singled in his only at-bat. The rookie left fielder had to leave the game in the top of the third inning with a right ankle injury after hitting the wall chasing Grayson Greiner's 2-run homer.
Jimenez was held down at Class AAA Charlotte last season, most likely because of "service time" issues.
That's not longer a concern since he signed a contract extension with the Sox at the end of spring training.
Jimenez was batting .231 and riding a 3-for-31 slump before the single, and he's been seeing a steady dose of sliders and other off-speed pitches this year.
He has taken his "lumps," but so did Yoan Moncada last season and Tim Anderson in 2017.
Simply put, young hitters can't learn how to handle major-league pitching until they see it. Young pitchers can't get big-league hitters out until they face them.
That doesn't mean the White Sox are going to promote players like Robert and Madrigal from Class A ball.
It does seem to mean they won't be quite as cautious in the developmental plan.
"We try to plot out, before the passion of the season takes over, so to speak, a rational plan for each guy's development and not vary from that until the guy forces it," Hahn said. "You're seeing what Luis Robert is doing in high A (Winston-Salem) right now that may necessitate a change here in the not-too-distant future to add more challenges for him. Dylan (Cease) certainly could be that guy, too, over the course of the summer."