Rozner: While Yankees sell, White Sox stand pat
The New York Yankees have sold off and are rebuilding.
Think about that as you ponder the archaic arguments against modern, organizational problem-solving.
Granted, the Yanks have more money to spend than most, but by moving Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova, New York collected Adam Warren and 10 minor leaguers, quickly elevating them to among the top two or three farm systems in baseball.
That's how fast it can happen.
And consider that after the 2017 season, New York will also remove from the books the contracts of CC Sabathia ($25 million) and Alex Rodriguez ($20 million). After this season, Mark Teixeira ($22.5 million) is gone and they just moved Beltran's $15 million.
That's an $82.5 million annual gain - while restocking the minor leagues - knowing that after the 2018 season, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Jose Fernandez will be free agents.
So it doesn't have to take five years to bust it down, start it over and rebuild if you're willing to make the hard decisions.
The Yankees were considerably closer to first place in their division and closer to a wild-card spot than the White Sox when this process began last week, and while the Yankees started the rebuild, the South Siders did not.
They took calls on their entire roster, including Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, James Shields, David Robertson, Adam Eaton, Melky Cabrera and Todd Frazier, to name just a few players that were of interest around the game.
"We had a number of conversations with just about every team in baseball over the last week, but no other deals materialized that made sense from a long-term competitive standpoint," GM Rick Hahn said on a conference call Monday afternoon. "We remain open-minded on anything that will make us better in the long haul."
How serious were they about actually blowing it up? Depends on who you ask, but the fact that they didn't sell high on several of these players now - especially the pitchers - doesn't mean they can't do it after the season.
Once teams get to the winter meetings, they will be every bit as desperate as they have been for the last week, knowing the market for starting pitching will be frighteningly thin.
The Sox would still have the two best pitchers available in Sale and Quintana if they are willing to move them, and with contracts so far below market value, they would be the two most valuable assets up for auction.
They could bring back a haul that would make the Yankees jealous, so just because they didn't make it happen now does not in any way signal that it can't be done - or that they won't do it.
If the Sox decide to do it they'll face competition from Tampa in the form of Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi and Drew Smyly, which really can't compare in any way to Sale or Quintana, two of the best pitchers in baseball with two of the most attractive contracts.
Further complicating matters are negotiations over a new CBA, which may change considerably the qualifying offer and what that means for free agency moving forward, but it's not likely to get done before free agency and the trade market heats up.
That only helps the Sox as they try to capitalize on a huge chance to turn this leaky ship around, if - again - this is something they actually have an appetite for this winter.
So while there was a flurry of activity around the game, the Sox were quiet, moving only Zach Duke to St. Louis and passing on the opportunity to move some pieces that had value at the deadline.
What they have to hope now is that neither big-name starter gets hurt these next two months.
And then we'll see whether they're really willing to rebuild - or if it's just the same old tired formula.
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.