'Disappointed' White Sox come up short at trade deadline

In 2017, the White Sox went 67-95.

In 2018, they dropped to 62-100.

Looking back on those dark days now, they almost seem pleasant.

As the Sox piled up losses with patchwork rosters those two rebuilding seasons, there was something to look forward to not too far down the road.

The White Sox made it to the playoffs in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, ending a 12-year drought.

They returned to the postseason last year, but the Sox were knocked out in the opening round both times.

This was going to be their year - finally - that the White Sox went on a run deep into October. But just getting over the .500 mark has been a daunting hurdle, and good luck finding more than a handful of fans that think Tony La Russa should still be White Sox manager.

Tuesday's trade deadline was the perfect opportunity for the Sox to take a break from the endless misery, perhaps even end it for good with the right additions.

Instead, the 5 p.m. bell sounded Tuesday and the White Sox were left with only one minor trade addition, Jake Diekman. The left-handed reliever came over from Boston Monday night in a deal for backup catcher Reese McGuire.

The Sox have badly underachieved this season, but Hahn said he still tried to get more outside help.

"In all candor, we're disappointed that we weren't able to do more to improve this club," the GM said. "I think you saw a year ago at this time, you've seen it for the last several years, arguably the last couple of decades, that it's our nature to try to improve this club at any opportunity we have.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to line up on some of our other potential targets. Anyone out there who is feeling a level of frustration or disappointment, I'm there with you."

With so many teams in contention, Hahn said the few sellers were asking for way too much in trades.

"Look, it was a different market this year," he said. "I don't know if it was a byproduct of having more playoff teams than there have been in the past or a byproduct of the wild-card round being a best-of-three as opposed to more of a coin-flip game that sort of led to sellers perhaps being a little more aggressive in terms of their asking prices.

"There were some players that people thought were probably going to get moved that wound up not getting moved for whatever reason, which is an individual team's choice. But I think the market overall was favorable toward the sellers and we didn't line up."

The White Sox's minor league system isn't great, but potential trade partners were undoubtedly asking for prospects like Colson Montgomery, Oscar Colas and Norge Vera in trades.

"I think our track record shows we're not afraid to do deals, we're not afraid to be aggressive, we're not afraid to have a priority list and go right down the list and at some point settle on the right, appropriate price for the exchange," Hahn said. "At no point do I feel through this process that we were prospect-clutching in any way, that we were being unreasonable. We were asked for many of our premium prospects in exchange for rentals that didn't exactly line up from our perspective or made sense for not only this team, but also the future. Sitting in this chair, you do bear responsibility for today, but also responsibility for tomorrow.

"At times, those two can be in conflict, especially when it comes time to talk about trades or taking on future economic obligations. But I do think that our track record shows that when there's an opportunity to improve the present, we've moved on it. Unfortunately, we didn't have additional opportunities beyond Jake Diekman the last several days."

With two months left in the regular season, can the Sox suddenly start playing up to their potential and catch second-place Cleveland and first-place Minnesota in the AL Central?

The Twins beefed up Tuesday, trading for starting pitcher Tyler Mahle and all-star closer Jorge Lopez.

"I think the biggest thing is we've got to bring a little bit more of our 'A' game more consistently," White Sox ace Dylan Cease said. "We've had a lot of days where one side of the ball will click and the other won't. Really, everyone, we've just got to focus, step up and have some grit and show how much we want it."