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After hard fall, how will White Sox pick up the pieces?

Over a three-year stretch, 2017-19, the White Sox lost 284 games. They finished a combined 92½ games out of first place in the AL Central.

All of the pain was supposed to have a purpose.

For the first time in franchise history, the Sox went into full rebuild mode late in the 2016 season.

As they rolled out rosters featuring marginal talent like James Shields, Matt Davidson, Ivan Nova, Todd Frazier, Dylan Covey and Ryan Cordell, promising young talent headed by Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease and Yoan Moncada offered hope for a brighter future.

The White Sox did make it to the playoffs in 2020 and '21, but they won a grand total of two games and were bounced out of the first round both times.

This year was supposed to be better.

The Sox were projected to win their division in a breeze, learn from their past two trips to the postseason and make a run at the World Series.

In one of the most forgettable showings in franchise history, the White Sox hovered around the .500 mark all year. Fittingly, they finished with an 81-81 record after losing to the Twins 10-1 on Wednesday.

General manager Rick Hahn now has an early start on reshaping the roster for 2023. His first order of business is finding a new manager to replace Tony La Russa.

"The short answer is there are obviously areas we need to improve," Hahn said. "The longer answer, I don't think we should lose sight of the fact of where this team was one and two years and even six months ago. Two years ago, after our first berth in the playoffs, we were a young, dynamic, exciting team that played with an edge and that people knew were coming for them.

"Last year, despite the injuries, we managed to win 90-plus games and get our way clear of the division by 12, 13 games in the end.

"Six months ago, just about every objective measurement and much less, the subjective predictions, had us running away with this division. Obviously what happened over the last six months is the most relevant and recent information, which exposed some areas we need to simply get better, but I don't want to lose sight of the talent that is in that room."

Injuries were an issue, again, and Hahn is hoping key players like Tim Anderson, Robert and Jimenez can stay on the field next season.

The trio missed a combined 225 games this year.

"With all the injuries we were dealing with, a challenging season for sure," said Moncada, who sat out 58 games with hamstring, oblique and quad issues.

At this stage, it looks like Jose Abreu is leaving as a free agent following nine productive seasons with the White Sox.

Andrew Vaughn is set to return to his natural position, first base, and replace Abreu.

The Sox can use upgrades at second base and right field, which are familiar weak spots. They can also use another starting pitcher, maybe two.

How are they looking to operate?

"We're not going to just be able to throw money at the problem," Hahn said. "So you have to get creative, and the trade market may be a more fruitful path for us to go as opposed to free agency in the coming months."

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