Chicago White Sox common supervisor Rick Hahn appeared stunned by the query.
“Oh, jeez,” he stated late Wednesday when requested if the commerce of Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Los Angeles Angels for 2 prospects signaled the beginning of one other rebuild.
Hahn assured the reporter there could be loads of time for “declaring titles” for regardless of the recreation plan seems to be, and all he was doing now was making strikes that “make sense and put us in the best position going forward.”
“Oh, jeez” is pretty much as good an epitaph for the present White Sox rebuild as something I can consider. It started in 2016 with the commerce of Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox and was full steam forward with the deal that despatched Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals.
That deal, which netted three prime pitching prospects in Giolito, López and Dane Dunning, turned out to be top-of-the-line strikes Hahn has made for the Sox. Giolito turned an All-Star, Dunning was used to amass veteran starter Lance Lynn and López changed into a semi-reliable high-leverage reliever after a failed stint as a starter. Dunning is now a key member of the Texas Rangers rotation, going 8-3 with a 3.18 ERA for the American League West leaders.
But the Sox by no means appeared involved in extending Giolito, who did nothing however signify the group with dignity in his seven years with the workforce, they usually couldn’t work out a technique to harness the potential of López, who started the season as a possible nearer whereas Liam Hendriks battled most cancers.
The resolution to surrender on Dunning wasn’t worrisome when Lynn helped the Sox win the American League Central in 2021. But after two years of ineffectiveness, Lynn has change into a logo of what went fallacious with the rebuild.
Whether Hahn received sufficient in return from the Angels for the 2 pitchers is debatable. Both are leases earlier than hitting free company, so perhaps the 20-year-old, switch-hitting catcher Edgar Quero, who has three residence runs this yr, and 23-year-old left-hander Ky Bush, who has battled accidents whereas placing up unimpressive numbers (5.88 ERA), was pretty much as good of a haul as may very well be anticipated.
The Sox actually want a catching prospect after failing with former first-round choose Zack Collins, which compelled them to signal Yasmani Grandal to a four-year, $73 million deal in 2019 that changed into an albatross after the 2021 season. Quero instantly turns into the catcher of the longer term, though he’s in Double A and unlikely to start out the 2024 season on the South Side.
But no less than the sell-off has begun, and hopefully Hahn can discover new properties for Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman and others earlier than the Aug. 1 commerce deadline. If Wednesday’s blown recreation to the Cubs was the ultimate time we’ll see Lynn and Kelly pitch for the Sox, we could be happy they saved their worst for the final time Guaranteed Rate Field can be packed in 2023.
Lynn, who couldn’t final 5 innings regardless of holding a five-run lead, has a 6-9 file and 6.47 ERA. The Tampa Bay Rays reportedly are involved in buying Lynn, which is smart contemplating they signed reliever Jake Diekman after the Sox launched the veteran left-hander May 6 whereas paying the majority of his $3.5 million wage.
“I’d say this is the best possible scenario,” Diekman instructed the Tampa Bay Times when he arrived. “It’s better than mowing my yard back home.”
Diekman, who was 0-4 with a 7.04 ERA for the Sox after being their largest trade-deadline acquisition in 2022, has a 2.14 ERA in 27 appearances for the Rays. If the Rays can carry out one other miracle by resurrecting Lynn, it might be an indictment of the Sox pitching coaches.
Hahn’s rebuild was a convincing success solely two years in the past. Even the compelled marriage of Tony La Russa couldn’t appear to cease the momentum that started to construct in 2019 and turned the nook within the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Hahn received a mulligan after La Russa left for well being causes final August, and with a brand new supervisor in Pedro Grifol and a lot of the identical stars from the 2021 workforce, the Sox had been presupposed to contend once more. Grifol stated the day of his introductory information convention “we’re going to prepare every night to kick your ass.”
Instead, the Sox had been on the receiving finish of the butt-kickings, together with the worst one but Wednesday towards their crosstown rivals. A sell-off was the one answer. No one ought to really feel secure.
After the loss, Sox studio analyst Ozzie Guillen cracked on the postgame present that “even the parking-lot guy has to go.” If he does, maybe the Rays can flip him into the most effective parking-lot attendant in baseball.
Whether the Sox are headed towards a rebuild is a query Hahn can be requested once more as he continues to unload gamers. You’d assume by now the Sox would have a reputation picked out for his or her plan, as issues have been headed within the fallacious route since early April.
When the Seattle Mariners selected a makeover after the 2018 season, they referred to it as a “re-imagining” as an alternative of a rebuild, making it sound like a brand new model of a traditional Disney cartoon. Certainly the Sox can provide you with one thing as artistic whereas backing up the truck this week.
In the meantime, the one factor Sox followers can do is sit again, loosen up, strap it down and watch for the subsequent strikes.
Oh, jeez.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com