Sunday was another chapter added to the 2017 Chicago White Sox rebuild as one of the last remaining tradable asset and fan favorite in Melky Cabrera was traded to the Kansas City Royals.
It comes during a stretch of baseball where the White Sox have performed poorly. Since the start of the second half, including Sunday’s walk off win over the Cleveland Indians, the team has posted a record of 2-13.
But that’s not really a bad thing.
One of the reasons as to why the White Sox have been in a struggled to win recently is because of the drastic changes to the roster since July 12th when the team traded Jose Quintana to the Cubs beginning the second flurry of trades for prospects in return.
Since the 12th, general manager Rick Hahn has traded seven players from the second half roster. Of the seven players from the team that has been traded, four have been relievers leaving manager Rick Renteria with very limited options when it comes times to go to the bullpen.
The White Sox only reliever that is still left from the Opening Day roster is reliever Jake Petricka who had been on the disabled list since April 6th.
The only other reliever on the roster who has more than three years of veteran experience has been Tyler Clippard who the White Sox got back in the Todd Frazier and David Robertson trade to the Yankees. The bullpen has not received assistance from the White Sox starting pitching as the starting staff has not performed well since the break.
White Sox starting pitchers have posted only three quality starts in the last 15 games, two of which were pitched by starter Miguel Gonzalez.
Hahn didn’t make another move at the trade deadline and now the attention shifts to the race for the top pick in the 2018 MLB Amateur Draft next June.
The White Sox recent level of futility and trades provide the team with a strong possibility of finishing with the worst record in the major leagues. The White Sox have 60 games left to play this season with 9 of their next 15 games against 1st place teams.
With August and September baseball still left to play, White Sox fans will be left rooting for individual performances from players left on the roster rather than rooting for the team to win and lose out on the possibility of having the first overall pick next year.
The development of young players such as Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, and Matt Davidson will keep fans interested for the month of August. Furthermore, the possibility of minor leagues Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito, and Carson Fulmer being brought up whether in August or as September call ups should spark similar interest showed by fans when Yoan Moncada was called up on July 19th.
Losing baseball is never fun for an organization and its fan base, but the White Sox are following the blue print of a rebuild to a tee. They have restocked their farm system in less than a year’s time and have put themselves in a great position for a high draft picks for the next two years.
Transparency as well as seeing a successful rebuild take place for the Chicago Cubs a few years ago has made the pain of losing easier for the White Sox fan base to deal with.
The organization and the fan base will have to suffer for some time now as they wait for the team to develop, but the losing now should pay off with wins in the future.
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