Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn seemed surprised by the question.
“Oh, geez,” he said late Wednesday night when asked if the trade of Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Los Angeles Angels for two prospects signaled the start of another rebuild.
Hahn assured the reporter there would be plenty of time for “declaring titles” for whatever the game plan turns out to be, and the only thing he was doing now was making moves that “make sense and put us in the best position going forward.”
“Oh, geez” is as good an epitaph for the current White Sox rebuild as anything I can think of. It began in 2016 with the trade of Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox and was full steam ahead with the deal that sent Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals.
That deal, which netted three top pitching prospects in Giolito, López and Dane Dunning, turned out to be one of the best moves Hahn has made in his Sox career. Giolito became an All-Star, Dunning was used to acquire a veteran starter in Lance Lynn and López turned into a semi-reliable high leverage reliever after a failed stint as a starter. Dunning is now as 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 never seemed interested in extending Giolito, who did nothing but represent the organization with dignity in his seven years with the team, and couldn’t figure out a way to harness the potential of López, who began the season as a potential closer while Liam Hendriks battled cancer. The decision to give up 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 become a symbol of what went wrong with the rebuild.
Whether Hahn got enough in return from the Angels for two pitchers is debatable. Both were rentals before hitting free agency, so maybe the 20-year-old, switch-hitting catcher Edgar Quero with three home runs this year and a 23-year-old left-hander in Ky Bush who has battled injuries while putting up unimpressive numbers (5.88 ERA) was as good a haul as could be expected.
The Sox certainly need a catching prospect after failing with former first-round pick Zach Collins, which forced them to sign Yasmani Grandal to a four-year, $73 million deal in 2019 that turned into an albatross after the 2021 season. Quero immediately becomes the catcher of the future, even as he’s still at Double A and unlikely to start the 2024 season on the South Side.
But at least the selloff has begun, and hopefully Hahn can find new homes for Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kendall Gravemen and others the next five days before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. If Wednesday’s blown game to the Cubs was the final time we’ll see Lynn and Kelly pitch, we can be satisfied knowing they saved their worst for the last time the Guaranteed Rate Field will be packed in 2023.
Lynn, who could not last five innings despite holding a five-run lead, has a 6-9 record and 6.47 ERA. The Tampa Bay Rays reportedly are interested in acquiring Lynn, which makes sense considering they signed reliever Jake Diekman after the Sox released the veteran left-hander May 6 while paying the bulk of his $3.5 million salary.
“I’d say this is the best possible scenario,” Diekman told 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 with the Sox after being their biggest trade deadline acquisition on Aug. 1, 2022, has a 2.14 ERA in 27 appearances with the Rays. If the Rays can perform another miracle by resurrecting Lynn, it would be an indictment of the Sox pitching coaches.
Hahn’s rebuild was a resounding success only two years ago. Even the forced marriage of Tony La Russa couldn’t seem to stop the momentum that began to build in 2019 and turned the corner in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Hahn was given a mulligan after La Russa left for health reasons last August, and with a new manager in Pedro Grifol and most of the same stars from the 2021 team, the Sox were supposed to contend again. Grifol said the day of his introductory news conference “we’re gonna prepare every night to kick your ass.”
Instead, the Sox were on the receiving end of the butt-kickings, including the worst one yet Wednesday against their crosstown rivals. A selloff was the only solution. No one should feel safe.
After the loss, Sox studio analyst Ozzie Guillen cracked on the postgame show that “even the parking lot guy has to go.” If he does go, perhaps the Rays can turn him into the best parking lot attendant in baseball.
Whether the Sox are headed toward a rebuild will be a question Hahn will be asked again as he continues to unload players. You’d think by now the Sox would have a name all picked out for their plan, as things have been headed in the wrong direction since early April.
When the Seattle Mariners decided on a makeover after the 2018 season, they referred to it as a “re-imagining” instead of a rebuild, making it sound like a new version of a classic Disney cartoon. Certainly the Sox can come up with something as creative while backing up the truck this week.
In the meantime, the only thing Sox fans can do is sit back, relax, strap it down and wait for the next moves.
Oh, geez.
