White Sox finally decide to rebuild after decades in limbo

For the first time in over 20 years, “rebuild” isn’t a dirty word on the South Side. After decades of half measures, the Chicago White Sox are going all-in, just not in the way many expected. With the trade of All-Star pitcher Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox, the White Sox are finally embracing what has been evident for a while now: It’s time to start over.

The Sale trade seems to indicate that the White Sox are serious about about a complete tear down. That means Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, David Robertson and Jose Abreu could all go before the start of 2017.

None of this seemed possible a few years ago. When Kenny Williams was the club’s general manager, the White Sox operated in a state of weird baseball limbo. The team constantly found itself in a position to win 80 per year, and used that to stay on the fringes of contention for quite some time.

But since they always had talented players, the franchise never fully went all-in to win a World Series title. Sure, they would occasionally shock the baseball world by signing a David Robertson or trading for a Todd Frazier, but then they would enter the season with Avisail Garcia as the starting right fielder.

This strategy led to some success. The team won the 2005 World Series, after all. But it mostly led to second place finishes. Over the past 20 years, the White Sox have finished in second place in their division nine times. They were often contenders, but not serious contenders.

While some franchises would kill to have that level of consistency, that approach comes at a pretty huge cost. Because the White Sox fought to remain on the fringes of contention, they were never able to develop a true minor-league system.

Promising prospects would get traded for players who would help the team win 83 games, drafts would focus on major-league ready players who lacked high ceilings, but could contribute in the majors sooner.

The former of the two mostly worked out for Chicago. While the team has traded away talented youngsters, none have really come back to bite them. The latter, however, destroyed the organization.

Between 2001 and 2007, the White Sox drafted the following players: Kris Honel, Roger Ring, Brian Anderson, Josh Fields, Lance Broadway, Kyle McCulloch and Aaron Poreda. Of that group, only four ever made it to the majors. Of those four, Broadway performed the best, posting a 0.5 fWAR over 55 career innings.

With the minor-league system in tatters, and the major-league team again on the fringes, some clubs might have opted to start again. Not the White Sox. The club refused to even utter the word “rebuild” until four years later. That’s not an exaggeration. When Williams finally admitted the time had come, he told reporters he hadn’t said the word “rebuild” in 12 years.

Despite that declaration, the White Sox didn’t actually rebuild following 2011, at least not in the way the Houston Astros or Chicago Cubs have in recent years. Following the 2012 season, Williams would be replaced by Rick Hahn as the club’s GM, but remained in the organization as the executive vice president. Some thought the change would lead to the White Sox finally embracing the inevitable, but that wasn’t the case. By the 2014 offseason, Williams was already back to his old ways, saying he didn’t want to hear any more talk about “rebuilding.

That’s no longer the case. If the Sale trade is any indication, the White Sox are finally prepared to tear the whole thing down. You don’t trade your best player and then suddenly resort to half measures. This time, it looks like the White Sox are serious about starting over.

In order to do that, the team needs to be willing to sell off every player who has value. That list includes Frazier, Cabrera, Quintana, Eaton, Roberston and Abreu.

It looks like they are willing to take that plunge. Hahn told reporters Tuesday he’s willing to make more deals if the “opportunity presents itself.” He indicated this won’t be a quick rebuild, either, telling reporters “it’s much more important to do it right than to do it quickly.”

Of that group, you could make the case Eaton and Quintana should stay, as both are young and under team control for quite some time. But it’s also worth exploring what the club could get for them now. Both players are incredibly valuable at the moment, and may never have higher trade value than right now.

And though you could argue both could be a part of the next White Sox winner, consider the players the team acquired for Sale on Tuesday. Yoan Moncada is major-league ready and should contribute immediately, but Michael Kopech, Luis Basabe and Victor Diaz haven’t advanced past Class A yet.

Even if all those guys move quickly, the White Sox can’t count on them reaching the majors until 2018. And unless they all succeed immediately, it’s not likely they’ll peak until 2019 or 2020. Both Quintana and Eaton would technically be with the club at that time, but they would be pretty close to the end of their current contracts. The window for winning while keeping both players isn’t impossible, but it would be tight and the White Sox would need everything to go right.

If this is truly a new era for the White Sox, everyone must be made available. Trading Sale on Tuesday seems to indicate that’s the case. If he can go, so can the rest. While that might not be an easy reality for White Sox fans, it should also be somewhat refreshing.

For the first time in a long time, the White Sox have a plan.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik