Sunday, however, was not a day for positives. Instead it was a reminder that this team needs to be fixed drastically if it is to contend any time soon.

1. On paper, the pitching matchup looked like it could lead to an enjoyable contest between a pair of good left-handed starters. The Royals’ Danny Duffy–who is putting together quite a nice season this year (he headed into Sunday 11th in the AL in DRA among qualified starters)–held up his end of the bargain, twirling seven innings with eight strikeouts, two walks and eight hit, and allowing just two runs on a Todd Frazier home run.

Jose Quintana, however, did not do his part in making the game a pitchers duel. Quintana went a season-low four innings while allowing six earned runs, striking out just one, walking three and giving up a season-high 10 hits. While his season ERA is still a very respectable 3.26, it seems the hopes of the Sox breaking their 49-year AL ERA title drought rest solely on Sale.

2. As bad as Quintana was, his replacements over the next four innings were hardly better. Chris Beck and Jacob Turner both allowed two runs over two innings of work, highlighting a very real issue of bullpen depth in the Sox organization. Of the relievers in their organization, there are at most three (Nate Jones, David Robertson, and Dan Jennings) that I have any confidence in being serviceable next season. With the premium that is being put on elite relief talent, it is unlikely the sox will be able to afford any top-of-the-line arms for the pen next year, and will likely have to hope some high risk arms can provide them important innings.

3. Frazier hit his 37th home run of the year Sunday, which is good. His batting average and OBP are less good, but Frazier has not been the problem for the 2016 White Sox. What is a problem, and maybe the problem, is that Frazier is one of just two White Sox with 15 or more home runs this season. In a newly power-happy run environment where 132 players have hit 15 or more home runs this year, the White Sox are the only AL team with two or fewer such players and one of just three such teams in MLB. For a team that plays half of their games in a bandbox, there is simply no way they can have an offense capable of contending without adding significantly more power.

4. The White Sox started both Carlos Sanchez and Leury Garcia Sunday, two players whose respective OPS (On Base Plus Slugging Plus On Base Plus Slugging) sum to .863, just .032 points more than team-leading Jose Abreu’s OPS. While Tyler Saladino has been a bit of a revelation as player who can both field and hit a bit, watching Sanchez and Garcia look completely lost at the plate is a good reminder of how thin the White Sox major league-quality depth is. Any contention plan in 2017 will have to be on the back of a litany of acquisitions of major league players (yeah, right) or prayers that there are no injuries or under-performances from players set to start everyday.

5. While I went into this post planning on five negative points, I feel the need to sing the praises of Anderson. After a misplay on an attempted double play turn in the second inning cost the Sox an out at second, Anderson made a couple of fine plays in the field Sunday that showed off both his arm and range. Despite the occasional miscues, Anderson looks miles better than the guy who regularly botched routine plays early in his professional career. If he can continue to come into his own at the position, the physical tools could allow him to be a pretty special defensive player.

Team Record: 72-77

Next game is Monday at Kansas City at 1:15pm CT on CSN

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1. As Jose Quintana finished a scoreless top half of the sixth inning, Jason Benneti went to break describing today’s game as “a bona fide pitchers’ duel”. At the time, it was.  The game was 1-1 going to the bottom of the sixth. Very quickly, however, it turned into a blowout – Trevor Bauer would be chased after allowing five base runners while only recording a single out in the frame and his replacement, Dan Otero, allowed three more while only recording one more out. When the dust had settled, the Sox had sent 12 men to the plate and converted 7 into runs, their most fruitful inning so far this season.
2. After a couple of uncharacteristically shaky starts, Jose Quintana returned to form today, going 8 innings and striking out six and allowing just a single run on a Brandon Guyer solo shot. With the win, Quintana increased his career high win total to 12, and is now within 8 IP of a fourth straight 200 IP season.
3. Quintana’s start was the eighth consecutive start by a White Sox pitcher of at least 6 IP, a welcome stretch after the team started the month of September with a 3 game series in Minnesota where their starters combined for 13 IP. This, combined with consecutive blowout wins and Chris Sale’s consistent 8 inning performances has granted much needed rest to the bullpen and particularly Nate Jones and David Robertson, who have been called upon excessively as the only two reliable pitchers in the pen.
4. The White Sox and their fans set a Guinness World Record for most dogs attending a sporting event tonight at US Cellular Field. The jokes about them having to resort to canines because they’d never set a human attendance record will trickle in at a Guaranteed Rate
5. With a win today or tomorrow, the White Sox would win a series against Cleveland for the first time all season. Couple that with no series wins against Kansas City and one series win against Detroit in 2016 and it’s easy to see how the Sox got to this point of noncontention.

1. In a matchup between two potential top 5 Cy Young candidates, runs were unsurprisingly hard to come by.  Tigers ace Justin Verlander was almost wholly dominant, allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits over 7 innings with 9 strikeouts and no walks. The only blemish on his otherwise spotless start was the 4^th inning, in which he gave up back-to-back home runs to Jose Abreu and Alex Avila, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead.
2. Not to be outdone, White Sox ace Chris Sale went 8 innings of 2 run ball, though he got to that line in a rather unconventional way. Over his first 4.2 innings, Sale let up 1 run while not striking out a single batter, walking 3 and allowing 6 hits. Then, with 2 on and 2 out in the 5^th inning, Sale struck out Victor Martinez, his first of 6 strikeouts over his final 3.1 innings. For a bit, Sale looked as if he may cruise to a second consecutive complete game, but a JaCoby Jones double followed by a JD Martinez  single saddled him with an 8 inning no-decision. Sale has now gone at least 6 innings in each of his 8 second-half starts, going at least 8 innings 5 times in that stretch.
3. The White Sox bullpen was hit with a loss for the third straight game today, with David Robertson allowing a double and two flyouts en route to his third loss of the season. While two of the losses this series were handed out by Robertson and Nate Jones, the larger issue here is a bullpen that has no other reliable arms and therefore requiring constant perfection out of their setup man and closer, an unreasonable request, particularly given the fact that they are rarely given more than a one or two-run lead to protect. Having lost Zach Putnam and Jake Petricka to injury and Zach Duke to trade, the pen’s depth is razor-thin, with no real options in high leverage spots if Jones or Robertson falter or need rest.
4. With his home run today, Alex Avila brought his season line to .241/.366/.398 over 161 PAs, a line that would be quite serviceable if he were able to stay on the field. Even with a bit of a dip from more exposure, his plate approach and small amount of pop would have been nice to have over a full season. Of course, Avila’s body is held together by rusty screws at this point, making him best suited as a second catcher, but he’s a guy who it wouldn’t hurt to have around if you have a solid everyday guy (i.e. definitely not Dioner Navarro).
5. Today is the last day for teams to acquire players to add to a potential playoff roster via waiver trades, though the White Sox seem unlikely to make any moves. While they should have players who cleared waivers- James Shields definitely would have, and it’s probable David Robertson would go through unclaimed- it looks unlikely they do anything of consequence. It wouldn’t be totally shocking to gauge the market for a player like Melky Cabrera or Todd Frazier now, but it seems unlikely they would do so after being silent at the non-waiver trade deadline.

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1. Carlos Rodon was largely dominant over his first 6 innings, allowing just a solo home run to Robinson Cano. He walked just one while striking out six, mixing in sliders and a few changeup while mostly locating with the fastball. Rodon improves to 5-8 on the season with a 3.91 ERA,  8.65 K/9 and 2.86 BB/9. After some rough patches, Rodon looks to have taken a positive step in his sophomore campaign. If he manages to continue pitching as he has this month, his stock will look very high for 2017 and beyond.
2. Rodon departed after allowing back-to-back hits to start the seventh to Kyle Seager and Franklin Gutierrez, at which point Robin Ventura began playing matchups with a bullpen that remains quite depleted. RHP Chris Beck came into face the right-handed Mike Zunino, who inexplicably bunted, resulting in a force out at second. After Scott Servais pinch hit Adam Lind for Dae-Ho Lee to achieve a platoon advantage, Robin countered with Dan Jennings to counter the first-and-third. Jennings needed only one pitch to get Lind to scorch a ball to second baseman Tyler Saladino, who corralled a tough hop to turn two and escape the inning unscathed.
3. Taijuan Walker was mostly good for his first seven innings, but hit three batters in his start (Jose Abreu twice and Adam Eaton once). Eaton was hit on the forearm with a pitch that caused him to exit the contest, though X-rays came up negative and he is listed as day-to-day with a sore forearm.
4. The White Sox broke it open in the bottom of the eighth, chasing Walker with a Tim Anderson single/stolen base and a Melky Cabrera triple. The lead was enough for David Robertson to dance around a couple ninth inning singles before closing out the ballgame.
5. In going 2-for-4 with a double, DH Justin Morneau improved his White Sox line to .278/.308/.492 in 133 plate appearances. While the OBP leads a bit to be desired, the Morneau expirement has to be considered a success for the White Sox, to likely no avail. Barring an extension, Morneau will likely test free agency, leaving a White Sox DH position that hasn’t seen above league average production since 2012 once again empty.

The White Sox head to Detroit to play spoiler once again this week, though sending James Shields and Anthony Ranaudo to the mound Monday and Tuesday may make a series victory difficult. Wednesday’s game will feature a matchup between longtime AL Central titans Chris Sale and Justin Verlander in what should be an exciting, if disappointingly irrelevant, matchup.

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In the end, none of those rumors turned out to be much more than that.  While Hahn and co. likely took calls from all interested parties on most of their roster, yesterday’s 3:00 PM deadline passed without another move, keeping together a roster that will almost assuredly extend the Sox’ playoff drought to 8 years.

Unlike their approach to last year’s deadline, it’s unfair to criticize the Sox for delusions of grandeur- they didn’t hold onto a player like Jeff Samardizja as a last ditch effort to win this season at the expense of the future. Every player of real trade value on their roster will be under contract for at least 2017, so standing pat at the deadline does not necessarily diminish any rebuilding effort, and may actually allow for more (and better) options to develop for a trade involving a franchise cornerstone like Sale or Quintana.  While trades would have been at the very least interesting and could have refreshed a roster that has grown stale, there was no imminent need to make a move.

With all that said, after nearly a decade of half-measures towards contention and rebuilding have the Sox stuck in their current holding pattern, its hard not to fear a certain level of indecisiveness went into standing pat at the deadline.  While there’s certainly no rush to trade Sale or Quintana, selling high on Melky Cabrera or capitalizing on the relief pitching bull market by moving David Robertson or Nate Jones would seem to be prudent.  And while it’s very likely the Sox fielded offers on each of those players, it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point.  Be it due to a lack of willingness or simply a matter of resources, the White Sox front office has simply not shown an ability to make the moves necessary to get them out of their current era of non-contention.

Another possible explanation for the hesitance beyond indecisiveness would be an impending house-cleaning of the White Sox front office.  While expecting sweeping changes in an office run by Jerry Reinsdorf is perhaps unreasonable, the current regime certainly has not done enough to completely rule it out- this is now a regime that has neither built a playoff team nor a minor league system in the top half of the league in nearly a decade.  Even if Hahn himself isn’t to blame, it’s possible he and his staff just are not the right fit in Chicago, and if that’s the case, there’d be no reason to allow him to set the course of the organization with a franchise defining trade of a player of Sale or Quintana’s caliber.  Even if there’s an inkling of doubt in the chairman’s head, it’d make sense for him to be unwilling to approve of such a deal.

No matter the reason, the Sox are now in a position that’s been all too familiar over the past few years.  They have a team with some elite, exciting talent, but a roster that isn’t going anywhere, and a farm system not ready to even foreshadow future success with September call-ups.  All this adds up to a team hardly worth watching- a team whose stadium will only sell out again this year to see one of its most iconic fans host a rap festival in September.

Sunday, Sale made his 16th start of the year, again versus the Blue Jays. Of course, Sale’s year has been very different so far, and though his run prevention has been great he has yet to record a double-digit strikeout game. For one day, however, Sale mirrored 2015. While he could not finish what he started, he once again allowed only two runs on two solo shots as the Sox won 5-2. The win is Sale’s 13th, the most in the majors.

1. In a year that has been frequently characterized by the Sox offense “fixing” pitchers that had been struggling (including Matt Harvey and Dallas Keuchel earlier this year), the White Sox touched up a struggling Marcus Stroman, getting four runs (and working four walks) against the young righty in five innings.

2. After hitting seven solo home runs Saturday, the White Sox hit two more, making each of their last 10 of the single-RBI category, all of which were hit by players other than Todd Frazier and Jose Abreu. While ideally the Sox would have players on base when they hit home runs, this seems much more of a fluke than a trend that will continue, and at the very least it’s been encouraging to see power from people other than Abreu and Frazier.

3. For the second straight day, Tim Anderson deposited a home run into the left field bleachers. Anderson, who now has a White Sox-leading .493 slugging percentage (min. 50 PAs), has displayed serious pop so far in his career despite a slight frame. There are still obvious flaws — Anderson has yet to take a walk while striking out in almost one-third of his plate appearances — but he has displayed much of what made him a Top 20 BP prospect.

4. Despite winning five of seven against two strong AL East teams in the Red Sox and Blue Jays this week, the White Sox actually lost ground on the first place Indians, who won all six of their games this week (after sweeping the Sox last weekend).

5. The White Sox now sit exactly .500 heading into a week where they will face the scuffling Minnesota Twins before heading to Houston to face the Astros. In an AL that is pretty center-heavy for the most part, a strong week could put the White Sox right with the glut of teams vying for the league’s two wild card spots.

Team Record: 38-38

Next Game: Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. against the Minnesota Twins.

Lead Photo Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

Even after a thrilling win last night against one of the AL’s best teams, a weekend three-game sweep at the hands of the Indians has the Sox sitting 5.5 out of first place, and the early season optimism has been replaced with a dulled pessimism that White Sox fans have grown all too accustomed to over the last half-decade. This isn’t to say the Sox are assuredly out of it–their PECOTA playoff odds sit at around 14.1 percent–but contending would certainly take a major turnaround. Even if we assume that the Sox are closer to a .500 team going forward rather than the miserable one they’ve been since mid-May, contention would necessitate a good deal of luck.

If that luck doesn’t come, the White Sox will have to face some tough questions, most of which boil down to “what do we do now?”

A failure to make the playoffs would be the eighth consecutive for the South Siders (the second longest active streak in the AL), and a whiff on yet another chance with the current core of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu, and Adam Eaton. While Carlos Rodon and Tim Anderson could conceivably supplement that core, the farm system lacks much more impact talent that will contribute before the core reaches its decline phase (or free agency). The possibility of never capitalizing on that talent with a playoff appearance looms large.

Naturally, there will be calls for the Sox to trade their core players. Before getting into the logistics of such a sell off, I think it is prudent to at least question who is in charge of such moves. Despite their playoff drought, the Sox front office has seen almost no turnover in the last decade plus, and it’s at least worth considering the fact that that needs to change. While Rick Hahn didn’t exactly inherit the easiest task when he took over the Sox after the 2012 season, it can’t be ignored that a decent percentage of his moves- including the Adam LaRoche signing and Matt Davidson trade- have completely flopped. Hahn may be a good GM yet, but if the Sox end up truly rebuilding, it may be best for both the org and him for a parting of ways.

But no matter who is in charge, a path to such a rebuild isn’t particularly obvious. While the first reaction may be to sell off a core they can’t win with, the logistics of baseball trades make that route quite unappealing. Even if the Sox are unlikely to contend for the years where their current core is in its prime, it’d be nearly impossible to get fair return for players as ridiculously valuable as Sale and Quintana. Contending teams simply cannot afford to give up the present Major League talent they would have to for such a deal to be even. The Sox could trade players like Eaton or Todd Frazier and get some return, but that still probably doesn’t bring enough talent back to put a playoff appearance on the horizon.

With all this said, the answer to “what now?” may be more of the status quo, something that will not be easy to stomach for a fanbase that has endured as much as the Sox have for almost a decade. Unfortunately, this is the position the Sox have put themselves in with years of half measures, and for now they will have to reap what they sowed.

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Burdi, a relief pitcher from the University of Louisville and the brother of Twins 2014 second round pick Nick Burdi, has a big fastball that sits in the high 90s and has been clocked as 102 mph. He mixes in a power breaking ball, which makes some scouts believe he can be moved to the rotation down the road.

Knowing the Sox history of moving pitchers fast, and their need for bullpen help, it would certainly not be out of the question that Burdi makes the majors this year. This would certainly not rule out a move to the rotation in the future–as that is of course the path Chris Sale took–but the bullpen may be where Burdi stays regardless.

Hansen, on the other hand, is a starter from the University of Oklahoma with premium stuff, and command that lags far behind. At one point considered a top prospect in the draft, his stats from the 2016 season tell another story: he pitched 52 innings of 5.40 ERA ball, striking out 75 but walking 39 batters. At six-feet, seven-inches and weighing 230 pounds, Hansen sits in the low to mid-90s and has been clocked as high as 98 mph with a power slider. As evidenced by his inability to retire college batters, Hansen will likely take a while to develop and is a high-risk prospect, but could be a very nice get for the third round if he clicks.

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As is self evident by the team’s now 29-28 record, things are hardly as rosy now. Since that thrilling victory in Texas, the White Sox have the worst record in baseball at 6-18, allowing them to be caught by Detroit and leapfrogged by Cleveland and Kansas City. Their PECOTA playoff odds, once up over 70 percent, now sit at a meager 33 percent. They burned through a stockpile of division separation in dramatic fashion and then some, and now have ground to gain on teams that already were at least evenly matched with them going into the season.

But as bad as the last few weeks have been (with the worst record in baseball it’s hard to imagine worse) things are not nearly as bleak in the aggregate. This now is a team that has been approximately average thus far, and now adds a pretty monumental upgrade to their rotation in James Shields. Their offense continues to underperform, but is bound for at least some improvement. As bad as he’s looked, it’s reasonable to bet that Jose Abreu is at least closer to the offensive force he was from 2014-15 than the carcass he’s been so far this year. However, as it stands, their .500 record is probably a decent approximation of their true talent, which would be a bit prohibitive of a run back to first place.

In this sense, it’s perhaps instructive to compare this team to another that got off to a hot start before sputtering: the 2015 Mets, who started off at 15-5 but were at .500 and 4.5 games out of first as late as last July 4^th. Similar to this year’s White Sox, the 2015 Mets relied on a strong pitching staff to prop up a weak offense, and managed to make the World Series after a mediocre start. Again like the White Sox, the Mets added to the rotation early, though their addition of Noah Syndergaard from the minors was likely a bit more monumental than the Sox adding Shields (though an improvement from Carlos Rodon could provide the White Sox with a similar upgrade).

The most important thing the Mets did, however, was add production to black holes midseason. A team that was getting consistent playing time from Michael Cuddyer, John Mayberry, and Eric Campbell was upgraded a ton just by filling their holes with competent big leaguers in Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, to the point where a monster second half out of Yoenis Cespedes was enough to lead them to October.

The White Sox are unlikely to add a player of the caliber that Cespedes played at after last year’s trade deadline (they missed their chance by not signing him this offseason). However, they should definitely have the opportunity to fill some of their holes, as they already did with Shields in the rotation. As was seen with the Mets, improving from nothing to average can have a large effect on a roster, and if the Sox can do as much they may be able to keep this season from going off the rails.

1. Sale was far from dominant Saturday, and while he was still largely effective through five innings (1 ER despite just 2 strikeouts), he ran into trouble in the sixth as J.D. Martinez blasted a two-run home run to put the Tigers ahead 3-2. Despite a clear lack of stuff, Sale was allowed to start the seventh already 100 pitches deep and promptly gave up a Jose Iglesias double and Cameron Maybin single put the game out of reach at 4-2. After going undefeated in Sale’s first nine starts, the Sox have now dropped three in a row (though he was very good in one of those three).
2. Despite coming into Saturday with a 4.96 ERA and a 6.86 DRA, Mike Pelfrey spun a quality start, scattering eight baserunners over six innings and allowing just two earned runs.
3. The loss brings the Sox to an abysmal 3-11 against non-Twins AL Central clubs, who have been the teams the Sox have predominantly played since their tailspin began in mid-May. Clearly, this is not a good way to win a division.
4. For the second consecutive day, a White Sox starter left trailing by two runs, and for the second-straight day, the bullpen turned the game into a blowout as Robin Ventura let its best relievers sit. After Tommy Kahnle and Matt Purke got shelled last night, Matt Albers was left in to throw 34 pitches over 1.1 innings, putting the game too far out of reach for a two-run ninth to matter.
5. The Sox will send Jose Quintana against Justin Verlander Sunday in attempt to salvage the series and cap their 10 game road trip that has started off at 2-7. After that, they will come home to face the NL East-leading Nationals.

Team Record: 28-26

Next game is Sunday at Detroit at 12:10pm CT on WGN

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