The White Sox have had their share of embarrassment in my 25 or so years following the team, but the one that gets referenced most often is the White Flag Trade of 1997. The White Sox sat 3 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central that year when general manager Ron Schueler made a nine-player deal that sent Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernandez to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for six players, including Keith Foulke, Bob Howry, and Mike Caruso.

The trade was roundly criticized locally at the time and has been rehashed over and over again during the last 21 years.

“We didn’t realize Aug. 1 was the end of the season,” fumed Ventura, the future manager.

Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf took most of the heat, especially after he remarked to Sun-Times reporter Toni Ginnetti: “Anyone who thinks we can catch Cleveland is crazy.”

Reinsdorf was probably right, but the signal that was sent was clear: The White Sox couldn’t compete and they weren’t going to spend any more to compete — never mind the fact that they shelled out a 5-year, $55 million deal to Albert Belle just seven months earlier (the White Sox largest free agent contract ever at the time, and still now only topped by Jose Abreu’s deal).

But while the White Flag Trade still harkens back memories two decades later, the Sale trade also stands out because it was another, similar admission that the White Sox had given up on their attempt to complete with a cost-controlled core of in-their-prime, All-Star talents.

Sale will toe the rubber Friday night against the White Sox in his second start against his former team since that trade 18 months ago. He’s still the same Sale we’ve always known and used to love, finishing second in Cy Young voting last year, leading the league in strikeouts, and he got to pitch in the postseason for the first time in his eight-year career (with a second trip almost assuredly coming this season). He was the best pitcher in White Sox history, if not in terms of longevity or accolades, but in pure, visceral talent.

The White Sox had an undisputed ace. They had a clear and steady No. 2 starter behind him, and they had a pair of primed, All-Star caliber position players signed to reasonable contracts, and they couldn’t compete. That’s more embarrassing than anything that happened in 1997.

None of this is to say the White Sox prospective future isn’t exciting, nor was the Sale trade bad in terms of talent the White Sox received in return. Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech are two of the most enticing young players in the game, and if those two and the host of prospects the White Sox have acquired since Sale was sent packing lead the White Sox anywhere near a World Series title somewhere down the road, maybe it will all have been worth it.

But as Sale takes the mound once again against a White Sox team toiling through one of the worst seasons in franchise history, it’s hard not to be frustrated. Looking back on what could have been and what currently is makes one wonder if it will all be worth it; if the future that’s been promised will come to fruition, or if we’re just running in circles from ineptitude to mediocrity and back again. Because until it does, the admission of defeat the franchise proclaimed 18 months ago remains tough to forget.

Lead Photo Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The Sox are fully embracing a rebuild for the first time in my lifetime. And while the White Flag Trade will forever live in infamy (and undeservedly so), no trade in franchise history has ever quite signified the admittance of giving up as trading Chris Sale to Boston did last winter. It was the right move for a team that had been treading water so long that the lactic acid was about to finally sink them, but it still stung like hell. Even in the lean times, you at least knew you were going to get to watch Sale, the most talented Sox pitcher since the Deadball Era, throw every fifth day. That always made things a little easier.

And it’s not like the team hadn’t tried to build contenders around him. They did. They traded for veterans and post-hype prospects. They grabbed pitchers off the scrapheap and signed lumbering sluggers and expensive closers and tried almost everything except drafting the young talent necessary to building a contender if you don’t have the willingness to spend like a top five payroll team, or spending as though they were in a contention window. And that was the major problem. The Sox were able to land what should have been a dominant core and was. But there was no support staff. Stars and scrubs doesn’t work. So Rick Hahn had to make the hard decision and trade away the likely 2017 Cy Young Award winner.

Which is the complete opposite decision the Seattle Mariners have made with Hernandez. Hernandez debuted to absurd and accurate fanfare as a 19-year-old phenom in 2005. Since then he’s won a Cy Young Award, thrown a perfect game, and pitched exactly 0.0 postseason innings. He was one of the most overpowering pitchers in the American League for more than a decade and put up a borderline Hall of Fame career, yet has only seen his teams finish above .500 four times in 13 seasons. The Mariners have made the same basic moves as the White Sox; trading for players to bolster the roster, signing aging sluggers, and drafting disappointing collegiate middle infielders. But every summer and every winter, the Mariners refused to trade their wunderkid in a move that would have easily brought back three to five top 100 prospects. King Felix is now old (well, 31), expensive, and less effective. The trade window is cemented shut and it looks like Seattle will extend their MLB-longest playoff drought to a 16th consecutive season.

There’s no guarantee that the prospects Chicago got back for Sale will pan out. Or the ones they got for Adam Eaton or most recently Jose Quintana. The White Sox haven’t made the playoffs since 2008 and won’t for the next season or two at least. But by biting the bullet and making the unpopular move, they’ve given themselves the chance at a brighter future that won’t involve sadly watching a franchise legend toil in obscurity.

Lead Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Despite Sale’s often hot-headedness and some belief that his occasional head-butting with the front office were at least part of the reason he was shipped away, Sale had nothing but good things to say about his time spent in Chicago, and fans greeted him with a standing ovation both when he took the field for warm-ups and when he toed the rubber in the first inning.

What followed isn’t what anyone would have guessed, however, as Sale and Jose Quintana were battered for 12 earned runs and 20 hits in just 7 2/3 innings combined in Boston’s 13-7 victory.

YCPB.

2. We no longer have to hand-wring when Sale has a rough outing — and Tuesday’s was easily the worst of his season for the Red Sox — but Quintana’s woes continue to be troublesome.

Quintana once again showed flashes of what has made him great throughout his career, striking out a pair in the first inning, including the virtually un-whiff-able Mookie Betts on a four-seamer in the first inning. But he lost all command in the innings that followed, allowing three homers and seven earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings. For reference, in 2016 Quintana allowed his third home run of the season on June 11 and only had three starts in which he allowed that many homers (that same day, when he also went eight innings and struck out 10, and again on July 9 against Atlanta).

There isn’t much to analyze about Quintana that we didn’t say after his last start, when he melted down in the fifth inning against Arizona after cruising through the first four. But it’s worth reiterating that as a pitcher without top-line stuff, he’s always going to need to command his pitches to a near-perfect degree in order to find success. Until he shows the ability to once again to that consistently, his performance will remain a concern.

3. Jose Abreu’s torrid stretch earned him American League Player of the Week honors last week, and with one day remaining in May he’s slashing .307/.347/.570 on the month, with Monday’s win over Boston counting as the only game in the last 12 in which he failed to reach base.

If Abreu continues to hit like this, trade talk will undoubtedly heat up — the chatter has already begun — as July 31 draws near. But the first base market isn’t exactly robust, and like with Quintana during the offseason, the White Sox surely won’t force a trade if the right package isn’t offered.

Likewise, Abreu was reportedly integral in the White Sox recruitment of Luis Robert, and has acted as a mentor to their other prized Cuban prospect, Yoan Moncada. His place on the next White Sox contender is uncertain, but his value during the rebuild is apparent.

4. There’s very little if anything teams can learn about Melky Cabrera this season that they don’t already know, but after a 2-for-5 day Tuesday, he’s hitting .367 with four home runs over his last 12 games and has raised his line to a more respectable .268/.319/.395 on the season.

That kind of performance isn’t going to change anyone’s minds about Cabrera. He’s an average corner outfield bat with very questionable defensive abilities. Likewise, outfield/designated hitter doesn’t seem to be an area of need among many playoff hopefuls. But if the White Sox hope to get even so much as a lotto ticket for Cabrera before the trade deadline, it certainly can’t hurt for him to be showing signs of life.

5. James Shields is apparently ready for a rehab assignment as he recovers from an injury that has kept him out since April 21, and the timing is ideal as the White Sox have a taxed bullpen and an open rotation spot following Dylan Covey’s injury.

The Sox have performed surprisingly well despite their pitching depth being stretched to its absolute limits in recent weeks, winning four of their last six games including three of four against Detroit over the weekend. They called up an extra reliever prior to their recent 10-day west coast swing, and had a full bullpen day with David Holmberg getting the start in a surprising win over David Price and the Red Sox on Memorial Day.

Still, with Shields presumably coming back fairly soon, and Nate Jones appearing close to a rehab assignment, as well, the opportunity to protect young arms from overwork and build the trade values of those two appear to be on the horizon.

Lead Photo Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

While there were certainly ups and downs with Sale, particularly when his desire to win caused him to have insane reactions to outside factors, the majority of his time spent on the south side of Chicago was utter bliss. As the White Sox turmoiled and struggled to find their way in the years following the slow departure of each member of the 2005 World Series champion team, fan attendance struggled. Often the stadium was barely half-filled, but that was never the case when Sale took the mound. He captivated an audience, and he brought a talent unlike almost any other that has donned a White Sox uniform.

Mark Buehrle’s smile and success despite lacking overwhelming stuff endeared fans. Jack McDowell’s impressive run of three tremendous seasons culminating in a Cy Young Award was thrilling. Jose Quintana’s quiet demeanor and work ethic as he went from a nobody to the front of the White Sox rotation has been a point of pride. Sale didn’t quite exemplify any one of those feelings. As he tore through hitters with his high velocity and wicked slider, he was at times endearing. Other times he was frustrating, thrilling, and pride-inducing. He was high-octane with a clear drive to win ballgames. Naturally, that desire manifested itself in both good and attributes, which some White Sox fans have admired while others have despised.

What remains true about Sale is that he is one of the best starting pitchers to ever wear a White Sox uniform. In his five seasons as a starter, he was an All-Star every single year while only missing out on the top five in Cy Young voting once (sixth in 2012). During that time he pitched 1,015 ⅔ innings and posted a 3.04 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 27.7 percent strikeout rate. He was durability and intensity all rolled into one as year after year he put himself among the best pitchers in the American League. No other pitcher in White Sox history has had a season where he pitched at least 200 innings while striking out more than nine per 9 IP while maintaining an ERA below 3.50. Sale did it three times in his five seasons. His longevity and consistency for a pitcher with such violent stuff is unlike any other.

This season, he has managed to get even better. Just as he did during a portion of his 2015 campaign, he struck out 10 or more batters in eight straight starts. He’s also holding a 2.34 ERA and 36.7 percent strikeout rate. Thanks to a dramatic decrease in home runs (only five allowed this season), he’s on track for his best season yet. While it’s disappointing that he never managed to win a Cy Young in Chicago, it would be fitting for the man who cares exponentially more about team results than personal accolades to win his first Cy Young award with a team that should reach the postseason.

As Sale makes his return to Chicago today, it’s fun to remember the success that he had in black and white. The circumstances surrounding his trade were unfortunate, but they have led to a dawn of White Sox prospects that may just provide the next impressive core of talent on the south side. Sale’s impact on the organization was easy to see when he was mowing down hitters left and right while donning a White Sox uniform (except for that one uniform he really didn’t like).

That impact may not be easy to see anymore, but it will certainly be felt as Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech make their way through the farm system. Sale gave fans a lot for which to be thankful. As a parting gift, his talent allowed us to receive some new young faces to fall in love with. His return to the mound in Chicago will be an emotional one for many fans. For me, there is no love lost. I’m thankful for the experiences that Sale gave me as a fan. I’m thankful for the joy he brought every five days even when the team seemed to be incapable of providing any joy at all.

Lead Photo Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The most noteworthy bit of news to come out of Day 1 was the fact that Carlos Rodon was not among the pitchers throwing — no tossing and no bullpen session.

This was, as repeated by both Rodon and Rick Renteria, part of a plan to limit Rodon’s workload early in order to keep him fresh, particularly during a season where Spring Training is starting early in order to accommodate for the World Baseball Classic.

“Workload is going to be a little more this year, so we’re going to take it a little slow,” Rodon said. “I guess they thought (if) it worked for Chris (Sale), it might work for me. We’re just taking it slow.”

“There are certain guys we’re going to be measuring in terms of their work, and as soon as we get that structured out there in the longer format we’ll get them out there and do what we need them to do,” Renteria said.

Sale, if you’ll recall, had his workload lightened last spring as he was limited to simulated starts and “B” games throughout most of camp, not starting in an actual Cactus League game until March 19.

Whether or not the extra care in Sale’s handling had anything to do with yet another successful campaign for him in 2016 is neither here nor there. The point is that Don Cooper obviously has a strong track record of knowing how to handle pitchers, and with Sale gone and Jose Quintana’s tenure seemingly dwindling, Rodon will soon become the top talent on the White Sox roster, newly acquired prospects notwithstanding.

Rodon threw 165 innings last season, and even if Quintana sticks around for the duration of 2017, he’ll be counted on to provide a top of the rotation workload. Whether or not he takes another step forward and the production matches the workload is to be determined, but while all the talk this spring is on the White Sox shiny, new toys, it’s clear the White Sox still have big plans and lofty expectations for their former No. 3 overall pick.

• Speaking of Sale, the Red Sox showed off their shiny, new toy on Tuesday, and he talked about wanting to win a lot. A LOT. CSNNE’s Trenni Kusnierek writes about it.
• Rick Hahn met with reporters for his spring-opening press conference on Tuesday and held firm on what he’s been saying ever since Sale and Adam Eaton were shipped off early in the offseason. He’s in no rush to make deals happen, as The Athletic’s James Fegan writes.
• The Daily Herald’s Scott Gregor reported Tuesday that owner Jerry Reinsdorf finally gave the green light for a White Sox rebuild after years of steadfast refusal. One quote from his piece: “We pounded the desk for years to do this,” the Sox employee said. “It’s something that needed to be done in the past, but the timing never seemed to be right. It is now, and there’s a lot of excitement about it.” An owner being the final decider for something like this is not necessarily noteworthy, but the fact that he was against the idea for so many years despite an unwillingness to commit the kind of money to built a legitimate contender is, well, it’s something.
• Hahn made it clear Tuesday that the White Sox are going to give their youngsters every opportunity to show what they can do this spring, as CSNChicago’s Dan Hayes writes. Within the piece is a revelation we long expected, that Charlie Tilson is likely to get the first look in center field, presuming he’s healthy enough after tearing his hamstring last summer. Other players expected to get extended looks include Matt Davidson and Omar Narvaez.
• I wrote Tuesday about the trade rumors that are likely to swirl over the heads of a number of veterans throughout the spring, and the spotlight was on David Robertson on Tuesday, fresh off reports that the White Sox and Nationals were close to a deal to send the closer to Washington before it fell apart. Robertson said all the right things about putting the rumors out of his head and focusing on getting ready for the season, as the Chicago Tribune’s Colleen Kane writes.

Lead Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Essentially, it’s a question of deception. The central data points identified are where hitters assess what is being thrown to them. These are the release point of a pitch, and the point where the ball is close enough that they must make the decision on whether to swing. This second point is labeled the ‘tunnel point’ and on average, is roughly 23.8 feet away from the plate. The archetypal great tunnel pitcher has a consistent release point, and their pitches look the same and cluster close to each other up to the tunnel point, ideally while still retaining a significant amount of movement after the tunnel point.

A running theory for me, is that the more granular we get, the more we will find specific revelations for some pitchers who previously seemed mysteriously greater than the sum of their parts, and in plenty of instances we will find that some factors are mostly irrelevant to the success of great pitchers.

While the bizarre and inscrutable nature of Chris Sale‘s delivery has frequently been cited as a reason for his success, it does not seem to fit the mold of tunneling. In 2016 he rated well below the median (among 162 pitchers with over 1000 pitch pairings), in the consistency of his release point, the closeness of his pitches up to the tunnel point, and the movement of his pitches after the tunnel point. This is just not the reason he is great, it seems, and it’s clearly not a one-size-fits-all measurement of pitching acumen, as arm slot changers like Rich Hill and old friend Zach Duke are going to get weird results with this too.

Someone who does shine in these measurements is human metronome Jose Quintana. Among 162 pitchers with 1000 pitch pairings (essentially the same size group of starters we had for command and control metrics), he was 10th in 2016 for the smallest divergence in his release point (Derek Holland was 11th). He’s less remarkable (4oth) in terms of break-to-tunnel ratio, which would score him highly for either having his pitches tightly clustered at the tunnel point or having a lot of post-tunnel break, but he has the 14th-smallest release-to-tunnel ratio, which theoretically means it’s harder to distinguish his pitches from one another from the release point to the tunnel point. Promisingly, Holland was 12th.

While Don Cooper is known for cleaning up deliveries, extremely consistent release point doesn’t seem like the big byproduct. Sale was routinely below median at release-to-tunnel ratio throughout his career, Carlos Rodon is the same way, Mark Buehrle was often slightly above-median but unexceptional. Cooper’s big 2016 success story, Miguel Gonzalez, was among the worst in the league (152nd out of 162) in 2016, a noticeable dip even from his last few seasons.

Even if we reduce the minimum to 500 pitch pairings to rope in relievers, only David Robertson emerges as solid late-movement guy, ranking 106 out of 385 in break-to-tunnel ratio. Nate Jones, tilting his arm way behind his head like a great terror, somehow nearly cracks the top-50 in release point stability. Addison Reed, notably, topped all of baseball in 2016 for the smallest space differential of his pitches at the tunnel point, which is a consistent trend through his career.

I don’t know, guys. There aren’t big trends here, other than the absence of big trends, suggesting that tunneling is a unique, person-to-person skill rather than the product of a system approach. Clayton Kershaw is pretty much great at all of this stuff, though, which is the great constant in all pitching analysis.

Lead Image Credit: Joe Nicholson // USA Today Sports Images

Using a similar process to how they isolated catcher impact on extra strikes being called, they have isolated pitcher impact on the same result. In addition, Harry Pavlidis, Jeff Long and Jonathan Judge say that Called Strikes Above Average (CSAA), provides a serviceable guide to what pitchers are the best at hitting their spots. Pitchers who can consistently dot the edges of the zone with precision, will accumulate the most extra strike calls, the logic dictates.

Zach Davies, Josh Tomlin and Kyle Hendricks were three best pitchers in terms of CSAA in 2016, lending to the notion that soft tossers whose survival depends on avoiding the heart of the zone will dominate this category. Chris Sale and Jose Quintana were both above median in CSAA among the 144 pitchers who threw over 100 innings in 2016, but not exceptional, and the Sox don’t really have someone who fits the Davies mold on their starting staff.

Of course, it’s not hard to think of one recently. 2008 marks the year that the impact of PitchFX becomes readily apparent, and the rate of additional called strikes shrinks to something familiar to what we see now. It’s from this year through 2014 that Mark Buehrle finishes in the top-30 among pitchers with 100 or more innings every year, including finishing fourth in 2013 and pacing all of baseball in 2014.

With that affirming nod to our bias, let’s deal with more recent and current Sox starters. Sale was 41st in CSAA in 2016; unremarkable, but still solid and the best on the staff. But with his three pitches with ideal useful spin, and 15th-best called strike rate (after a big one-year jump reflective of his philosophy switch), he still fits the mold of a pitcher with elite stuff who does very well when he pounds the zone. Quintana is typically who we paint as the command specialist of the group, but he finished 40th in called strike rate and 45th in CSAA, so my takeaway from this is that we likely underrate how good his raw stuff is, and how effective his low-to-mid-90s and curveball combination is. He peaked at 29 out 145 pitchers in 2013, but his arsenal has only been strengthened since then.

Alternatively, the best thing that can be said about Carlos Rodon‘s CSAA is that it improved this year to 139th out of 144 after being dead last by nearly half a percentage point. That Rodon’s worst in baseball CSAA was -1.46 percent, you can see how bad being half a percentage point than the rest of the league is. Rodon is pounding the zone at least (34th in called strike rate in 2016) which is noticeable jump from his scattershot rookie season, but command rated so poorly puts him in a weird group at the bottom of the totem pole.

It’s filled with a collection of guys with stuff so electric that their command shortcomings don’t matter–Noah Syndergaard, Jake Arrieta, Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer are all in the bottom-15 in baseball in CSAA–and guys with big stuff who cannot seem to get out of their own way: Matt Moore, Dylan Bundy, Nate Eovaldi, Shelby Miller. The White Sox are staking a lot on Rodon being in that first group, and his 3.45 DRA in 2016 certainly suggests he’s already there. The “elite stuff” tag only works for Rodon if he develops a changeup that actually makes him dominant against righties, but this a different matter than what this data is showing us: Rodon’s command has upgraded from “very bad” to “fringy,” which is a level where others with his profile have been successful.

It’s hard to find a nugget for why Miguel Gonzalez was effective in 2016 in here. We know he has mediocre stuff, so filling up the zone (28th in called strike rate) with no command (125th in CSAA) seems like a recipe for more bombs than we saw in 2016. Perhaps this is how the difference in his stuff from standing tall with Cooper is the difference between him hanging in a major league rotation and being on the waiver wire. James Shields is reversed: he lived out of the zone (140th in called strikes) with decent command (50th), but trying to explain his grizzly season probably goes beyond simple statistical norms.

Sliding the inning minimums down to catch some of the new Sox prospect arms, Reynaldo Lopez is unsurprisingly below average at CSAA (281 out of 385 with over 40 innings) given that he’s fireballer with questions on his repeatability. While Lucas Giolito‘s 2016 debut was mostly disastrous and his 398 chances at the major league level does not even meet the sample size barrier discussed in BP’s article, he filled up the strike zone well enough (48.1 called strike rate) and was almost perfectly average in terms of command (-0.01 CSAA).

It won’t be until we’re desperate for content in mid-May that the benefit of a new measurement to point at excitedly will really reap content rewards, so pleased stay tuned, or spend your time bemoaning what became of John Danks‘ command.

Lead Image Credit: Jeffrey Becker // USA Today Sports Images

We tend to get more blindsided by someone less interesting, like Hector Noesi in 2015 or John Danks in 2016, just falling apart, because we overlooked their underlying decay in the rush to write them off as “fine” and move on.  This is an analyst problem, but it doubles as a White Sox problem, since they have regularly been able to stand up to the rest of the league in roster spots 1 through 10, while taking a shellacking in spots 16 through 25.

So here’s a roundabout way of finally getting to Miguel Gonzalez, who began as a Spring Training minor league deal, debuted as a desperate backup option, had some moments of unease early on, and then transitioned into a nice back-end starter groove at the start of July so smoothly that there was barely any thought put into the assumption that he was “fine,” and would be in the back of the rotation going forward.

Gonzalez’s 135 innings of 3.73 ERA was good, but not good enough to draw quibbles that it was belied by a 4.65 DRA and that his 2016 cFIP was a below-average (albeit career-best) 104. Gonzalez even pitched so poorly on June 25 that the Sox managed to lose a game in which they hit seven home runs, but a 2.72 ERA over his last 13 starts appears to have blotted memories and concerns from that day out. And if it hadn’t, a rebuild would have done the trick.

Gonzalez has always boasted more command and confidence and cojones than actual stuff, has never so much as broke 7.0 K/9 in a season, and has never controlled contact in a way that would lead to pleasing metrics or hope for stable performance. He made his living attacking the zone with low-90s heat and dealt with the days where the barrels found everything as they came. Gonzalez’s biggest swing-and-miss offering has always been his splitter, which still left him without a great second offering to throw in the zone. That kind of fringy profile puts him in danger of a collapse if just a slight complication arises, like the late-2015 velocity dip that Cat Garcia noticed, which led immediately to him getting crushed down the stretch and being put on the outs of the Baltimore roster. 1-to-2 mph is enough to place most No. 4 starters into a crisis, and Gonzalez is certainly no exception.

Perhaps that’s why he was more willing than others to accept the approach of his new team as dogma. Don Cooper’s preference to have his guys “stand tall” and remain upright as much as possible through their delivery is well known, and Gonzalez told me early in the season it was a focus in the bullpen sessions. Sure enough, scouts say that was present through his strong close to the year. The delivery tweak allows him to get more torque in his hips, and while the velocity bump is slight (Less than one mph, but more importantly there was no second half fade), it gave him a crispness to his stuff he had lacked and sorely needed, particularly his slider.

Enigmatic for most of his career, Gonzalez’s slider became his primary breaking pitch again in 2016, giving him a bender more suited to his attacking approach and allowing to be more selective with his splitter as a wipeout offering. The fix is a physically sustainable, cleaner motion and Gonzalez is well-conditioned at age 32, but it’s not wholly transformative.

While he’s worked to earn the $5.9 million going into his pockets next season, he’s still right-hander with average velocity, low strikeout rates and unremarkable secondaries, who is a setback away from being a liability. A spike in walk rate early on will signal trouble is afoot with his delivery, and expecting more than another year or two of steady production seems unwise, which is academic since he hits free agency after 2018 anyway.

So, like most players not on their Top Prospects list right now, the Sox should be looking for opportunities to move Gonzalez. Unlike others, there’s no angst about Gonzalez breaking camp with the club, because grit-and-guile No. 4 starters are not something other teams should admit they have to trade for until they are forced. Gonzalez won’t bring back a haul but he should bring back value, and any value is worth the small cost of snatching him up when he had none and revitalizing his career. It won’t be enough of a contribution to put Gonzalez in the annals of franchise history, but during a stretch that has seen the Sox great attraction sent away, seeing a scuffling veteran come into the organization and turn out just “fine,” is a small joy that can no longer be brushed aside.

Lead Image Credit: David Banks // USA Today Sports Images

It was also likely the last time for the foreseeable future we’ll see a player enter Cooperstown with a White Sox cap adorned on his plaque.

Despite a lack of team success for the better part of the team’s history, the Sox are far from deficient when it comes to inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 12 different players have gone into the Hall of Fame with the White Sox as their primary team (this is including Carlton Fisk, who has a Red Sox logo on his cap but whose primary team is listed as the White Sox), tied for the seventh most all-time.

In fact, since the first Hall of Fame class in 1936, the White Sox have never gone more than 14 years between Hall of Fame inductees, with Thomas breaking the latest streak after 14 years between him and Fisk.

That said, after Thomas, finding the next White Sox Hall of Famer is an incredibly difficult exercise.

There are plenty of players who have or will enter soon who spent some of their careers with the White Sox, mind you. Tim Raines had four successful seasons in Chicago, and Jim Thome will likely join him in his first year of eligibility next year. But logos for the Expos and Indians will likely don those two caps.

So, who is the next White Sox inductee? That’s pretty tough to figure out.

The recently retired

The only two players from recent White Sox history who will generate any sort of Hall of Fame discussion are Paul Konerko and Mark Buehrle, and, unfortunately, both likely fell short of Hall of Fame-worthy careers by varying degrees.

Both are incredibly beloved on the South side, and that’s perfectly fine. Statues, number retirements, all that is great! Konerko and Buehrle are White Sox legends, but that doesn’t necessarily make them baseball legends.

When guys like Fred McGriff, Larry Walker, Mike Mussina, and Curt Schilling are having trouble sniffing 50 percent of the vote, Konerko and Buehrle just aren’t going to cut it.

The recently traded

The most obvious candidate for next White Sox Hall of Famer until about six weeks ago was Chris Sale, and even then, it still might be!

Sale spent the first seven years of his career with the White Sox, tossing 1,110 innings, won 74 games with a 3.00 ERA while accumulating 31.1 WAR. The path to him entering the Hall as a member of the White Sox is tricky, however.

Step 1: Become a Hall of Famer. This one’s easy. While Sale has been stellar through his first seven seasons, it will take a lot more before we start buying tickets to Cooperstown.

Step 2: Bounce around. It’s safe to say if Sale spends more than seven years in Boston, that’ll wind up where he’s most remembered.

Step 3: Don’t be too good for Boston (or wherever he plays after Boston). Randy Johnson played 10 years in Seattle and eight in Arizona, but he wore a Diamondbacks hat in his plaque because, as good as he was for the Mariners, Johnson won four straight Cy Young awards and a World Series in Arizona. That stuff matters. If Sale only plays a few years in Boston but rips off some Cy Young seasons and a World Series or two, it’s game over.

So, yeah, a lot needs to happen. But the chances of Sale wearing a White Sox hat at his 2032 Hall of Fame ceremony are still there.

The current roster

It’s safe to say if someone on the White Sox as currently constructed winds up in Cooperstown it will take quite a bit of A) luck and B) time.

There’s Jose Quintana, of course, and there’s at least one alternate reality out there where he spends the rest of his career with the White Sox. He’d have to become a Hall of Famer, of course (I’m going to stop pointing that out for the duration of this article, because you get it).

Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez, etc., etc., you get it. If one of these guys becomes a Hall of Famer, it won’t be until, say, 2037 at the earliest. A 23-year drought!

The actual answer

The next player to enter the Hall of Fame with a White Sox cap on his plaque will be Minnie Minoso. Some how, some way, Minoso, who died in 2015, will be elected to the Hall of Fame. And it will be long overdue.

Despite a worthy resume, not to mention his significant cultural impact to the game as the first black Cuban to play in the majors and the first black player in White Sox history, Minoso never garnered more than 21.1 percent of the vote from the BBWAA ballot before falling off the ballot after the 1999 cycle.

The most recent opportunity the Hall had to elect him was in 2014 when the Golden Era committee failed to elect any of its 10 candidates. Minoso garnered eight votes from the 16-person committee.

Minoso’s next opportunity will come when the Golden Days committee votes again in 2020 (the Hall recently altered its Veterans Committee standards), and unless those panels come to their senses sometime soon, the next time we see a Hall of Famer come from the White Sox is likely far, far away.

Lead Photo Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

In the context of the White Sox rebuild, thinking about scouting and development has become increasingly more interesting as the team has traded for a raft of high-level prospects. One point, among many great ones, that Parks made regularly is about talent versus development. Because his metaphor is far better than any I could come up with, I’m just going to stick with what he said.

Imagine two different pieces of meat. One is of high quality, a porterhouse or filet mignon perhaps, the other is of poor quality, like a flank or cube steak. The natural tendency is to believe that the higher quality meat is going to produce a better meal. When it actuality, it’s quite easy to improperly cook–or just play burn–a good piece of meat, or dress up a cheap piece of meat as something good. The example that Parks uses here is a chicken fried steak–of which I am a fan, but is not common among northerners–as a way to make a lesser cut of meat into something quite tasty and desirable.

Having the flashiest names that appear at the top of prospect lists is great. It usually means that the player will have a large amount of success in his career. But the prospect alone as he sits raw in the minor leagues isn’t enough to cut it. He needs development to become the player that prospect rankings expect him to be. In the same way, the value of lower level prospects can be maximized by great development. The floor of a top-25 guy and the ceiling of an unheralded sleeper frequently overlap.

There are naturally some limitations; freak talents like Bryce Harper can arrive in pro ball with practically every asset needed to succeed and require little to no developmental guidance. On the other side, a pitcher with a fastball that hardly reaches 90 mph and little command will likely never reach the big leagues regardless of the wonderful developmental direction he receives. But in general, development is by far the most important part of a rebuild.

Although the constant comparisons of the process the Sox are undertaking to the Cubs are tiring and usually off-base, the Cubs actually provide a great example of Parks’ point. One of the main things that allowed the Cubs to rebuild both quickly and effectively was the rate at which their prospects succeeded, especially after Theo Epstein was hired and made the organization his own. Some like to think that it was luck that the Cubs got MVP-caliber players in Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, an offensive monster in Kyle Schwarber, and a brilliant young shortstop in Addison Russell, among others. In reality their ability to hit on prospects was due to their incredible developmental staff.

The White Sox made great strides in rebuilding the organization when they made back-to-back Chris Sale and Adam Eaton trades. The additions of Lucas Giolito and Yoan Moncada to the organization brought hope and excitement. What we cannot lose sight of, however, is that improvements in their development team will have to be made for this to mean as much they want it to mean. These players cannot get within reach of their ceilings without proper development.

That may be the biggest roadblock for the White Sox on their journey to becoming a competitive team. If they can improve in this area, there’s no reason to believe that a rebuild can’t work on the South Side. If they continue the same patterns they’ve shown with young players, it will be the same old story for the White Sox, and more players will be added to the list of recent disappointing prospects that includes Gordon Beckham, Jared Mitchell, Courtney Hawkins, and many others. One thing is for certain: development will be key to the White Sox future success.

Lead Image Credit: Mark J. Rebilas // USA Today Sports Images