When the White Sox traded for Kahnle, there was a good chance he would simply never cut it on a competitive team.  The stuff was always there, providing 11.1 and 13.5 percent swinging strike rates in his two seasons with the Rockies. He struck out batters at a rate of 22.1 and 25.2 percent those years. While that isn’t elite, it showed his ability to miss bats. The biggest problem was a common one among young pitchers — finding the strike zone. His 18.1 percent walk rate in 2015 was indicative of that issue. Even in his first season with the White Sox, his walk rate was at an uncomfortable 16.8 percent.

In this breakout 2017 season, however, the walk rate has plummeted to just 4.9 percent. That alone would have helped Kahnle become a more useful pitcher. What has been even more crucial is that his ability to find the strike zone has led to even more strikeouts. 37 innings into the 2017 season, Kahnle has struck out 43.1 percent of the batters he has faced. Only Craig Kimbrel has struck out hitters at a higher rate.

Kahnle’s much-improved control has had a domino effect on his pitching. With his walk rate reduced, hitters are more willing to chase pitches out of the zone. The swing percentage on pitches out of the zone against Kahnle has risen by 11.2 percent. He’s gotten first pitch strikes 53.7 percent of the time, a drastic increase from a season ago. He’s also dramatically improved the number of 0-2 counts he’s manufactured, now sitting at a rate of 29.3 percent. What these numbers boil down to is that he’s getting ahead in counts, and as a result getting whiffs to finish off batters.

All of this has come in one breakout season, or half season, really. There’s no certainty that it will last. Relievers are volatile, and a pitcher magically finding control doesn’t often last for a long stretch of time. That’s where the White Sox brilliance in his handling comes into play.

Relievers are wildly unpredictable, but the trade market at the deadline is incredibly lucrative for teams with bullpen arms to spare. The White Sox are aware of both of these things. Debates raged about whether the White Sox should deal the righty with three years of team control remaining. When the uncertainty of relievers is considered, it was almost a no-brainer that he should have been dealt at the height of his value. If a team was willing to give up valuable assets for a reliever with relatively no track record, the team should have absolutely jumped at that opportunity.

While opinions of Blake Rutherford certainly vary, he remains a Top 100 prospect at nearly every reputable prospect website, including being ranked 49th overall by Baseball Prospectus coming into the season (he was not included in the Midseason Top 50). That’s valuable to a White Sox team in the early years of a rebuild. And while Kahnle didn’t fetch that talent alone, he was likely the most valuable of the three pieces involved in the trade. The White Sox could have seen that value and decided to keep him on the staff. Instead, they decided to trade him while it is reasonable to assume he is at peak performance. It is this type of move that could be invaluable for the White Sox in the next few seasons, especially with pitching coach Don Cooper having a good reputation, albeit mostly anecdotal, for fixing broken pitchers.

The buy low-sell high tactic is certainly not a new one to teams in the throes of a rebuild. However, it’s not often that it works this well. Even by just looking inwardly at the White Sox roster, examples can be found of failures in this strategy. But when it works, it can turn something small into something really valuable.

Beckham’s failures were an indictment of the poor player development regime of recent years past, but they were able to turn him into Yency Almonte. Almonte in turn brought Kahnle to the South side. That provided the White Sox with half a season of a very valuable reliever, which then led to a Top 100 prospect landing in the organization. If the team is able to do that even just one more time, it would be a massive help in the process of rebuilding and piling on the organizational depth.

Lead Photo Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Tim Anderson jumps off the screen in that regard, certainly, and Carlos Rodon looks to be trending in the direction of exciting development, but after Matt Davidson, Kevan Smith, and Charlie Tilson all had their debuts and rookie seasons dashed by injury, the cupboard has been awfully bare.

Thus, and specifically on the position player side, after Anderson, the most surprising and pleasant development in 2016 has been the arrival of Omar Narvaez, the fifth choice at catcher on the year. And no, I’m not here to look at his .357/.486/.393 line over 35 PAs and proclaim him the Venezuelan Joe Mauer. However, even if you zoom out, there’s reason to be happy about his presence and what it represents.

First, the most important thing a catcher can do is defend his position.  To my unqualified eye, Narvaez has looked perfectly adequate behind the plate, and when seeking confirmation with someone who knows what they’re talking about, BP’s own Mauricio Rubio confirmed that he may even merit the label of “solid average.” If that’s Narvaez’ true quality defensively, the bar for what he has to do on offense drops dramatically.

Catchers as a group are bad hitters. If Narvaez were able to muster, say, a .330 OBP, that would put him as Top-10 in the majors in that category for catchers with more than 200 PAs, and most of the players ahead of him on that Top-10 are making a lot of money. Similarly, Jason Castro is sixth in the majors among catchers by WARP while hitting .213/.321/.380 by virtue of his defense. This isn’t to say that single seasons of defensive metrics are gospel, but rather to emphasize: if you are a good defensive catcher, any hitting at all becomes super valuable.

*Side note: Narvaez was once a switch hitter, but seems to have abandoned it to hit full-time from the left side.

Obviously, it can be tricky to keep drawing walks against major league pitchers if they have no reason to be afraid of you doing anything other than hitting a single, although we have seen Alex Avila maintain good OBPs even after his contact and power abandoned him. But, if Narvaez can play solid defense, as a lefty bat he looks like an intriguing bench option, particularly if he can maintain even 80 percent of his .277/.353/.336 minor league line in the majors.** There are a fair amount of catchers who hit right-handed and need protection from any decent right-handed pitching.

Moreover, as I’ve said in reference to Tyler Saladino, being able to generate serviceable bench options internally is a cascading boon to the organization. It obviates the need to shop in the free agent market for guys like that, saving financial resources (which to the White Sox is evidently a priority of puzzling urgency) and erases the misery of the Emilio Bonifacio/Gordon Beckham/Dioner Navarro-type results that that sort of free agent can present. It also provides credible on-hand depth, instead of, say, being stuck giving regular playing time to Ray Olmedo in the only real playoff push the organization has seen since 2008.

**It is not conclusive on the matter, but I do think it is worth pointing out that Kiley McDaniel described Narvaez as possessing an advanced approach at the plate, as it is very easy to draw a lot of walks in the minors without having any real meaningful on-base skills that will translate to the majors.

So, here’s to hoping Narvaez can get plenty of playing time over the next few months to see if he can indeed be penciled in as the backup catcher for 2017.  It’s not the most important job on the team, but as we’ve seen, any time you can solve a problem on the roster–particularly when done cheaply and for multiple years–it is a big deal.

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

Let’s check on how four of these former White Sox players are doing, and perhaps what’s lead to their string of success.

Conor Gillaspie

After departing from the South side after three very long years, Conor Gillaspie has returned to the franchise that drafted him, the San Francisco Giants. Gillaspie only tallied a line of .260/.314/.397 during his time with the White Sox, and in 2015 was striking out at over an 18 percent clip while only walking 5 percent of the time with poor defense at third. It’s safe to say among other things, Gillaspie quickly became the bane of many a White Sox fan’s existence.

Things aren’t much different for Gillaspie on the West Coast, though. Gillaspie is currently seeing a line of .258/.313/.393 which is less than impressive, but has improved his strikeout rate generously. Gillaspie is only striking out at an 11.5 percent clip in San Francisco, and walking 6.1 percent of the time.

The Difference: Gillaspie has only playing in 49 games so far in 2016. That’s comfortable for a player who’s posting a slash line such as Gillespie’s — that’s the type of role a player such as him should be taking on. When the White Sox organization was trying to run him out for 130 games a season while barely being able to scrape the surface of replacement level, a player like Gillaspie is bound to disappoint.

Gordon Beckham

Part of the infield tandem that led to much of the disdain that is the root cause of jaded fandom, Gordon Beckham hit just .242/.304/.370 during his seven very long years with the White Sox. Finally this past offseason, the White Sox were finally able to cut ties permanently (or so we hope) with Beckham.

But now, fast forward to 2016. Not only did the White Sox lose a series to the Atlanta Braves — a team who had hit 57 home runs entering the break — to end the first half, but Beckham himself took his former team for a ride blasting a home run, and gathering three hits in his return to U.S. Cellular Field.

Beckham is now hitting — wait for it — .290/.387/.458 with the Braves. He’s taking walks at an 11.3 percent rate, something he’s never done in his career and he’s lowered his strikeout rate by over five percent from 2015 to 2016. Who would have thought that could ever be possible for a guy the White Sox tried so hard to groom into a franchise player for almost a decade?

The Difference: The thing with Beckham, is that much like Gillaspie, the sample size is small. Beckham has only participated in 34 games in Atlanta this season. The White Sox tried extensively hard to make Beckham into an everyday infielder, using him in as many as 151 games in 2012. When the sample size expands by that much, but the talent isn’t adequately available over the course of that many games per season, you get White Sox-era Gordon Beckham. When you use a player such a Beckham sparingly the way Atlanta has, you give him the environment he needs to flourish in the role he’s best suited for.

Marcus Semien

This one hurts. Always a big fan of Marcus Semien, when I heard that he was included in the trade that would bring Jeff Samardzija over to the White Sox for what ended up being one very heartbreaking season, in the back of my mind I was not entirely pleased.

And this is why. While Samardzija saw his ERA rise to 4.98 — a level he’d never reached as a starting pitcher — and allowed a career high number of hits and earned runs in 2015, Semien was on the path to Figuring It Out.

Semien played in 151 games in Oakland in 2015, and while he committed a harrowing number of errors and didn’t quite impress in the power department, that began to change.

Samardzija is now pitching in San Francisco and posting an ERA nearly a full run lower than that of the one he posted in Chicago. Meanwhile, Semien has slashed his error total significantly from an almost impressively poor 35 errors in 2015 to just nine so far in 2016, and seems to have found his power stroke, something he desperately was searching for in Chicago.

Semien is hitting .242/.307/.477 with an ISO of .234. While his strikeout rate is still quite high at 23 percent, and his OBP is leaner than one may like, he’s making up for it by hitting the ball with authority — and doing it at the Oakland Coliseum, a stadium that’s second to last in home run totals.

The Difference: Semien was still a work in progress. It wasn’t time to give up on him for a year of a pitcher who was on the verge of free agency and very unlikely to sign despite the rumors of a “hometown discount”. Semien had his flaws, but he wasn’t unsalvageable. They were simply kinks that needed to be ironed out, and 85 games in a White Sox uniform surely wasn’t enough to see if Semien could reach his full potential. The White Sox spent years waiting for the prophecies of Beckham and Gillaspie to be fulfilled, but 85 games of Semien and this organization had decided that they’d seen enough. The White Sox didn’t lose an All-Star talent in Semien, but considering that the trade they sent him away in as now left them empty handed, the loss of Semien stings just a bit more than it should.

Tyler Flowers

Yet another former White Sox player who ended up back with the organization that drafted him. After seven years with the White Sox, the South siders officially cut ties with catcher Tyler Flowers.

Flowers never truly dazzled in Chicago, he posted a meager .223/.289/.376 slash line during his time in with the Sox, and once had a strikeout rate that reached 36 percent.

But now, in the Braves organization, though Flowers isn’t blowing anyone away with his exceptional power numbers and hasn’t lowered that hearty strikeout rate enough to earn the status of The One That Got Away, he’s doing good things for someone who is still Tyler Flowers. Playing in just 53 games, Flowers has posted a slash line of .253/.343/.425 with the Braves and is walking at the highest clip of his career at over eight percent (minimum 50 games).

The Difference: Saying that perhaps the White Sox were trying to stretch too much out of Flowers would feel like an inaccurate statement, seeing as Flowers only played in over 100 games two of his seven seasons on the South side. Perhaps Flowers’ success in Atlanta is just a flukey, small sample size baseball thing, but the Braves seem to understand that Flowers isn’t the type of player you want behind the plate for everyday use — something the White Sox tried to make work for nearly two seasons. Again, understanding players limits seems to be key here.

The kernel to take away is this: It’s seems as though the White Sox have a penchant for looking at a utility player’s success in small sample sizes and try and stretch that success into everyday stardom. Only when these players end up with other organizations that understand their ability to flourish in a bench or backup role and don’t try to push their limits do we see their full potential at the major league level. Not every player is destined to become a starter, sometimes sufficient depth is all you can ask for.

And as we saw with Semien, perhaps prospects that haven’t reached their full potential yet shouldn’t be traded for one year of a highly-touted pitcher, because these things, much like with Semien, will come back to haunt you when you’re left empty handed. There’s nothing worse in baseball than watching prospect that was once in your organization have success with another because of a trade that your team is no longer benefiting from.

These are all simple lessons learned. Learned by fans, by baseball, and hopefully by the White Sox front office. Hey, at least the organization held onto Tim Anderson though, right?

Lead photo courtesy of Kenny Karst-USA TODAY Sports

If you’re struggling to put the Beckham era in appropriate context, take note that Brett Lawrie has streaked, slumped and streaked again to a .256/.322/.430 line, which, if it holds, would be the best production the Sox have gotten from their regular second baseman since Alexei Ramirez‘s rookie year in 2008. This didn’t set out  to be an ode to Lawrie, we just got here by talking about Beckham.

2. Todd Frazier, who has admittedly struggled to do anything besides hit home runs this season, will finally be placed in a position to succeed as he defends his Home Run Derby title on Monday.

Simple statistical studies of post-Home Run Derby performance have found small but statistically significant drops in power production afterward, but that can likely be chalked up to power production being at a crest for players to get selected for the Derby in the first place.

Getting your approach jacked up from one day of gunning for home runs is obviously a case-by-case malady, and Frazier can hardly offer any assurance given that he had a stunningly awful second half last year after winning. There’s not really a positive note to glom onto this, even though this feels like the spot where it would come.

3. An actual positive note is Spencer Adams‘ injury is at least being treated initially as mild.

UPDATE: Spencer Adams is expected to miss 7-10 days with a right ankle injury. He has been placed on the Dash’s DL. pic.twitter.com/fafa9MBU3k

— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) July 7, 2016

He remains tradeable and we do not need to alter our valuation of him as a prospect so long as the injury isn’t hugely serious, and it does not appear to be, so that’s good for everyone. Celebrating that a guy is not horribly injured just so he can remain viable trade bait is grotesque, but there’s no undoing the framing of this paragraph at this point. On to the next!

4. With their top prospect still in the minors being currently groomed for an immediate role in the bullpen, and Adams spending the next week elevating his ankle and also not really missing bats all season, it’s no surprise that the White Sox did not make any impact on BP’s midseason top-50 prospect list.

It would certainly be nicer if new, shiny prospect Zack Collins was not striking out in half of his Rookie League plate appearances to start, but he has a big hitch in his swing and that’s going to be a feature throughout his path through the system. At least he’s still catching!

You won’t see his name on the prospect lists, but this kinda lumbering DH for the Charlotte Knights put a charge into one Thursday night.

5. Robin Ventura is sounding awfully smug these days about his team’s relative turnaround. Scott Merkin wrote:

“When manager Robin Ventura was asked postgame if he could see this run coming, he replied, ‘Of course.’

‘You’re seeing some guys grind through some stuff. The pitching’s been great. Offensively, we’ve been getting it,’ he said. ‘Everybody seems to be contributing in one way or another, and it’s nice. We’re playing better baseball, it’s that simple. We’re playing all-around better baseball.'”

Plenty of managers can boast leading their teams to great seasons, but only Ventura can stake claim to overseeing a hot and focused start, a horrifying collapse, and a mild recovery to mediocrity. The Sox have six-straight games on tap against last-place teams, so they could very easily push their series victory streak to seven without another inexplicable dive into total incompetence, which, of course, is always on the menu.

Lead Image Credit: Mike Dinovo // USA Today Sports Images

Peace and safety to everyone.

But it’s the fear part I can’t seem to get past right now.

Anderson’ ascension to the majors is the most important move the White Sox will make this season. Not necessarily for the present of the franchise — despite this being a win-now move — but for the future. In a system barren of any positional talent, a common predicament dating back to the Bill Clinton administration, Anderson stands alone. He’s the only guy within a mile of being a major league contributor, let alone a star.

But he’s not important because he’s the only one. He’s a legit prospect, ranked in the Top 50 on most prospect lists — No. 19 on BP’s Top 101. He’s the most highly regarded White Sox positional prospect since Gordon Beckham.

Maybe that’s the reason for the fear. By now, we all know the list of White Sox prospect flame-outs, but Beckham was the most recent and most high profile. It seems just yesterday he was getting Chase Utley comps while putting together a .270/.347/.460 line during his debut half-season in 2009.

But comparing Anderson to Beckham, or any prospect of White Sox past, is unfair. Not all prospects are created equal. Beckham had 344 minor league plate appearances total before the White Sox called him up, and only 28 at Triple-A. Anderson has been in the system since 2013 and has 1,471 plate appearances to his name. Not all prospects are created equal.

It may be hyperbolic to say Anderson failing would set the organization back exponentially, but right now it really feels apt. The White Sox don’t spend on free agents in a significant way, and aside from the recently drafted Zack Collins, nobody else moves the needle, so being able to reverse their trend of failure with positional prospects is essential if the White Sox want to become a consistently great organization. You know, one that doesn’t have to plug holes with veteran castoffs.

Anderson is the first significant positional prospect to come to the majors in seven years. He’s the most important position player in the organization, and him being able to lock down a position for the next several years — whether it’s shortstop or center field — would go a long way toward reversing that trend.

I didn’t think it’d come this soon. I thought he’d spend the entire season at Triple-A Charlotte, but 256 plate appearances will have to be enough. The White Sox have a hole to fill and they believe Anderson is ready. They’ve been wrong before. They can’t be wrong again.

Simply put, Anderson has to pay off. The White Sox cannot afford for him to not.

Lead Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

*For reference, Gordon Beckham has a career TAv of .245.

You can deduce the rest of the team’s performance to date from there rather easily.  They are 10-6, their offense is the worst in the majors.  Their defense and pitching have probably been very good.  The White Sox are tied for 5th in the majors with a cFIP of 95* and, if nothing else, PADE thinks they have been the 2nd best defensive team in either league so far.  Jose Quintana has been excellent again thus far, and as always seems to be the case, the team will go as far as their offense takes them.  If they can muster 3-4 runs, they have an excellent shot, and they should really do that against the Rangers.  But, that doesn’t mean they will.

*Freddy Garcia had a career cFIP of 96.

Quintana doesn’t have an easy task ahead of him, however, as the Rangers have been a Top 10 offense so far this season, which makes sense given that phenom Nomar Mazara has hit the ground running, Adrian Beltre is having a classic Beltre season, and Mitch Moreland is beginning to make a case that last year’s step forward had something real behind it.

White Sox Lineup:

1. Adam Eaton – RF
2. Austin Jackson – CF
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Brett Lawrie – 2B
7. Jerry Sands – DH
8. Dioner Navarro – C
9. Tyler Saladino – SS

Rangers Lineup:

1. Delino DeShields – CF
2. Elvis Andrus – SS
3. Prince Fielder – DH
4. Adrian Beltre – 3B
5. Ian Desmond – LF
6. Mitch Moreland – 1B
7. Ryan Rua – RF
8. Rougned Odor – 2B
9. Bryan Holaday – C

Lead Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo – USA Today Sports Images

But that’s all supposed to change in 2016. White Sox fans have whispered of the many additions the organization has made this offseason, with Rick Hahn proudly proclaiming that he feels the team he’s worked to construct is better than the one which garnered all the hype last Winter.

For most, the key additions made were those of “legitimate” second and third basemen, Brett Lawrie and Todd Frazier, during December’s Winter Meetings in Nashville.

Per Baseball Prospectus’ projection system, PECOTA, Lawrie and Frazier are slated to produce a total of 4.3 WARP at their positions. Over the last 10 seasons, these two positions have only seen a collective total WARP higher than 4.1 twice, one year after the World Series was won (2006) and the last year in which the White Sox made the playoffs (2008).

This story is for those moments in 2016 when White Sox fans find themselves irrationally cursing at the sky, should Lawrie find himself in a slump or should Frazier not start off the regular season blasting home runs onto the concourse. This story is of what White Sox fans have endured during the last decade at these two positions. Warning: Proceed with caution, or a stiff drink.

Collecting a list of the players who have manned second and third base for the White Sox from during the last decade, I’ve added together the WARP that the two positions have produced. Since there were so many names, and some of the players appeared at other positions enough to skew the data, I have only added WARP numbers for players who posted at least ~200 plate appearances at the position listed into the final totals. Honorable mentions are not included in the final WARP total.

The End of the Road

Tadahito Iguchi, what was left of Joe Crede, and one good WARP season.

2006 – WARP Total: 4.1

Second Base: Tadahito Iguchi

Third Base: Joe Crede

All was well, and the good times continued to roll for the World Series winning second and third base tandem. Crede posted an impressive 3.5 WARP at third base and Iguchi continued to stay afloat with his solid bat, but his shoddy defense would be the culprit of a 0.6 WARP. Hey, if it works sufficiently enough don’t fix it, right? That is, until it needs fixing…

2007 – WARP Total: 1.8

Second Base: Tadahito Iguchi, Danny Richar

Third Base: Josh Fields

Honorable mentions: Joe Crede, Andy Gonzalez, Alex Cintron, Pablo Ozuna

Trading away Tadahito Iguchi at the deadline, the White Sox sent Danny Richar out to man second base for the remainder of the season. Richar was acquired in a mid-June trade, and amassed 206 plate appearances at second base in 56 games. However, his performance there was poor enough to earn him a -0.4 WAR. Joe Crede’s recurring back ailment began to overtake him, leaving Josh Fields as the starting third basemen for the majority of the season. Fields held his own posting a WARP of 1.4 in 418 plate appearances, but the White Sox would eventually see Crede return in 2008…

2008 – WARP Total: 5.0

Second Base: Alexei Ramirez

Honorable mention: Juan Uribe

Third Base: Joe Crede

Honorable mentions: Juan Uribe, Pablo Ozuna

Alexei Ramirez starting the bulk of 136 games at second base? Yes, if you’re like me, you forgot that happened. The good news in that is that Ramirez produced a 1.8 WARP at the position, while Joe Crede revived himself from his back issues long enough to post 97 games at third base and a 2.0 WARP. The real hero of 2008, though? Juan Uribe, who filled in the majority of the games remaining at both second and third. Despite these positions looking somewhat botched to the naked eye, the production delivered in 2008 — and the gang even made it to October.

The Gordon Beckham Era

The White Sox just didn’t know how to quit him.

2009 – WARP Total: 3.8

Second Base: Chris Getz

Honorable mentions: Jayson Nix, Brent Lillibridge

Third Base: Gordon Beckham

Honorable mention: Josh Fields

Alexei Ramirez officially became the team’s full time shortstop in 2009 after the departure of Juan Uribe, leaving the second base duties to Chris Getz. Getz split time at the position with Jayson Nix and Brent Lillibridge, two more fresh faces attempting to hold together the ever-changing landscape of White Sox middle infielders. With the departure of Crede in the offseason, as his back would no longer allow him to play the game effectively, the White Sox ushered in the era of Gordon Beckham. It looked promising, with Beckham posting a 2.5 WARP at the position in his initial season, but unfortunately, he would never post even one full WARP again.

2010 – WARP Total: 0.5

Second Base: Gordon Beckham

Honorable mention: Brent Lillibridge

Third Base: Omar Vizquel

Honorable mentions: Mark Teahen, Dayan Viciedo, Brent Morel, Jayson Nix

This was quite a low point. Robbing Peter to pay Paul in the form of infielders, Gordon Beckham moved from the hot corner to second base, and the hole that Crede’s departure left at third was becoming harder to ignore. Omar Vizquel and a misfit crew were sent out fill the crater that was forming, and it wasn’t pretty. Vizquel posted a -0.3 WARP at the position, while Beckham wasn’t doing so well himself at second, posting just a 0.8 WARP on the season.

2011 - WARP Total: 1.2

Second Base: Gordon Beckham

Third Base: Brent Morel

Honorable mention: Mark Teahen

Gordon Beckham manned second base for 150 games, and still couldn’t manage higher than a 0.8 WARP at the position. Brent Morel took the brunt of the work at third base, with the help of Mark Teahen, but only posted a 0.4 WARP. There was a consistent churn of bodies on the bases, but hardly any who carried out the task at hand in earnest. The bleeding would be stopped at the very end 2011 by a Morel hot streak, but the wounds still needed attention.

2012 – WARP Total: 1.7

Second Base: Gordon Beckham

Third Base: Kevin Youkilis

Honorable mentions: Brent Morel, Orlando Hudson

Kevin Youkilis was brought in an attempt to help rectify the issue at third and chalked up 344 plate appearances at the position during his age 33 and final full season in the majors. He posted an impressive 1.2 WARP during the 80 games he played on the South side, and the White Sox could breathe for yet another moment. Meanwhile, in 151 games, Gordon Beckham’s production slipped even lower to just 0.5 WARP on the season.

2013 - WARP Total: 2.4

Second Base: Gordon Beckham

Honorable mention: Jeff Keppinger, Tyler Greene, Leury Garcia

Third Base: Conor Gillaspie

Honorable mention: Marcus Semien, Jeff Keppinger

Perhaps some of the poorest memories White Sox fans may have in recent years are those of the Gordon Beckham and Conor Gillaspie tandem, and this is where that story begins. Gillaspie posted a 1.6 WARP in his first season at third base, didn’t smile once (I can’t prove that, but I know in my heart it’s true), and hit just .159 against lefties. Meanwhile at second base, Beckham improved from his 2012 production, bringing his WARP total on the season back to 0.8. This would also be the lone year of Jeff Keppinger, who amassed 84 games between second and third base in 2013. He was released by the White Sox in 2014 and has not played major league baseball since.

The Reign of Conor Gillespie

The White Sox tried to harvest their own young talent, but it wasn’t truly the answer. Neither was Gillespie.

2014 – WARP Total: 2.0

Second Base: Gordon Beckham

Honorable mentions: Carlos Sanchez, Marcus Semien, Leury Garcia

Third Base: Conor Gillaspie

Honorable mention: Marcus Semien

The Gillaspie and Beckham brigade proved viable yet unspectacular for another season on the White Sox diamond. However, the band broke up when Gordon Beckham was sent to the Los Angeles Angels in late August, paving the way for Carlos Sanchez, who would finish out the remainder of the season at second base. Conor Gillaspie continued to hit poorly against lefties, never smile, and generally bring an air of third base-related existential dread to White Sox fans and probably himself, too.

2015 - WARP Total 0.9

Second Base: Carlos Sanchez

Honorable mention: Micah Johnson

Third Base: Gordon Beckham, Tyler Saladino

Honorable mention: Conor Gillaspie

Sure enough, the White Sox felt they couldn’t live without Gordon Beckham, and he rejoined the team as a free agent  in the offseason of 2015. The White Sox brought back the middle infielder to play third, for reasons we can assume include “Well, he’s not as bad as Gillaspie”, who was relegated to a bench role. Beckham would split time with newcomer Tyler Saladino, who posted a 0.2 WARP in his 68 games at third base. Second base duties were handed over to Carlos Sanchez after a short stint with youngster Micah Johnson to start off April, and Sanchez managed to post a 0.8 WARP in his first full season in the majors. This was still not a long term, viable solution.

Epilogue

Many of the players that made the list of men who contributed to the White Sox infield are either retired or out of baseball, and often made their way out shortly after their stints with the South siders ended. In 2015, the White Sox front office would pull a “Gordon Beckham” on Conor Gillaspie and have his contract sold to the Los Angeles Angeles in late July. Gillaspie then signed as a free agent in the offseason with the San Francisco Giants, and finally smiled in his team photo. Beckham was granted free agency by the White Sox after the 2015 season ended and signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Braves. With the White Sox having moved on at both positions — this is likely to be the end of the Beckham/Gillaspie saga for the White Sox.

It’s been a rough journey over the past decade, one with middling talents, and a glut of temporary fixes. But with PECOTA projecting Frazier and Lawrie to post some of the highest combined WARP totals for these positions that the White Sox have seen in years, perhaps this is the tourniquet the White Sox needed to help solidify their legitimacy for a playoff run.

So the next time you look to the White Sox infield and you see these two new established starters with fairly decent track records take their spots on the diamond, remember what the last decade has been like for these two positions. Look back on this article, keep it bookmarked for reference, but remember that the future of these positions looks more promising for 2016 than it has in a very long time.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports