Given the White Sox’ new priorities, the future holds much more interest than the present, and to that end, the White Sox may be positioned very nicely. With just two trades, the farm system has leapt into the top third in the majors, with still more pieces to sell. So, instead, perhaps it makes sense to make some forecasts about what the AL Central might look like when the White Sox are actually good again. First up, the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers are suffering from the after effects of wringing every last drop of contention out of their aging core for a long, long time. Grabbing Michael Fulmer for the tail end of Yoenis Cespedes in a down year was a neat trick, and Justin Verlander has corrected course after looking like he might crater two years ago. But Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez are rapidly approaching 40 and free agency, respectively, and unfortunately for Detroit they can’t DH them both. And while historically the Tigers would paper over their lack of any prospects at all with a fire hose of cash, they had already decided to scale back on spending even before the recent death of owner Mike Ilitch.

So now they are left with the money they have already spent and the very old roster they have already assembled, and a still-empty farm.  Their top prospect was in high school last year and projects as a mid-rotation starter, and the system gets less and less inspiring from there.  Even if the White Sox execute a very speedy rebuild and try to contend again by 2018 or 2019, it’s hard to see what the Tigers will have on hand to stand in their way.  Miguel Cabrera will be 35 or 36-years-old by that time, and even solid younger players like Jose Iglesias will be free agents by that time.

Indeed, the way for the Tigers to inject talent back into the ranks would be to trade away players like Verlander, but frankly, the star players they have are all owed so much money that they are unlikely to fetch the returns that Chris Sale or Adam Eaton did.

It would appear that Detroit will be able to muster up one or possibly two more years of making a run at it with this present group, but they are clearly on the wane, and the White Sox have a big head start on the next upswing.

Lead Photo Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Sale was mostly dominant in recording his first double-digit strikeout performance of the season, putting away a number of hitters with high fastballs and nasty, wipeout sliders. He struck out 10 in a complete-game effort, walked one and allowed just two earned runs, but in the eighth inning, a 94-mph fastball center-cut to J.D. Martinez — the first pitch Martinez saw since June 16 after being activated from the disabled list — was deposited into the stands for the deciding run of the game.

The White Sox offense couldn’t provide support, offering only a Justin Morneau solo home run to back Sale. It was Morneau’s third home run with the Sox, with two of them coming off Detroit rookie Michael Fulmer, who was backed by both his defense and the BABIP Gods in allowing just the one earned run in 6.2 inning.

The White Sox got the leadoff man on base in the first, second and fourth innings, only to have him erased by a double play on each occasion. Fulmer left in the seventh after giving up the homer and following that up with a walk to Todd Frazier and hitting Avisail Garcia twice (the first was ruled to have hit the bat and was upheld on challenge). Shane Greene entered with two outs and struck out Dioner Navarro to end the threat.

The Sox, again, threatened in the ninth off Francisco Rodriguez when Melky Cabrera led off with an infield single thanks to a lazy throw by defensive replacement Andrew Romine at third base, and Jose Abreu walked. But after a Morneau sacrifice fly advanced Cabrera to third with one out, Frazier struck out, Garcia walked to load the bases and Navarro grounded out to end another threat and another loss.

Sale’s only other blemish came in the fourth inning when Miguel Cabrera and Nick Castellanos sandwiched doubles around a Victor Martinez walk. He escaped further damage when Mike Aviles fouled out to Abreu, who threw out Martinez trying to tag at home. Also noteworthy was the fact that Martinez — who destroyed Sale to the tune of a 18-for-36 with four homers in their careers entering the night — was held hitless.

Team record: 51-56

Next game: 12:10 p.m. CT Thursday against Detroit on CSN-Chicago

Lead Image Credit: Rick Osentoski // USA Today Sports Images