Tyler Clippard — Clippard served as the awkward throw-in of one of the White Sox’ biggest trades this season. He was sent to Chicago along with three prospects, which made him a very certain outlier. At first blush it seemed like he was included to merely cover innings for a team that was trading away two of their best relievers at once. When he was traded to the Astros almost exactly a month later, it was clear his inclusion in the inital trade was merely to balance out salaries. It’s hard to say whether the team planned to flip him all along or his strong performance (10 IP, 2 ER) ignited interest from other teams. Regardless of the why, Clippard was in a White Sox uniform for merely an uninteresting month of the season.

Todd Frazier — Frazier was one of the many White Sox players belonging to the group of last ditch players from the era of the team piecing things together in hopes of finding something that worked. He spent a season and a half with the team, showing power in 2016 and nothing of great significance in 2017. The team was forced to package him with two strong relievers to get a team to bite, and he went on to find a leadership role with a Yankees team that was just one win away from the AL pennant.

Miguel Gonzalez — One of the big stories of the 2015 season was the massive failure of the Jeff Samardzija acquisition. There was absolutely no chemistry between Don Cooper and Samardzija, causing concerns about Cooper to ripple through the White Sox fanbase and baseball world. If it’s even fair to say there was a revival of Cooper’s reputation, it came in 2016 when Gonzalez went from throwaway player on the Orioles to one of the White Sox best pitchers. The 2017 was much rockier for Gonzalez, who battled injuries in the early part of the season. His 4.62 ERA on the season certainly wasn’t great, but he was effective while in Chicago. He weaved his way through hard contact left and right to make himself a trade asset in August, which helped the White Sox gain even more young talent in quantity even if not in quality.

Derek Holland — Holland always seemed like a great fit for the 2017 White Sox. He was a free agent whose price tag was greatly reduced by injury concerns, but if he was healthy he could easily provide a multitude of innings at at least a passable quality. That was a perfect fit for a team in the very early stages of rebuilding, and if the team got lucky he could have been a trade target by July. Instead things went horribly wrong, and Holland was cut from the roster before the season ended. His 6.20 ERA and 4.6 percent strikeout minus walk rate was not a site to behold, and as the summer came to an end his starts seemed to get worse and worse. The pitcher who appeared to be a solid signing with plenty of potential turned out to be a dud.

Dan Jennings — Jennings appeared in 77 games this season, which was good enough to put him tied for third in all of baseball among relievers. Perhaps it was the frequency with which Jennings was used that caused the Rays to show interest at the deadline. At the time they were certainly contenders for at least a Wild Card spot, if not within reach of the division title. With limited resources financially and within their system, they were forced to go bargain shopping. It’s hard to say why or how they landed on Jennings, but the fact remains that he was the guy they wanted. The White Sox were happy to oblige as they handed out bullpen arms like candy on Halloween throughout the months of July and August, and in return got Casey Gillaspie, a prospect who is flawed but interesting enough to more than justify the trade.

Tommy Kahnle — Kahnle and his morbidly huge thighs stepped out of nowhere and into our world in 2017. Before this season he was merely a fireballer who couldn’t find the strike zone, hardly a rare breed in this day and age of baseball. All it took for him to take off, as is the case for so many relievers, was a bit of command. He was able to establish the fastball early in counts and blow hitters away with his devastating changeup. The White Sox could have held out to squeeze more value from what seemed to be a very good reliever, but the general principle of selling high on relievers whenever you can is a good one. Kahnle went on to be a crucial part of the powerful Yankees bullpen, making strong and important appearances in a multitude of postseason games.

David Robertson — Robertson, like Frazier, was part of the team’s last ditch effort at contention over the last couple seasons. With contention out of the picture and Robertson still a valuable bullpen arm with a large salary commitment through 2018, the White Sox decided it was time to part with him. His value was neither at an all-time high nor all-time low, but when he was packaged with Kahnle and Frazier the return was at the very least a couple players of interest.

Anthony Swarzak — During most seasons you would be hard-pressed to find a reliever that came more out of nowhere to find success than Kahnle. However, in 2017 Swarzak did exactly that. The White Sox gave him a minor league deal, converted him to the bullpen and saw immediate success. He started the season on fire and finished with a 2.33 ERA and 30 percent strikeout rate. With Swarzak only signed on for the single season, it was an even easier decision to send him away to a contender. He landed in Milwaukee, where the Brewers were trying to keep themselves in the playoff race.

Jose Quintana — The most inevitable trade of the season was one involving Quintana. It was a shock, however, to see him sent to the other side of town. Despite struggling in the early parts of the season, he rebounded enough to convince teams that confidence in his past performance was enough to warrant sending prospects to the South Side. His departure was the saddest of the season from a rooting standpoint, but it sent the most exciting prospects the other way. Suddenly a White Sox system that still seemed arm-heavy had one of the best hitting prospects in baseball along with another high-ceiling pitcher. Seeing Quintana go after so many years of improbable success was unfortunate, but it was a huge step in the right direction for the White Sox rebuilding efforts.

Lead Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

2. The White Sox pitching staff has, predictably, become much worse since the departures of Quintana, Robertson, and Tommy Kahnle. Those three were arguably the best three pitchers on the roster, so it’s natural that their departure would have lasting impacts on the team they left behind. Quintana has only been gone from the team for 10 days now, but since his departure the longest outing by a White Sox starter has been six innings. Miguel Gonzalez has done it once, and James Shields has done it once.

Things are bound to get even uglier when fatigue sets in for both the rotation and the bullpen. Gonzalez has been unimpressive, Shields has shown flashes of his poor 2016 self, and Carlos Rodon has battled control issues since arriving back in Chicago. That’s going to be taxing for the bullpen, which just lost two of the relievers they leaned on the heaviest. Robertson and Kahnle threw more pitches for the White Sox than everyone but Chris Beck, Anthony Swarzak, and Dan Jennings. Tyler Clippard was supposed to alleviate some of that burden, but he’s thrown just one-third of an inning in two games while allowing three hits and an earned run. The team will have to get creative with how they handle the remainder of the innings needed in 2017 while keeping in mind that they don’t want to burn any of the young arms.

3. One young arm that could be on his way to Chicago in the near future is Reynaldo Lopez. While his future as a starter still hangs in the balance, he’s already shown an ability to make some starts at the big league level (with Washington in 2016) and is having a fine season in Charlotte. In his last nine starts, he’s posted an ERA of 3.23, which includes one stinker of a game where he allowed six earned runs and four walks. In those last nine starts he’s walked more than two batters just that one time while striking out six or more five times, including two different outings with double digit strikeouts. He’s looked really good, which should be a sign that the White Sox are ready to give him the call. They’re right to be patient, of course, but he seems like a pitcher that is ready to make that next step. It may not be before his next start, but it seems like his time in Charlotte is coming to a close.

4. Another prospect who has been lighting it up as of late is newly acquired Eloy Jimenez. On Sunday he went 5-for-6 with two doubles and a home run. He’s had just 31 at-bats with the Dash, but he’s managed to hit seven extra base hits. His 19.7 percent strikeout rate this season indicates that he’s not whiffing or getting fooled all that often. In fact, his 10.8 percent walk rate seems to point toward some excellent discipline at the plate. This is all scouting the stat line, of course, but it’s certainly not a bad thing to see a top 10 prospect getting the desired results. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before he departs the crowded outfield of Winston-Salem for the bright, shiny Double-A ballpark in Birmingham.

5. Zack Collins is a prospect with less desirable results than Lopez or Jimenez. Despite being drafted as a bat-first prospect, Collins has stalled in High-A, a level that a player his age should have no problem with. There is of course the notion that catching prospects develop at different paces with different parts of their game taking a back seat at different times, which the lovely James Fegan mentioned in his excellent article about Collins. Even being generous towards Collins in that regard, the failure to hit at such a low level is a concern. If he’s unable to put things together the White Sox could have a failed pick at the top of the draft on their hands. The good news, however, is that the team has built enough prospect depth to withstand such a thing. It is also far too early to give up on a player like Collins, but the clock keeps ticking and he does keep getting older with each passing second. The concern is there, but the alarm bells aren’t quite ringing yet.

Lead Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA Today Sports Images

Hershkovich: With Jimenez, Flete and Rose facing the Winston-Salem Dash, the White Sox’s High A affiliate, they just needed to switch clubhouses the day of the trade. What was their initial reaction?

Kornberg: The players had a feeling it was going to happen. Jimenez had been held out of batting practice, Rose hadn’t played in a few days and Flete the same thing. Rose is from America, so he kind of understood that it’s a business, and he had a shot in the White Sox organization, as opposed to the Cubs’, who are loaded with prospects. Plus, since he grew up and played college baseball in the south, he knew some of the players in the organization.

Flete was saying how he didn’t know anybody, but he recognized the Cubs have a really good second baseman (David Bote) in Double-A, along with Baez in the majors. He also knew that he was raking in the minors and thought maybe the Sox aren’t as stacked in the middle infield. For Jimenez, he came to the Cubs over a few good offers when he was 16 years old. He took it the hardest of the three because he really wanted to be a part of the organization. He signed because his favorite players growing up were Moises Alou and Sammy Sosa, growing up watching the team in the Dominican. But after meeting some of his new coaches and teammates, it has sort of eased his anxiety a little bit.

Hershkovich: How has Jimenez developed in the outfield this season, and where does he need to still improve?

Kornberg: His plate discipline really improved; he doubled his walk rate this year (5.4 percent to 10.3 percent). At the beginning, pitchers in the Carolina League were afraid to throw to him because he utterly destroyed everyone. He rarely got a first pitch fastball. Instead, he’d get 3-1 or 2-0 breaking balls. The Pelicans wanted to see if he was going to start chasing pitches because of it, but he took his walks. They wanted to see a bit more of a consistent approach at the plate because of late, he started to swing at those breaking balls with the offense not scoring runs. But he literally knocked out two stadium lights in batting practice, and he even hit a home run left-handed. The Cubs had to really talk themselves into trading him.

Hershkovich: Jimenez has been described as a hitter first, outfielder second. Where is his game at defensively?

Kornberg: I don’t think he’s a terrible defender; he’s a huge guy (6-foot-4, 205 lbs.), moves really well and covers a lot of ground in the outfield. We saw him make a lot of good plays, especially moving to his left. The one weakness he would probably have is his arm. He’s not going to be Jason Heyward or Albert Almora, but he has some pretty good range for a guy who can hit, and I think he can be an average defender.

Hershkovich: Which former or present major leaguer would you compare him to?

Kornberg: I really think that he has a chance to be a superstar in the major leagues and can hit 40 homers consistently. His dad was a teacher, so he’s a smart kid and a leader. A lot of Pelicans’ coaches thought he could be a higher-ceiling Jorge Soler were Soler have been able to avoid his many injuries. He’s similar to Jermaine Dye too but could be even better.

Hershkovich: What should fans expect from Flete?

Kornberg: He’s an interesting story because he grew up a right-handed batter and played in the Little League World Series with Venezuela. He eventually took up switch hitting when he was growing up, but his first year in the Cubs’ organization, they made him a strict left-handed hitter. Over the last year-plus, he started to figure out how to face a lefty on the mound because you’re normally used to seeing that from the right side. Initially, he was a slappy kind of hitter, but after that adjustment, he also started to pull the ball with a little more authority and hit with power into the gaps. He’s a little second baseman (5-10, 146 pounds), but that swing change was the big thing that made him appealing to the White Sox. He’s not a plus-defender at second base, but maybe he’s a utility guy that can play a little at second, third, or short. He’ll need to continue to develop his range.

Hershkovich: How about the ceiling for Rose?

Kornberg: He was a guy who had an awful first half last year with an OPS of about .500. The Cubs really worked with him on balance (at the plate), and that led to a huge second half with South Bend, the team’s Low-A club, and it carried over this year. He hits for a lot of power and is tied for a league-best 14 home runs this season. He’s also a guy that they wanted to see walk more with his OBP at .281. But right-handed power is at a premium right now, and he has clearly shown he can make adjustments to his game. He’ll need to improve his eye at the plate since he has a tendency to strikeout.

Lead Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-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

We reacted Thursday to the deal that sent Jose Quintana to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, and two lesser prospects. Ryan Schultz gave his instant reaction to the deal and the return (it seems pretty cool), while Nick Schaefer and I discussed the trade at length — as well as a good number of other subjects — on a special episode of The Catbird Speaks.

There is and will continue to be plenty to dissect about this trade in the weeks, months, and hell even years to come. But setting all the analysis aside for a second, I wanted to take a second to look back on Quintana’s White Sox career.

Last September after he made his last start of the 2016 season, I wrote about how easy it is to appreciate Quintana, where he came from, and what he’s become. You know by now that the White Sox snagged him as a minor league free agent, thrown to the curb by the Yankees and the Mets before that for both baseball and non-baseball reasons.

Even as he began his ascent to the top of the White Sox rotation, it was worth wondering how this was happening. He seemed to be out-pitching his peripherals in both his abbreviated debut in 2012 and his first full season in 2013. Surely, he was going to fall back to earth. Another pitcher with some fleeting success we’d all forget in a year or two.

The following offseason the White Sox were in search of offensive help and had two young lefties coming off of surprisingly successful seasons in Quintana and Hector Santiago. Rick Hahn, though, was reportedly adamant about not including Quintana in trade discussions, and the White Sox wound up hanging onto him while dealing Santiago to the Los Angeles Angels in a deal that netted them Adam Eaton.

The rest, as they say, is history.

What the White Sox saw in Quintana became apparent soon thereafter, if it wasn’t already before. His performance improved in each of the next three seasons and he settled in comfortably as the No. 2 starter behind ace Chris Sale on teams that had their eyes on contention. The contention part never happened, of course, and that’s what got us to where we are today.

But during Quintana’s ~6 seasons in Chicago, he became a steadying presence during otherwise catastrophic seasons. Whether it was because of the presence of Sale, his conservative demeanor, or his terrible luck in the W-L department, he also flew under the radar to a sometimes laughable degree.

But that’s also what made him so easy to root for. It was like he was White Sox fans’ well kept secret. Any time a national outlet would post one of those articles — Jose Quintana is the most underrated pitcher in baseball — we’d snicker to ourselves. WE knew how good he was. WE always knew. We were like Quintana hipsters. We’d been listening to him since he was on vinyl. You should really go back and check out some of his early stuff before he signed with a major label.

Another factor, I think, was that his stuff was as subtle as his personality. Sale climbed up on the mound and scowled while blowing high-90s heat and wipeout sliders past helpless hitters. Quintana didn’t quite rock them to sleep, but it was at least something more subdued and difficult to pinpoint. Josh Donaldson’s comments after a vintage Quintana outing against the Blue Jays in April 2016 — 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K — was like music to our ears.

“I think some people need to evaluate their approach,” Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson said. “Chris Sale is Chris Sale, but we have a lot of big-time right-handed bats in this lineup that should be able to handle Quintana. He’s had a good start to the season so far, but it looked to me like he was throwing a lot of heaters, and I don’t believe there’s anybody who should be able to come through here and throw a lot of fastballs and have the kind of success he had against us.”

Just another rendition of the classics with Jose Quintana.

Quintana’s departure was inevitable, whether it was this summer, later on during the offseason, or maybe even next year. And as we’ve repeated time and time again, it’s unfortunate the White Sox have gotten to the point where trading a pitcher of his caliber is seen as a benefit to the organization.

But for six years we got to watch his emergence from obscurity to stardom. And we’ll always have that show to look back on — you know, the one at the dimly lit bar that smelled like cigarettes and cheap beer — and say WE remember watching Quintana before he was cool.

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today Sports Images

Among the topics:

-The trade market for Quintana, why they didn’t trade him earlier, and why they said yes this time around.

-What the additions of Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease bring to the White Sox.

-The state of the White Sox farm system post-trade.

-Randomly, the 2008 Futures Game, famous prospect busts, and how far the White Sox farm system has come in such a short time.

-What Jose Quintana has meant to the White Sox from a fan’s perspective.

-What this means in terms of other White Sox trades that could be coming down the road.

Be sure to read Ryan Schultz’s quick take on the Quintana trade at BPSouthside.com. You can also read Nick Schaefer’s Wednesday chat at BaseballProspectus.com, and several members of our staff participated in BP’s Top 50 Prospect Busts list. Also be sure to head over to BPWrigleyville.com for perspective on the trade from the Cubs’ point of view. And finally, check out the official Transaction Analysis at BP, as well.

Follow Collin on Twitter @cowhitchurch and Nick @Nick_BPSS. Follow @BPSouthSide for constant updates.

Then Spring Training rolled around, and the ridicule began. He hadn’t traded Jose Quintana yet. Some said he was too stubborn, holding on to his valuable asset for too long rather than completing the fire sale in just three short months. The talk got worse when Quintana struggled out of the gate. Surely they would never get the same value after such a horrendous drop-off in results. How silly those people were to doubt Rick Hahn.

In a shocking move, the White Sox have sent Quintana to the Cubs for Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose, and Bryant Flete. While Quintana will be dearly missed, it’s a huge win for the White Sox. In no way does that mean the Cubs lost, but the White Sox got exactly what they needed. Jimenez was just ranked the eighth best prospect in baseball by our BP Prospect Team. He’s up there because, despite playing in a corner outfield position, his bat is ridiculous. He’s got pop, but he’s managed to keep his strikeout rate at a reasonable level. This year he’s striking out just 20.1 percent of the time in High-A while walking 10.3 percent.

Cease is the other major name in the deal. Cease is best known for being the Cubs best pitching prospect. Well, was best known. In an eyewitness report from this May, each of his four pitches were given an average grade or better. His fastball can reach 96, and it sits in the mid-90’s. He’s got a ways to go, but he’s been striking out batters in Low-A at a 34.7 percent clip. The walk rate of 12.2 percent is a bit of a concern, but it’s no different from a good majority of pitching prospects, especially ones in the White Sox system. Add a little command, and they’ll be well on their way. Cease is considered to have a good chance to start, but that would depend on him adding command and gaining feel for the secondary stuff.

The other two names in the trade are lesser ones. Rose is a first baseman who has hit for some power this season, and Flete is a second baseman who has been OK. Those guys matter less than the two big names, but Rose seems like someone that could gain some steam if things break right. Otherwise, they’ll be the soon forgotten names from a blockbuster trade.

The White Sox now have seven of the top 50 prospects in baseball, including two in the top 10. They hold the number 1, 8, 25, 31, and 42nd best prospects globally. Those players alone would make a tremendous farm system. However, that doesn’t even include names like Zack Collins, Reynaldo Lopez, Luis Robert, Jake Burger, and newly acquired Cease who could all see themselves among the top 101 in baseball before next season. What the front office, and Hahn in particular, has done to rejuvenate this farm system in such a short period of time is nothing short of incredible.

Quintana and Sale are players who are and will be missed dearly. They were the power duo at the top of a rotation that always seemed to put the White Sox just a few steps from contention. Even better, they were mostly homegrown talents that pushed aside the horrible memories of prospects past. What Hahn has been able to turn them into, however, has provided the team with depth better than I’ve ever seen. Over the past five to ten years, looking at even a White Sox top ten prospects list was more frightening than the Babadook. Now they have a system with at least 15 interesting prospects, if not 20 or more. Some of these players will fail, surely, but the White Sox have put themselves in a good position to succeed. Hahn deserves a ton of praise for the trades he’s manufactured; it has put the team in position to compete for many years to come. Goodbye Quintana, you will be missed. Hello Jimenez et. al.

Lead Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The expectations for Rodon should be tempered. He’s had a wildly untraditional start to the season, which could naturally have an effect on his performance. With the first two seasons of his career being tumultuous it would be silly to expect him to immediately step into a top of the rotation role. The best thing Rodon can provide right now is innings. As Collin Whitchurch noted last week, the White Sox have been incredibly poor at getting starters to stretch beyond the fifth inning. If Rodon can simply do that while attempting to hone command for the first time in his career, the White Sox pitching staff will breathe a much needed sigh of relief and perhaps not have their arms all fall off.

2. The White Sox defense has somewhat notably been good in some aspects while failing at others. A couple weeks ago they led the league in BABIP allowed. They have since fallen all the way to tied for third with a .283 average on those balls in play. Some of that is sneaky good talent, but it’s probably mostly do to the White Sox tendency to shift. They’re fourth in the league in batters faced with any sort of shift on.

An area of the defense that hasn’t been discussed is how often the outfielders have thrown out baserunners. The White Sox outfield ranks third in baseball in outfield assists. While Avisail Garcia was lauded for his arm as a prospect and continues to have that reputation and Melky Cabrera is sneakily good in the area, it’s a bit surprising that this particular White Sox defense would excel in outfield assists. A lot goes into throwing a runner out, of course. It depends on the runner’s aggression, where the ball is hit, the speed of the runner, and the game situation. Those are a lot of unpredictable variables. What is known is that the White Sox have been good at it, which has certainly helped prevent runs for a defense that looked shaky entering the season.

3. The White Sox addition of Alen Hanson was a typical rebuilding team move. Hanson was at one point a Top 100 prospect who failed to live up to those expectations. A change of scenery has possibly affected his play in a positive direction. It’s a teeny tiny sample, but Hanson is hitting .333/.385/.423 with a home run. He’s managed to fit right into the top of the order despite his limited time in the big leagues as well. If he could remain even an average player at the plate, the White Sox will have found a nice diamond in the rough in just their first year rebuilding.

4. Jose Quintana‘s season has been heavily discussed because of his inadequacy along with the failure of the Chicago front office to move him before some sort of decline hit. What could erase all of that is an excellent second half of the season that reaffirms what most teams and fans already knew about Quintana: he’s good. His start on Thursday was a step in the right direction. He went nearly seven innings without giving up a single run. More importantly, he had nine strikeouts with no walks.

5. The AL East is highly competitive this season, because of course it is — it’s the AL East. One point of weakness among the teams at the top, mainly the Yankees and Red Sox, is a gaping whole at third base. Each of those two teams had a young option in their minor league system that could have been slotted in if needed. However, Gleyber Torres of the Yankees just tore his UCL and Rafael Devers of the Red Sox doesn’t appear to be ready for the promotion. That puts both teams in excellent position to make a trade for a rental at the hot corner.

It just so happens that the White Sox have one of those players. Todd Frazier hasn’t been overly impressive with his .209/.314/.418, 12 home run, and 93 wRC+ line. Necessity, combined with a limited number of options at the position, could be advantageous for Chicago. Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Nunez may provide equal or better options, but the White Sox should be able to unload Frazier for something. Jon Heyman, however, reported that Chicago would have to practically give him away to move him. If a bidding war arises in the AL East, though, the White Sox may be able to receive more value. They would likely have to be willing to pay a good portion of Frazier’s salary. What we know about the organization seems to hint that such a thing won’t happen, but they should ideally be willing to do so if it means they receive better young talent.

Lead photo credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Their run differential following Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in Minnesota is now zero, which is somehow second best in their division, and their Third Order Winning Percentage entering the day was .495. Put simply, the White Sox performance to date is more in line with approximately a .500 team.

That difference also only equates to about three wins, so we’re not saying the White Sox have been unlucky to a substantial degree, but this illustrates by larger point. The White Sox are somehow playing better than their record despite their staring pitching performing like utter trash.

First, the season stats: Entering play Wednesday, White Sox starters have thrown the third fewest innings in the American League, ahead of just Minnesota and Baltimore. Their 4.85 ERA is ahead of only the aforementioned pair and Seattle. Their HR/9 is tied for third worst with Seattle, ahead of only Minnesota and the LA Angels. They’re striking out batters at the fourth worst rate in the league, and they’re walking batters at the second highest rate in the league.

Using an arbitrary end point, in 18 games since the calendar turned to June, the White Sox have had only one starter go seven innings and only five times have they gone six innings. Starters have only lasted as much as five innings in half of those 18 games.

You get the point.

We knew coming into the season that the White Sox pitching depth was thin. The fact that as we approach the halfway point, the only starters who started the season with the team and have yet to spend time on the disabled list are Jose Quintana and Derek Holland — and neither have been particularly good — means we’ve seen a whole lot of Dylan Covey, David Holmberg, and Mike Pelfrey, hardly a trio that elicits a whole lot of confidence. What’s funny is that those three more or less held their own, relative to expectations, but Holland, Quintana, and Miguel Gonzalez have all been underwhelming.

2. Really, it’s been a credit to the White Sox bullpen that the White Sox are merely the second worst team in the American League and not on par with, say, the Philadelphia Phillies. They currently sport the fourth best ERA in the American League and sixth best K/9.

This, of course, is not sustainable, and Rick Renteria is well aware.

“These guys are trying to give us length,” manager Rick Renteria said. “It just hasn’t happened. I get it. I don’t anticipate that’s what’s going to continue to happen as we move forward. I don’t think anybody could sustain over a long haul using your starters for three or four innings. It’s impossible. You would wear out your arms in the pen. Today we were fortunate in that we just used two guys for quite a few innings and outs. … They did a very nice job. That type of work is unsustainable.”

One of the crazier aspects of the White Sox bullpen’s stellar performance is that it hasn’t come from the guys you would’ve expected coming into the season. David Robertson has been better than last season, but Nate Jones and Zach Putnam have both been injured for most of the season, while Tommy Kahnle could be an All-Star and Anthony Swarzak has been lights out for long stretches of the season. Likewise, they’ve gotten competent innings out of the likes of Chris Beck, which I never would’ve imagined coming into the season.

3. We worried at the start of the season that the White Sox pitching depth issues would lead to premature promotions for any of the heralded prospects. That, uh, hasn’t been a problem.

So that’s now 32 IP, 36 H, 27 ER, 23 BB, 16 K, 6 HR and a 7.59 ERA over Carson Fulmer’s last 7 starts

— James Fegan (@JRFegan) June 21, 2017

Once the White Sox acquired Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, Fulmer fell down the totem pole a bit in terms of pitching prospect upside, but the White Sox top arms taking longer than normal to look major league ready is at least worth keeping an eye on. The plus side of having no interest in winning is that their struggles simply mean they get more time at Triple-A to develop, while the downside is that, ya know, they’re struggling.

4. Tim Anderson committed his 16th error of the season in Wednesday’s loss, which is the highest total in baseball by any player at any position.

Errors don’t tell the whole story, of course, but FRAA has him at -2.1 on the season, which is 26th out of 35 qualified shortstops this season (although above bigger names like Jean Segura, Xander Bogaerts, and Brandon Crawford) and right in line with how they viewed him last year (he finished at -4.7 last year in a little more than half a season).

Anderson’s struggles are noticeable, but also given his athleticism and what we’ve seen from him when he’s at his best, they’re likely mental. I’d fathom a guess he’ll break out of his defensive funk sooner rather than later.

5. The White Sox announced the signing of first round pick Jake Burger on Wednesday to a signing bonus worth $3.7 million. They also reportedly came to terms with second round pick Gavin Sheets on an over-slot deal worth approximately $2 million.

They saved approximately $500K on signing Burger under-slot, and also reportedly got third round pick Luis Gonzalez to sign for $119K less than his slot, so some of those savings went to Sheets. It’s nice to see the White Sox avoid any type of draft pick signing drama, and all of their top picks should be reporting to short season ball soon enough.

For full coverage of White Sox draft pick signings, our friends at FutureSox are a great resource.

Lead Photo Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

1. Leury Garcia has been a pleasant surprise this season — I wrote about that in more detail a couple weeks ago — since that article was published he’s been able to retain his pace as one of the best center fielders in baseball. No, seriously he still has the fifth best wRC+ among center fielders (118). Not all news is good, though. He left the game on Sunday with soreness in his left hand after sliding through first base. Ignoring the fact that sliding into first base is idiotic and poor strategy 99 percent of the time, there is reason for concern over something being simply reported as soreness. You may recall that fellow excellent center fielder Mike Trout suffered a torn ligament in his thumb after sliding into a base. Initially that was reported as soreness as well. It appears nothing is broken, but there’s still an X-ray to be had and good reason to keep your eyes peeled for news about it.

2. The White Sox defense doesn’t appear to be an overly great one. They rank 14th out of 15 AL teams in fielding percentage. They have players like Tim Anderson who has failed to reach the defensive potential he showed a year ago along with a player like Avisail Garcia that never even flashed brilliance in the field. And yet, they somehow lead the league in BABIP allowed with .272. This is particularly odd because White Sox pitchers haven’t given up soft contact this season. Jose Quintana hasn’t been himself, Holland has been hit hard in almost every start, Miguel Gonzalez hasn’t shown the player he was last year, and the rest of the rotation is full of players the White Sox scraped together when James Shields and Carlos Rodon went down with injuries. I have absolutely no clue why the White Sox would be giving up such a low BABIP. Although, I suppose, it doesn’t raise a team’s BABIP if balls are sailing over the outfield fence.

3. Yoan Moncada was red hot before he was sent to the disabled list with a hand injury. So hot, in fact, that many were questioning the White Sox decision to keep him in the minor leagues. The White Sox argued that they believed he wasn’t quite ready for big league pitchers. Since his return from the disabled list he’s looked lost at the plate. Whether that is a lingering injury or pitchers adjusting remains to be seen. However, it is of note that over the last 30 days Moncada has been slashing .169/.301/.273, which after some simple math gives an ISO of .104 and OPS of just .574. Those numbers are certainly not worthy of a call-up to Chicago. They’re also not reason to be overly concerned. Moncada is just 22 years old and experiencing Triple-A for the first time in his professional career. If he doesn’t adjust back or fully recover from his injury in the next month or so then it may be time to worry, however unlikely that is to happen.

4. Quintana had another start over the weekend, which only complicated things further. It wasn’t a complete implosion like some of his previous starts, but it wasn’t good either. We have yet to see the Quintana we know and love this season for any stretch. He has a 5.30 ERA, but his strikeout rate is the best of his career. The problem has been something he’s hardly experienced in his career: lack of control. He’s walked 9.2 percent of batters this season, which is also a career high. His DRA of 4.12 doesn’t reveal any rays of positivity either. Major league scouts know who they’re getting in Quintana if they were to trade for him, however, it’s become impossible to ignore the hit his trade value has taken.

Some will remark that this means the White Sox should have dealt him before the season began. Well, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. What has always been the case for the White Sox is that they have some wiggle room in timeline of a Quintana trade. He’s under control until 2020. If Rick Hahn and his cohorts have to wait until the offseason for him to regain the value he once had, so be it. They would be trading Quintana, whose talent level does fall a bit lower than Sale’s, with the same amount of control remaining on his low-cost contract as Sale had this past winter. Does that mean the White Sox get the same value in a trade as they did for Sale? Of course not. But the fact remains that the White Sox aren’t backed into a corner yet. They will hear offers, of course, but I wouldn’t count on him being traded this season. And that’s okay.

5. Todd Frazier had a rough start to the season, but he has rebounded a little. Because of the position he plays, he may garner some trade interest as we head into July. The .222 average isn’t pretty, but the rest of the numbers aren’t bad. He’s striking out less and walking more than he did a season ago. With a 13.4 percent walk rate and 21.2 percent strikeout rate, he’s been able to salvage his .222 average into a .327 on base percentage and .438 slugging percentage. That has helped him remain an above average hitter with a 102 wRC+. A league average hitter with at least average defense at third could bring the White Sox some young talent. Even if the offers aren’t incredible, it’s better to trade him than let him walk. For that reason, Frazier is likely out of a White Sox uniform by the end of the season.