1. Jose Quintana wasn’t good.  Specifically, he fell apart in the second inning, allowing a three-run home run to major league debut-ing JaCoby Jones and a two-run opposite field shot to Nick Castellanos. Both came after jumping ahead 0-2, which reflects a problem he had all day putting hitters away once he got to two strikes — he didn’t register a strikeout until his 16th batter faced.  He had trouble locating his curveball, which I suspect helps to explain the former.

The worst thing about Quintana’s bad outing wasn’t just that it directly caused the White Sox to lose, but it kicked off a horrible conversation about whether or not the White Sox should have desperately rushed to trade him for whatever package they could scrounge up. The idea that a player with his track record’s value would fluctuate from start to start is asinine. Also, if you’re afraid that if you keep Quintana for too long you won’t get as much as you should for him, perhaps the solution isn’t “Trading him for less than you should get for him.”

2. We were treated to a preview of how the lineup is likely to function for the foreseeable future.  The top half is pretty good, and three of the top four had multi-hit games. And granted, Justin Verlander is a tough draw, but Tim Anderson went o-for-4 with 3Ks, and even though his rookie year was a success, this was always going to be an issue he’d have to work through.

There are some pretty massive holes in this lineup, and it’s going to yield a lot of 1-2-3 innings.

3. The bullpen looks like it should be a good group, and today it posted 3.2 shutout innings after Quintana’s departure.  Jake Petricka and Zach Putnam both looked largely like their old, effective selves in their first appearances back from long absences due to injury.

If Petricka and Putnam are good again it would make it that much easier to manage the day-to-day should they trade David Robertson or Nate Jones.

4. PECOTA projects Tyler Saladino for a .305 OBP and it’s not hard to see why, given his major league track record.  But he registered two hits and a walk in his debut at the top of the lineup, and he had plus OBP seasons in the minors, so maybe if there’s more development in there from regular PAs he could beat his projections and wind up at a .330 or .340 level? Please?

5. It’s been months of rumors about Quintana to the Astros or Pirates or maybe the Yankees, and those are all logical trade partners to varying degrees.  Recently, however, the Cardinals have been floated as another suitor for Quintana’s services.  The estimable Jon Bernhardt explored the idea further, arguing that it makes a ton of sense for St. Louis and that they should have the pieces to get it done.

Quintana makes a lot of sense for a lot of teams, which — circling back to number one — is another reason why the White Sox can hold out for the right offer.

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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.

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Or wants to.

With reports of Chris Archer and Justin Verlander rumored to be available on the market, there are opportunities to get very comparable immediate production in 2017 without mountainous, prospect system-carving costs. Some combination of a team eager to win now, in need of top line pitching, somewhat megalomaniacal about their need for top line pitching, but also flush with prospect depth and not reliant on that prospect depth patching any emerging holes on their roster, needs to come along to make a deal work and be fair.

Given that, it might be easier to understand why the Boston Red Sox keep getting circulated as a potential match ad nauseum. A three-team deal might ease some of the demands on a single trade partner, but that’s even harder to project and takes even longer to match up, which gets to the crux of the matter. With a pot of coffee and a copy of MLB The Show, I could probably have half of this roster shipped out of town by Saturday morning, but that is not quite how the Sox can or would want to go about it.

If there’s a personality that Rick Hahn has cultivated as he enters his fifth season at the helm, it’s that of a patient observer of the market, and he set the stage at this week’s GM meetings that it could take a while for some of these deals to come together…while still doing his normal thing of qualifying everything as a hypothetical and leaving open the possibility of running a $400 million payroll and gunning for the World Series.

From Dan Hayes:

“’The pace and magnitude of any of our moves, regardless of the direction, are going to be dictated by the market,’ Hahn said. ‘You can’t say you’re going to trade player X before we do anything else because it might not be the right time to get proper value on a given player. We’re in a position right now where we have a few players who are under control only for another year, so there’s a bit of a clock on them. But on guys who are controllable longer than that, there’s not necessarily any urgency to make a move until you feel like you’ve peaked out on value.'”

Mentioning players only under control for another year seems like a direct reference to Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera and perhaps Brett Lawrie as well. No one in the group is going to bring back a future team MVP, but they are trades worth maximizing while the costs for Sale and Jose Quintana still remain on or beyond the cliff of affordability for any potential suitor.

That is all well and logical as far as trade leverage, but makes for a possibly bizarre and uninspiring 2017. It’s one thing to ask fans to come watch a bunch of youngsters trip over their own two feet and try to fall in love; that’s a marketing angle that has been tried before and found some measure of success. It’s another to enter the season mid-teardown, with Sale and other core pieces hanging around and going through the motions while the roster is stripped down around them. That has a lot more potential for discontent combined with baked in fan disinterest.

Colleen Kane’s article on Hahn’s comments focused on potential solutions for certain positions on the 2017 roster, such as getting Jose Abreu more time at designated hitter, adding another option in center field so as to keep Adam Eaton in right, a veteran catcher to go along with Omar Narvaez and tracking the recovery of Brett Lawrie. None of that screams “we’re putting Dexter Fowler next to Eaton and signing Matt Wieters,” but establishes some expectation that the radical change a rebuild brings will be gradual, and not all the way ready by Opening Day.

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1. The game started with bang. On the third pitch of the first at bat, Cameron Maybin hit a long fly ball off Chris Sale to left field. Human goldmine Melky Cabrera managed to somehow rob Maybin of his home run, further proving that robbing dingers is more art than honestly earned defensive skill. Miguel Cabrera would render this moot two batters later by stroking a thief-proof ball out to right. It looked like the ball would be jumping the rest of the day and both teams would be in for a slugfest. but much like April’s hot start showed: looks can be deceiving.

2. Miggy would go yard off Sale again in the top of the third, but that would be all Detroit could manage against Chicago’s ace. Sale strengthened as the game went on, pitching eight innings with eight strikeouts and no walks allowed. Unfortunately for Sale, he pitches in front of the punchless and anemic White Sox offense.

3. It’s hard to fault the Sox for struggling against a somehow resurgent Justin Verlander. Hall of Fame pitchers aren’t supposed to be easy matchups and it’s mildly funny watching his old catcher Alex Avila be responsible for half the runs scored off him with a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh that tied the game at 2-2. Avisail Garcia was able to follow up with a single and it looked like the Sox may have finally gotten to Verlander. But Robin Ventura called for a sacrifice despite Verlander clearly losing his handle, and Tyler Saladino promptly popped a bunt up to James McCann. Adam Eaton struck out on some dubious pitches to make two outs, all but assuring no rally was waiting. Tim Anderson managed to fist a single out to right, putting runners on first and third before Cabrera struck out, ending the last threat the Sox would manage.

4. The story gets predictable from here. Sale can only pitch so many innings without having his arm detach itself and fall to the ground in a spastic heap, so onto the bullpen. Nate Jones and David Robertson both looked sharp, striking out a combined four hitters over two innings while allowing no runners. But much like Sale, they can only carry so much weight. Eventually Robin had to play reliever roulette and summoned Chris Beck to the mound for the slaughter.

5. I don’t dislike Beck as a person. I don’t know him. He might be a good guy. He might be not so good. He might be that in between like the rest of us. But I do know he’s not a good enough pitcher to get away with facing the middle of the Tigers lineup unscathed. After allowing a leadoff single to Jose Iglesias, Beck managed to get Cabrera to ground into a double play. His next 10 pitches to the Martinezes (Victor and then J.D.) resulted in easy walks, bringing Justin Upton to the plate. Upton had been pitched inside a good deal all day and took an errant pitch off his foot earlier. He returned the Sox kindness by taking an inside pitch the other way and giving the Tigers a three-run lead that the Sox had no chance of overcoming.

A small rally in the bottom half of the inning against Francisco Rodriguez drew a run, but ended when Saladino took a borderline called strike three while representing the tying run.

Team Record: 65-72

Next game is Tuesday vs. Detroit at 7:10pm CT on CSN

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They lost all three in both series and now sit at 29-28 after starting 23-10.

1. Jose Quintana was staked with a lead before he took the mound, as Jose Abreu hit his first home run since May 17th — and it was not a cheap one, either.  It wasn’t pulled, but he did hit it more than 420 feet to basically dead center, so I am going to flag this one as a success.

2. There were familiar features to this series, though. Strong offensive production from the opposing team’s offensively challenged catchers (Drew Butera, Rene Rivera, and now James McCann have completely destroyed the White Sox for the past 10 days or so).  Victor Martinez was lethal.  Ventura even got an intentional walk in for good measure!  Ventura loves to intentionally walk people.  I cannot recall a single time where it has worked.  It did not work today.

3.  The Tigers’ offense is legitimately good, and Quintana is entitled to have off days now and again.  However, the White Sox were fortunate enough to have Brad Ausmus afflicted with the same disease as Robin where he thinks you are legally required to put one of your worst hitters in the two slot.  Cameron Maybin — career .257 TAv and .317 OBP — gave the White Sox a weak hitter to attack ahead of the murderer’s row of Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, and J.D. Martinez. But for some reason Quintana pitched him extremely carefully, throwing him an inordinate amount of pitches and walking him once.  One is left to speculate as to whether this is just a blip or whether the White Sox, who have justified making moves based on seven PA sample sizes as recently as a few weeks ago, think Maybin’s obvious small sample, BABIP-luck-fueled .418 average coming into Sunday was real. They certainly acted like it.

4. All of this is kind of moot, because with Melky Cabrera away for a family emergency, the White Sox’ utter lack of depth on offense has been left to wither and perish as it is exposed to intense sunlight i.e. mediocrities like 2016 Justin Verlander and Mike Pelfrey.  Adding James Shields should help address a lot of their major issues, but they have also now lost eight straight games started by Quintana and Chris Sale and counting on Tyler Saladino to save the offense is the stuff of 2013, not the stuff of “we’re contending this year, we swear.”

They had scoring opportunities, but…

Look, I don’t blame Ventura for not having enough bats.  When you have basically three good options at the plate right now there isn’t much you can do.  This is the result of being unable to develop even a league average position player (and identify it and not trade him away) for almost 20 years paired with absolutely refusing to use money to help fix your problems.  But one of the things you can do is not put Jason Coats — still awaiting his first major league hit, who took two months to prove to you that he was good enough to play for a team that gives regular playing time to Avisail Garcia* and Jerry Sands, and it took an injury to get him up at that — second in the order.  He struck out with runners on second and third and helped to kill one rally, hilariously overmatched chasing high heat out of the zone.

The reason people complain about managerial decisions so much is because it’s really hard to just conjure up additional major league talent.  It is not hard to get the things you can control right.  This should be easy.  It is increasingly difficult to identify anything that Ventura does well.  The nebulous arguments of, “Well, he keeps the team together” or “he’s good in the clubhouse” ring more and more hollow when the team looks like Sideshow Bob in a field of rakes for half a decade.  If he doesn’t help players perform to the best of their abilities and he can’t learn from his own stupid mistakes, count me baffled as to what he brings to the table.

*Garcia went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while looking absolutely horrible in the outfield, since the absence of Cabrera and Austin Jackson has necessitated he go out and murder the team on two sides of the ball again.  His OPS is back below .700 and he’s .002 points away from having an OBP under .300 again as well.

The White Sox would start one inning with runners on second and third and none out, and also had the miracle of a Jimmy Rollins double to lead off another inning and they didn’t score then either.  Rollins is a 37-year old who has had his job handily taken away from him by a utility infielder, and he is the DH.

5. Todd Frazier hit his 18th home run (the team has 52 total now).  He remains the best hitter on the team thus far, and acquiring Frazier is obviously not the problem this year.  Leave it to the perverse torture that is being a White Sox fan for people to be considering this possibility.

Team Record: 29-28

Lead Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports