The Brew Crew traded for uber-talented outfielder Christian Yelich and then signed all-star outfielder Lorenzo Cain about 30 minutes later, re-positioning themselves just weeks away from the start of spring training.

Despite winning 86 games last season, the Brewers narrowly missed the playoffs and were still seen by many to be ahead of schedule. The Brewers decision to cash in a lot of their chips and make these “big boy” acquisitions last week, signaled that the team feels ready to compete and accelerate the rebuild, timeline be damned.

The moves the Brewers made don’t directly affect the Chicago White Sox, but Sox fans should still take note.

While the White Sox aren’t as far along in their rebuild as the Brewers, it isn’t hard to think that they could be in a similar position in a year or two. The team is technically in Phase 2 of its rebuild as the team continues to bring up and develop young talent at the Major League level. Milwaukee took the jump from Phase 2 of its rebuild to Phase 3, shifting the focus of the club from development to competing and had the NL Central reeling before ultimately being chased down by the Cubs in July.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the White Sox can move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 with Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech both on the verge of getting to Chicago. They still have pieces they could move if they wanted in Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia, although both could be around when the team makes the turn toward contention.

Milwaukee’s acquisitions also show what stockpiling talent via trades and the international free agent market can give a club the flexibility to do. When the opportunity came to acquire a talent like Yelich, having a plethora of young players to package made the difference.

Both Lewis Brinson and Isan Diaz (2018 #27 and #86 on MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects) were acquired in deals the Brewers made at the beginning of their rebuild. Brinson came over from the Rangers for catcher Jonathan Lucroy and Diaz from the Diamondbacks in a deal for shortstop Jean Segura.  While Brinson was believed to be the center fielder of the future for the Brew Crew, being able to add Yelich and Cain to their current outfield–both under control for five years–was too good pass up.  The additions give them the opportunity to consolidate their assets and accelerate their rebuild to try to compete not only for a Wild Card spot, but potentially a division title.

In the last 12-plus months or so, general manager Rick Hahn has turned over the White Sox farm system and  parlayed 10 players from their big league roster into 19 prospects. Add that along with what looks like a solid draft class in ’17 and the splashy signing of Luis Robert and you have the makings of one of the elite farm systems in baseball.

Granted, the last time Hahn traded a prospect it was back in 2016 when the Sox acquired James Shields from the Padres in exchange for Erik Johnson and 17-year-old shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.. Tatis Jr., has since gone on to elevate his game and is currently ranked as the #8 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.

The next time Hahn trades a prospect it likely won’t be a relatively unknown commodity like Tatis Jr. was at the time, but one or more of their talented studs like Jake Burger, Dylan Cease, Dane Dunning, Alec Hansen or even Luis Robert. But unlike the last time, the White Sox shouldn’t be getting a star past his prime, but a player who may very well be one of the last pieces of the puzzle like the Brewers hope Yelich and Cain will be.

The White Sox may not win 80 games next season, but the time is fast approaching where they will, and not only be able to compete for AL Central division titles, but marquee players in both the trade and free agent markets.  After all, developing talent from within frees up a lot of money to spend on free agents.  Hahn and the White Sox have been patient in Phase 2 of their rebuild, as they should be. When the time does come, don’t be surprised to see them step on the gas.

-The Brewers’ acquisitions of Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, what that means for them in 2018, and if this kind of model can be expected from the White Sox in a year or two.

-What the White Sox roster is going to look like heading into Spring Training, as well as if they will or should take advantage of the stalled free agent market.

-The differences in prospect lists from source to source, including some deep diving into the back-end of the White Sox farm system rankings.

-Jim Thome’s election into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and some thoughts on the ballot as a whole.

Be sure to follow BP South Side on Twitter @BPSouthSide. You can follow Collin @cowhitchurch and Nick @Nick_BPSS.

1. Jose Abreu & Nate Jones: These are the two players I was referring to above as trade chips. Rick Hahn & Co. were so effective at cashing in major leaguers for future pieces that they scorched all the way down to shuffling Dan Jennings and World Series Champion Tyler Clippard off the roster. One imagines Jones might have fetched a significant return if he had been healthy, and it seems unlikely that he would be dealt over the winter before he could demonstrate he is healthy again.

Abreu is even harder to evaluate. Not in terms of who he is on the field (or off it, for that matter) as his superlative 2017 corrected data points which had previously been trending downward, and he grabbed hold of the role of clubhouse leader with both hands and a big smile as all other veterans were purged. Abreu is under team control through 2019, which may mean he is around for the first good White Sox season in almost a decade, and departing as the window truly opens in earnest. Maybe he sticks around and is dealt at the deadline in 2019 if they’re not in it. Maybe he and the organization agree to buy out his arb years and tack on a few more. As it stands now, anyway, my sense is that the White Sox would have to be absolutely blown away to part with him this winter, as he means more than just the excellent offense he provides. It also strikes me as unusual that someone would want to “overpay” in talent for Abreu when there are good corner bats on the market for only money.

2. The “Jon Lester” Deal: This is a label that I have given this kind of signing, and I’ve mentioned it on a few podcasts and articles. The Cubs signed Lester to a huge deal before it was necessarily clear that the new crop of talent was ready to contend for the playoffs. Obviously that 2015 team did contend, but even if they hadn’t, the organization identified Lester as someone they wanted to have around through the next competitive window, and he would be a free agent before 2015 and not after.

Another thing to consider here, however, is that as a class, most free agents are reaching the market either in the middle of their peak or, as is often the case, on their downside away from it. Most free agent contracts are intended to provide most of their value up front, with the back end of the contract being less pleasant. In that sense, it may not be very helpful to line what should be the best year of a contract up with a season where you’re not trying to contend yet. Still, it’s worth remembering that it is nearly impossible to graduate a whole playoff team at once, and the free agent market may not always have what you want when you want it.

Still another general principle influencing the process here is that one of the biggest benefits of being a team that “plans” on losing a lot is having a surplus of playing time to distribute among players who may or may not be good for the purposes of evaluation. Sure, the Astros got Correa as a direct result of being the worst team in the league in a given year, but they also still have Marwin Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel because who else was going to get those at bats and those innings on those teams? And hey, they turned out to be crazy valuable. Signing mid-level free agents in a rebuilding year may only serve to block an audition for a player who turns out to be much better than you anticipated.

There may not be a Lester-esque fit in this class. But, it might make sense to scoop up Lorenzo Cain if it looks like he’s going to sign for less than he should. He’s older than one might think, but as a plus defender with good on-base skills, Cain may age more gracefully than some.

3. Buying A Potential Mirage: In the 2015 playoffs, Daniel Murphy morphed from a slightly above average hitter with a below average glove to a juggernaut and then hit free agency. Clearly, given that he was only able to command a 3-year, $37.5 million contract, teams didn’t buy that those playoffs were for real. Turns out it was! Murphy has gone on to slaughter baseballs for the next two seasons and the Nationals found an absolute steal.

Logan Morrison and Yonder Alonso, 30 and 31 years old respectively, are both free agents coming off of very good years at the plate after drowning a good amount of prospect shine with thousands of plate appearances of mediocrity. If pressed, I would certainly predict them both to fall back toward their previous performance levels. But at a certain point, if the price tag is low enough, the risk that they do may be offset by the possibility that 2017 represents their new normal and you wind up with a good bat on the cheap.

This is only scratching the surface of the possibilities out there, but we hope you join us for another White Sox offseason, and thank you for spending the 2017 season here at BP South Side.

Lead Photo Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

PECOTA said 71-91.

PECOTA has a long history of hating the Royals. Well, as much as an algorithm can actually hate a baseball team. It infamously predicted the 2015 Royals would finish 72-90. We all know that story ended. The happy scrappy sunshine team from the Show Me State showed that cold and merciless computer where it could shove its numbers. There was rejoicing and celebrating and I had to live surrounded by fans saying stuff like “that’s what speed do.” It was awful. The Royals took a tremendous step back in 2016, winning 14 fewer games (despite still outperforming their Pythagorean W-L by 4 games) and missing the postseason entirely. Short of Jarrod Dyson, an aging Kendrys Morales, an increasingly less effective Edinson Volquez, and the unfortunately deceased Yordano Ventura, the core remained more or less intact for this season. A season that’s one month in and has the Royals sitting dead last in all of baseball with a .304 winning percentage.

So what the hell happened? Yeah, it’s an unsustainably rough start and this team is far too talented to remain on pace to finish with triple digit losses but how did things go down the tubes so damn quickly? To oversimplify the answer, they currently have just as many effective starting pitchers as they do league-average or above hitters: three. Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain are the only hitters on the Royals roster with more than 50 PA and an OPS+ above 75. Cain is the only regular with an OBP above .305. The Royals have been playing a dangerous game on offense over the past few seasons, relying heavily on players putting the ball in play to get on base and hoping to feast on the havoc that comes with it because as already mentioned “that’s what speed do.” What speed also do is be very vulnerable to BABIP fluctuations and when your entire team is aging, slowing down, and sporting a collective .244 BABIP, you’re just not going to score any runs. Eric Hosmer, Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon, and Brandon Moss can’t keep hitting as terribly as they have been, but the hole may already be too deep to climb out of.

And that’s without even covering the starting pitching. Danny Duffy remains Danny Duffy. Jason Hammel is pitching like you’d expect a 34-year-old journeyman at the end of the line to pitch. Nate Karns is unfairly forced into existing for crimes we do not know. And that’s where the rotation stops making sense. If not for the lava hot and ultimately baffling starts from Jason Vargas and Ian Kennedy, things would somehow be even worse for the Royals. That’s a sentence no one ever figured would be typed. Kennedy is currently riding a .184 BABIP against and a HR/9 almost half of what he’s had the past two seasons combined with a sterling 85.8% LOB%. Vargas makes even less sense. Jumping into what will be his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2015, Vargas has managed to give up only 4 earned runs over 25.2 IP despite hitters currently having a perfectly ordinary .303 BABIP against him. He’s striking out 1.6 times more hitters than he’s averaged over his career while walking essentially none (2 walks so far this year). He’s also gone from being the type of pitcher who managed to give up 35 home runs in a season while pitching for Seattle (admittedly, an outlier) to someone who has only given up one this year. Two of the pitchers managing to keep Kansas City from being legendarily bad are doomed to get hit so hard by regression it will ultimately make Avisail Garcia blush.

The Royals got to enjoy a brief two year run as a championship caliber team, with a couple respectable years on either side. But with the 2017 season all but over before Memorial Day and Hosmer, Cain, Escobar, and Moustakas all set to hit free agency this offseason, it looks like that reign is officially over. The kings are dead.

Photo credit Jay Biggerstaff- USA Today Sports