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

Just look at the most recent White Sox wannabe-contenders. Despite having a core of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, and Jose Abreu, the White Sox floundered while giving everyday at bats to the likes of Jerry Sands and J.B. Shuck. Quad-A bats and arms surrounded the White Sox stars and ultimately played a large role in dooming the White Sox in their ill-fated pursuit of the playoffs.

One of the benefits of going fully scorched Earth with their rebuild, as the White Sox have, is that you begin to get a closer look at players with a chance to fill those roles. Watching Moncada every day and Lopez every fifth day is the highlight of the remaining two months, undoubtedly, and seeing players like Matt Davidson, Avisail Garcia, Yolmer Sanchez, and Leury Garcia take steps forward in their development has been a pleasant surprise, but the White Sox have a few other, even lesser known players, with a chance to prove they can fill certain roles in the future. I’ve highlighted four players below who have been given rare opportunities and have shown, at times, flashes of that type of potential thus far this season.

1. Nicky Delmonico set a White Sox franchise record on Saturday when he reached base in his 12th consecutive game to start his major league career. The sample size is obviously incredibly small (49 plate appearances), but he’s impressed in the short term. Delmonico has played both the outfield and infield corners during his minor league career, but his versatility may be a bit overstated because while he can, in theory, play those positions, he’s yet to prove he can play any of them well. Thus, his ability to stick around at the major league level will be based almost entirely on continued offensive production. So far, so good, as both his swing and contact percentages are right in line with the league average, as are his strikeout and walk rates. Still, a .483 BABIP suggests quite a bit of luck when contact is made, so the jury’s still out as to whether or not Delmonico’s surprising debut is more than just that of a guy who finds some small sample size success during the second half of an otherwise lost season.

2. As a 19th round pick in the MLB Draft just three years ago, and someone who had Tommy John surgery just two years ago, Aaron Bummer has already surpassed most reasonably expectations for his major league career. And while he’s thrown just 7 2/3 innings in the majors thus far, his quick ascent through the minor league ranks speak to the White Sox confidence that he could be a valuable bullpen asset. Given that he’s a left-hander whose fastball sits 93-95 mph with a wipeout slider to boot, it’s easy to see why. Bummer’s ceiling is likely that of a mid-inning reliever, but considering where he came from, finding someone you can potentially plug into mid-relief for the foreseeable future is not nothing.

3. If there’s one thing we knew about Adam Engel throughout his minor league career it’s that his speed was real and his defense in center field seemed to be a strength. What we weren’t sure about is if his bat could hang around against major league pitching.

Mercy!

WATCH: https://t.co/DI9I0eQvR2 pic.twitter.com/1V11u4Wj5L

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 12, 2017

Must C: Adam Engel races back to the warning track, leaps up and makes an outstanding catch to rob Brian McCann of a home run. pic.twitter.com/EzXBoETlv2

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 9, 2017

Engel’s defense is legit, and the metrics agree as he’s put up 4.5 FRAA in limited playing time. The same can’t be said about his bat as he’s put up a .204/.273/.331 line and a 29.9 percent strikeout rate in 177 plate appearances entering play Sunday. He was always fighting an uphill battle offensively, and it’s possible he ultimately falls into the category of “above average defender who becomes unplayable because of his offensive shortcomings,” but with any improvement, there’s at least a chance he hangs around as a fourth outfielder/pinch runner/defensive substitute long term.

4. The offensive threshold for backup catchers isn’t very high, and thus, there’s nothing wrong with the .276/.307/.381 and 82 wRC+ Kevan Smith has put up in 194 plate appearances this season. Smith is different from the other three guys I’ve mentioned in that he’s not young — 29 years old despite not making his major league debut until last season — but he’s proved he can handle the bat at least to a certain extent at the major league level. Likewise, while the threshold for White Sox catchers is incredibly low over the last two seasons, he’s proved to be better in terms of framing than any other White Sox catcher in 2016 or 2017. The issue with Smith behind the plate is the running game, as opposing base stealers are 42-for-45 in attempts with Smith behind the plate this year. At 29 with a limited skill set and one very glaring weakness, both his ceiling and his floor are pretty low, but if the White Sox ever do figure out their catcher situation — internally or externally — there are worse backup options around than Smith.

The line between these aforementioned players having meaningful major league careers and being nothing more than roster filler for a bad team during a bad season is very, very thin. But all have been given a rare opportunity to show the White Sox they can stick around beyond this year.

5. The White Sox hadn’t made a trade in two whole weeks, but our long trade-less spell finally ended when news broke late Sunday that they traded Tyler Clippard to the Houston Astros in exchange for the well-traveled PTBNL or Cash Considerations.

Clippard threw 10 innings in his White Sox career after coming over as salary filler in the deal that sent David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, and Todd Frazier to the Yankees, and was mostly fine. After allowing two runs in his first 2 1/3 innings post-trade, he threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings over his final eight appearances.

This means very little in the long term, of course. As I mentioned, Clippard was a veteran throw-in that helped save the Yankees some of the money they were taking on in the form of Robertson and Frazier. He’ll likely provide some help to the slumping Astros and in exchange for either further salary relief or a non-prospect throw in we’ll learn about a few months down the road.

Lead Photo Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Concurrent with the trade, general manager Rick Hahn also announced that heralded top prospect Yoan Moncada would make his debut with the team Wednesday.

Rutherford is the headliner here as far as the return. The 18th overall pick in last year’s draft was often linked to the White Sox in the weeks leading up to the draft. He was considered arguably the most polished high school hitter in that class, but fell because of bonus demands and a ceiling that isn’t considered quite as high as those who went ahead of him. As BP’s Greg Goldstein put it on Twitter, he has a solid all-around game but no standout tool. He’s an outfielder who’s played a lot of center early in his career but is likely going to be destined for a corner long term. He was No. 49 in BP’s Preseason Top 101 but didn’t make the recently released Midseason Top 50, however, he’s ranked as highly as No. 30 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, and was No. 36 on Baseball America’s Midseason Top 100.

Clarkin is a left-hander who was a first round pick in 2013 and has yet to pitch above A-ball, primarily because of injuries. Entering this season he’s thrown only 178 innings in his career, but he’s had modest success in High-A through 75 innings thus far in 2017. Polo is a 22-year-old outfielder originally signed by Pirates in 2012 who came over to the Yankees for Ivan Nova last summer. He was on Colombia’s World Baseball Classic team this spring, and has split time between High-A and Double-A with the Yankees this season. He was not in their system’s Top 30, per MLB Pipeline.

The final piece is Clippard, who is decidedly not a prospect. The 32-year-old veteran has a 4.95 ERA with the Yankees in 2017 and is a free agent after this season. He was likely included solely to help balance out the salaries (the Yankees are taking on the entirety of the money owed to Frazier and Robertson), and to eat some innings for the Sox for the rest of this season.

Frazier and Robertson being traded wasn’t a surprise, but packaging the two together, in addition to Kahnle, was a bit of a shocker. Kahnle’s trade value had obviously increased exponentially since the start of the season and there had been some debate as to whether or not he was worth trading at peak value or hanging onto as a present and potentially future bullpen asset. Hahn said in a press conference Tuesday that the trade wouldn’t have happened without the addition of Kahnle, and given the volatility of relievers, as well as the suddenness of his ascension, it’s tough to blame the White Sox for selling highly.

Combining those trades with the call-up of Moncada (as well as reliever Brad Goldberg; sorry for overshadowing you, Brad!) is a logical choice as Moncada can take Frazier’s place on the infield at second base with Yolmer Sanchez and Tyler Saladino now splitting time at third base. It will be important, of course, to temper expectations as he adjusts to the majors once again after an extremely small trial last September.

Lead Photo Credit: Kelley L. Cox / USA Today Sports Images