When the White Sox sent Aaron Bummer to Triple-A following a June 2 loss to the Brewers, it was a bit surprising. In 26 appearances to that point, Bummer had thrown 19 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts against just six walks and a respectable 3.26 ERA. Still, the underlying numbers told us he was fairly lucky in the small sample size, as despite all that he was allowing a .321 opponent batting average, giving up 27 hits during that span. He rejoined the big club in September to worse results, allowing eight runs in just 12 1/3 innings. But still, his K/BB was fine in the small sample with 14 whiffs against just four walks, and it’s those numbers worth focusing on. Bummer still figures to be someone the White Sox hope to count on in their bullpens of the future — along with the likes of Ian Hamilton, Ryan Burr, and Jace Fry — and his ability to consistently throw strikes and show some swing-and-miss potential is his most obvious route to a spot with the team long-term.

Tyler Danish

After five years of trying to turn their former second-round pick into a viable mid-rotation starter, the White Sox put Danish in the bullpen for the majority of 2018. The results were … underwhelming. In 71 2/3 innings at Triple-A, Danish was fine from a results perspective, but he still doesn’t miss enough bats — or throw enough strikes, period — to warrant much excitement, posting just 53 strikeouts against 28 walks. Danish made seven appearances out of the White Sox bullpen in late July and August, tossing just 6 1/3 innings, giving up 5 earned runs with 5 strikeouts and 4 walks. At 25 by the start of next season, the hope for Danish becoming anyone worth rostering at the major league level has almost completely faded out.

Danny Farquhar

Everyone knows, of course, that Farquhar’s biggest victory of 2018 was fully recovering from a terrifying brain aneurysm that could have cost him much more than his baseball career. Farquhar threw only 8 innings for the 2018 White Sox, and an in-depth interview with The Athletic’s James Fegan revealed his progress in working toward a successful return in 2019. Here’s hoping we see Farquhar in a White Sox uniform — or any major league uniform, for that matter — next season.

Thyago Vieira

Adding a player like Vieira for what he cost to acquire is something any reasonable team does. The White Sox couldn’t spend any notable amount of IFA money after last year’s signing of Luis Robert and thus traded some to the Seattle last season during the Mariners’ pursuit of Shohei Ohtani. The scouting report on Vieira was that he had electric velocity but didn’t seem to have any clue where it was going. And let’s just say that checked out pretty well. Vieira struggled in Triple-A during the first half of the season, posting a 5.05 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 24 walks in 41 innings. He spent the last two months of the season in Chicago and 7.13 ERA in 17 2/3 innings. Vieira is probably the kind of guy who keep around in case one day he “figures it out.” But he doesn’t have any place in a major league bullpen at the moment.

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Aaron Bummer: In some respects, Bummer is an unsual relief prospect.  Many relievers of consequence are starting pitchers who couldn’t hack it and got bumped to the bullpen for lack of durability, command, or a third pitch.  The White Sox had Bummer pegged for relief from day one, and the 19th rounder with Tommy John surgery under his belt still blitzed through the minors at blinding speed.

Bummer dominated High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A en route to the majors all in 2017 with his mid-to-high 90s heat from the left side and slurvey breaking ball. His time on the South Side didn’t go smoothly, which is understandable given how rapidly the quality of his opposition improved.

The pedigree and profile will always foster doubt. But heat from the left side is heat from the left side, and one has to imagine he has a solid claim on a bullpen spot next year, and crazier things have happened for players with his repertoire to turn into good setup men. Sometimes they’re just LOOGYs and then sink back into the ocean.

Dylan Covey: Scooping up former Top 10 picks in the Rule V draft is a perfectly good idea for a team in the 2017 White Sox’ position. Hence Covey. But, you know, he was available in Rule V for a reason. His DRA of 7.61 matches the eye test as major league hitters absolutely tuned him up between DL stints

Fortunately, there’s still some hope for him, especially now that he has made it through ’17 and the White Sox have secured his services if they want them.  And, while it is not true of every failed starter as some would have you believe, Covey’s velocity and breaking stuff visibly improves when he airs it out in a relief role. He could even wind up being a pretty good one, and getting pretty good relievers for free is more valuable than it has ever been.

Tyler Danish: In his first full crack at Triple-A after only 29 innings there last year, the 22 year old should have gradually improved at the level and been knocking on the door for some starts in the second half of the year. Instead, he was generally effective right out of the gate, and earned a spot start in late May with the big club.  He somehow struck out 6 and also walked 6 over 5 shutout innings, then went back to Triple-A and was dreadful the rest of the year.

He’s young, but he doesn’t project to add anything to his stuff. He has what he has and he’s going to go as far as his command takes him. Some have had him pegged as a reliever for most of his career, but I’m of the opinion, given his repertoire, that either he’s a back-end starter or he’s not a major leaguer.  Even with injuries and uncertainty plaguing the ’18 rotation, Danish is almost certainly going to go back to Charlotte to keep refining in the hopes that he can break through next year instead.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, I could pat myself on the back when last season, at the age of 21, he got shelled while getting all of five outs in three appearances with the White Sox. Those are the types of bold evaluations you can make when a guy doesn’t throw that hard and has a career K/9 of 6.3 in the minors.  That sort of profile doesn’t get any more attention when the organization trades for a handful of pitchers in one offseason who pop triple digits on a regular basis.

But, one thing Danish definitely has going for him, other than his youth, is his makeup.  Ever since he was drafted out of high school, Danish has gotten rave reviews for his work ethic and poise.  Knowing what we do of Danish, it’s not hard to picture him liking my tweet and others like it as bulletin board material.  A true example of someone who isn’t mad online, but who’s actually laughing.

So far this season in Charlotte, Danish has succeeded the way he’s going to have to — pounding the zone and keeping the ball down, generating grounders at a 55.4 percent clip with a BB% of 4.9.  The results from a run prevention standpoint have been solid, as his ERA sits at 3.38.  And although he has yet to throw 40 innings this season, the White Sox may want to give him an audition again soon.  After all, Carson Fulmer and Reynaldo Lopez have much higher ceilings and should be appearing with the big league club at some point this season.

Unlike Fulmer and Lopez, Danish doesn’t really profile as a plus reliever should he not be able to hack it in the rotation.  Rather, Danish’s best case scenario involves succeeding as a back-of-the-rotation starter who eats innings and keeps the ball in the park, think of someone like Kendall Graveman, perhaps, whereas the fallback plans tend to look like long/low leverage relief work.

But, as tempting as it is to pencil in a rotation of Carlos Rodon-Lucas Giolito-Michael Kopech-Fulmer-Lopez for the near future, Danish should not lack for opportunities. Teams that aren’t the 2005 White Sox wind up needing seven starting pitchers or more in a given season. It’s virtually certain that some of those shinier prospects are going to bust, and it’s unclear when Rodon will even come off the DL this year.

His immediate obstacles are less imposing. Because of injuries, Dylan Covey and Mike Pelfrey currently represent 40 percent of the starting rotation, and it is very likely that Danish is better than both of them now in addition to having more upside moving forward.  Covey, as a Rule V pick, will hang on to the 25-man roster as long as the White Sox think he can contribute in the years to come, but there should be no particular reason to keep Pelfrey around until such time as the organization determines that Danish is a better option — which, to reiterate, may have already arrived.

The best of rotations need guys like what Danish could be as a depth option.  Just as this has been a year where the White Sox are finding potential complementary parts among their position players to surround their rising stars, Danish represents another potential option for the rotation of the future.

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Right now the White Sox are sitting at the blackjack table and it couldn’t be clearer that they’re out of money. Their hot start to the season was all but erased by the team’s worst stretch of play since the 2013 season (where they lost 99 games), the Cleveland Indians have caught fire and taken a 7.5 game lead in the division, there are three teams ahead of the White Sox for the last Wild Card spots, and PECOTA pegs the White Sox’ current playoff odds at 21 percent.

This leaves the team with a few options: chalk it up to a loss, sit pat or try to sell some veterans (though I don’t think you’ll get anything good for Todd Frazier or Melky Cabrera) and go into next year with essentially the same team, or go back to the farm system (the well) and try to turn their top non-Tim Anderson prospects into players that can help the team this year and beyond.

Much like going home to your significant other and trying to explain how you went to the casino with $200 in cash and have somehow lost $505 ($5 ATM fee), there’s significant risk for the White Sox if they choose to further deplete an already thin farm system. But unlike the former dilemma where there’s a lighter consequence of walking away when you run out of your initial bank roll, the White Sox could face potentially disastrous results if they simply stayed the course, or worse yet, sold some of their more talented players for pennies on the dollar*. Obviously, there’s a chance being aggressive and acquiring some better players may not be enough to catapult them into the playoffs this year or potentially next year, but when sitting on your hands offers essentially the same fate, it would behoove you to be aggressive.

Simply put, based on all of the evidence the White Sox have produced thus far in 2016 suggests they are not a good enough team to make the playoffs. If they enter 2017 with essentially the same team, the odds of them making the playoffs in that season are also marginal at best. Even with growth from Carlos Rodon and Anderson next season, the White Sox would still have serious holes in (and feel free to tune out if you’ve heard this before) the outfield, DH, catcher, back end of the rotation and the bullpen AND every other member of their core would be a year older and possibly, if not probably, a little bit worse.

There isn’t enough depth at the top of the minor league system to cover all of these issues, and even though the White Sox love to push their minor leaguers through the system as fast as possible, it would not be realistic to expect any of their top minor leaguers, Carson Fulmer, Spencer Adams, Tyler Danish etc. to make significant, positive contributions until at least 2018, and that’s not good for the 2017 White Sox.

Playing for 2018 is really unappealing because Frazier, Cabrera, and Brett Lawrie will all be gone, with no realistic in-house replacements. The very angry White Sox fan in me believes Avisail Garcia will still be patrolling RF as there’s also no internal answer for that position (Jason Coats doesn’t count), one of catcher/DH is still an issue even if you believe Zack Collins can come in and hit well, and Jose Abreu will be on the wrong side of 31 not getting any better.

The White Sox farm depth is starting to get better in the lower minors. This is a really important step in the right direction for the health of this organization, but the depth being in the lower minors means you really aren’t going to see the system bear real, talented fruit until 2019 and beyond (when the Sox lose Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and whatever shell of Abreu is left). Sure, you could make the argument that the White Sox could venture into free agency to fill some of the holes on the 2017 and 2018 teams, but in the words of Styx, you’d be “fooling yourself.”

I think all of the BP Southside writers have bemoaned the White Sox lack of willingness to sign top tier free agents at some point, so no they’re not getting Yoenis Cespedes next year either, and the White Sox’ hit rate on second tier free agents is so incredibly ugly, to expect them to find even mediocre talent seems like a stretch. Much like banking on the infantile farm system, counting on free agency to help the White Sox in the short term is a really bad bet. Will trading Fulmer and Adams probably suck in a few years? Yeah, it will. But even with those players in the organization down the road, I don’t think the White Sox future is all that bright.

All of this adds up to one unfortunate conclusion: if the White Sox don’t make the playoffs this year or next, there is a good chance that they won’t make the playoffs for an extended amount of time. That doubly sucks when you think about how their current playoff drought is seven-going-on-eight years and they’ve already missed the playoffs for an extended amount of time. The White Sox window of contention is right now and the organization has to be willing to pay the price to make this team better during that window. Their ownership has already made clear that they aren’t willing to spend actual money on good players, so that means they’ll have to pay a prospect price instead.

Luckily for the White Sox, some good players are available on the trade market. The Brewers are a treasure trove of players that have multiple years of control that would provide a big boost to the White Sox. Will Smith and Chris Carter are still arb eligible for several more years each, Jonathan Lucroy has one of the best contract options for 2017 in the majors and Ryan Braun is expensive, but producing at such a level that he is worth his current contract. Carlos Gonzalez and Jake McGee of the Rockies should also be available, as will be the Reds’ Jay Bruce who are all under contract through next season.

These players will be in demand, there’s no doubt about that. Unfortunately, this makes it fairly murky as to whether or not the White Sox would be able to catch some of these bigger fish with their current trade chips, especially now that Adams could be hurt. The most important thing, though, is that this front office has to realize where they are at in the win cycle and make every effort to acquire more talent for the stretch run this year and the next year’s season. They already shot themselves in the foot by not being more aggressive during this past off-season and every day that passes without a move this year cripples them even further. They have to go back to their well and double down and acquire more talent; there’s currently no better choice.

*Of course they could blow everything up and trade Chris Sale and company, but when you think about how their veteran-for-prospect trades have gone, they might as well just go all Fargo on their best players. Link for those of you that don’t get that reference.

**Also, screw the All-Star game for leaving Jose Quintana out.

Lead Image Credit: Mike Dinovo // USA Today Sports Images

Right-handed reliever Michael Ynoa has been called up as his replacement and will be the 15th different relief pitcher (including J.B. Shuck) used by the Sox this year if he actually gets to throw a pitch this time (he was called up in April, but the game was rained out and he was sent right back down). Ynoa is years removed from his prospect heyday, once ranking as high as 20th in all of baseball before the 2009 season according to Baseball Prospectus. He never managed to make it past A ball as a starter in the Oakland A’s farm system before coming to the White Sox and being converted to a reliever. Ynoa’s only 24 years old, so there’s still a chance his big fastball and inconsistently dangerous curveball could turn into useful bullpen weapons but his combined numbers in AA and AAA this year make it seems like more seasoning couldn’t hurt (2.00 K/BB, 3.9 BB/9).

I. Mat Latos — DFA’d — Despite his fluky April, Latos crashed back down to Earth with a horrifying splat.  It turns out that when you give up more home runs and walks than you strike batters out, you’re going to have a hard time.  Latos’ stuff is already bad, so the fact that he couldn’t locate it at all made him expendable.  Throw in the persistent rumblings about Latos being detrimental to the clubhouse, which have followed him throughout his career, and it’s no surprise he was let go.

II. Tyler Danish — contract purchased from Double-A Birmingham — This move is almost certainly to make sure J.B. Shuck doesn’t have to pitch on back-to-back nights.  Although Scott Carroll and Jacob Turner are in Triple-A Charlotte (and almost certainly better qualified for the majors at the moment), it is likely that this simply syncs up with Danish’s throw day so he’s ready to go.  By all accounts, Danish has a phenomenal makeup and he’s easy to root for, but his profile is not encouraging.  While it’s true that his recipe for getting hitters out has always been dependent on getting lots of grounders, I am skeptical that any pitcher can get enough grounders to make up for striking out fewer than six batters per nine innings.  And presumably he’s not going to strike out more major league hitters than he does Southern League hitters.

III. Justin Morneau — signed to a 1-year, $1 million deal — Morneau was a decent hitter as recently as last year.  Unfortunately, he is still recovering from surgery on his left elbow and he was immediately placed on the 15-day DL after signing with the White Sox, with Rick Hahn saying he will likely be ready to join the White Sox in mid- to late-July.  Morneau is injury prone and solidly past his prime, but since the White Sox have turned to DHing the likes of Jimmy Rollins of late, there’s no way this is a bad idea.  So while this reeks of “Too Little, Too Late,” at least they’re doing something, and even the ghost of Morneau is a decent bet to outhit the likes of Avisail Garcia.

And if he’s done, well, you can always DFA him just like you did Latos, because…well, look at that contract.