The White Sox sent Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday for a trio of prospects, according to multiple media reports.

The prospects, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dane Dunning, are all right-handed pitchers ranked in Washington’s Top 10 by Jeffrey Paternostro and the BP Prospect Staff.  Rumor has it this was the package offered for Sale minus Victor Robles.

Giolito is the centerpiece here. The No. 3 overall prospect and top pitching prospect in the league entering 2016 has front-end starter upside with a nasty curveball and fastball that has touched triple digits. He threw 21.1 innings in the majors in 2016 and could be in the rotation as soon as the start of the 2017 season.  It should be noted that he took a step back this year, as the Nationals fiddled with his mechanics, and he struggled with his command even after reverting to his Global No. 1 pitching prospect delivery.

Still, that seems like quite a haul for Eaton, even with his friendly contract and five years of control, but Lopez is also a Global Top 50 prospect, jumping as high as No. 39 in BP’s midseason rankings. He also saw time in the majors in 2016 after tearing through both Double- and Triple-A at the start of the season, and even if he doesn’t work out as a starter could be a dominant bullpen piece.

Dunning, the third prospect in the deal, isn’t exactly a throw in, either. The Nationals made him the 29th overall pick the draft in June after pitching mostly in relief for the University of Florida. One would assume the White Sox will see if he can start in the low minors.

In Sale and now Eaton, the White Sox have now acquired arguable the top positional prospect and top pitching prospect in the game, as well as two other Top 100 prospects. In two days they’ve transformed their system from Bottom 5 to, probably, Top 5. That has come at the cost of their best pitcher and best position player, of course, but it’s clear the White Sox are going all-in on a teardown. This, of course, will make the 2017 (and probably longer) product unbearable, but the White Sox have obviously chosen a direction and are “going for it” in a way we’ve never really seen before.

While the idea of a rebuild is a tough pill to swallow, now that it has reached full swing the best one can hope for is that they get the best value possible for all the pieces they are set to unload. So far, it would seem, so good.

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Sources: Legitimate chance of Sale trade to #Nationals. Robles, Giolito would go to #WhiteSox. Teams haggling over final pieces in deal.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2016

Nats are making strong progress on Sale. Been working on it all day. They have clear lead.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 6, 2016

Heard what @Ken_Rosenthal said: #Nationals willing to put Giolito/Robles into package. #Whitesox mulling if enough for Sale. — Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 6, 2016

Of course, until Sale is dealt, or a different deal that also signals rebuild — Jose Abreu to the Rockies? — comes to fruition, nothing is certain. But a Buster Olney report indicating the Sox are set on dealing Sale one way or another is, if taken at face value, a troublesome turn of events.

Even if the White Sox are dead-set on a rebuild, backing themselves into a corner because of some sort of internal mandate to get a deal done is something that, one would think, the Sox front office would be smart enough to avoid. Sale is not an impending free agent, and while his trade value will decrease incrementally the longer they wait, the fallback to not getting the deal you want for Sale is, well, getting to have Sale pitch for your team in 2017. I can think of worse consolation prizes, and with the Royals reportedly shopping their core as well, the AL Central is basically the Cleveland Indians and one enormous cellar if the Sox decide to stay the course.

Given the fact that the White Sox are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to trade rumors, and both Heyman and Rosenthal’s reports mentioned Washington specifically as the team closest to a deal, one can reasonably assume that leak came from Washington’s side in an attempt to push out other buyers. So not long after those reports surfaced came a round of refutations.

The #WhiteSox say they’re still having trade talks with several teams about Chris Sale, and no deal with #Nats or anyone expected tonight.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 6, 2016

The #Whitesox did not come close to trading Chris Sale tonight but acknowledge the #Nats were very aggressive in proposals

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 6, 2016

The idea of using the media to further an agenda is part of the game, but regardless of refutations or confirmations, Monday’s reports are the first legitimate signs of the White Sox moving toward a potential deal. And even if Rick Hahn & Co. leave Maryland without a deal in place, it seems increasingly likely that the market to pay Sale’s exorbitant price is building, and the busy winter many predicted for the Sox at the beginning of the offseason will turn up being more true than not.

An argument has been presented in this space on more than one occasion against the idea of rebuilding — if you can’t build competence around this core of talent, when do you expect it to happen? — but as it seems an inevitability at this point, one has to wonder, once the Sale shoe drops, how far they wind up going. It’d be tough to imagine the White Sox pulling the trigger on their best trade chip and not going the distance with impending free agents Melky Cabrera and Todd Frazier, as well as aggressively shopping Abreu, Adam Eaton, and maybe Jose Quintana.

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The long-pondered White Sox rebuild rumors have more meat to them because the franchise-altering move to trade Chris Sale is being put at the forefront of reports, and the long-pondered Sale trade has more meat to it because it’s staked into these rebuild talks rather than some ill-conceived shifting of resources for a would-be contender. They can’t trade Sale and not rebuild, to a degree, and they can’t rebuild effectively while keeping Sale, so pushing both at the same time adds a level of seriousness.

The Dodgers, Nationals and Braves have all drawn direct mention as competitors for Sale in the past few days, with almost certainly more interested, but perhaps not as stocked for a competitive bid, though the Red Sox are certainly capable of delivering the top bid if they wanted to.

Normally, a typical Sox trade discussion revolves around a need for offense, a need for major league-ready talent to avoid the weeds of their position player development system, and then some rumor of Rick Hahn holding out for a Godfather offer. It sounds like we’re only getting that final bit, for normalcy’s sake.

Ken Rosenthal:

“As for Sale, the biggest question is whether the White Sox will actually move him.

‘They’re willing but only if they totally win the deal, which won’t happen,’ a rival executive said.

Call it the Curse of Shelby Miller: Every team with a high-end starter wants to match or exceed the Braves’ return for Miller and reliever Gabe Speier — infielder Dansby Swanson, outfielder Ender Inciarte and right-hander Aaron Blair.”

More like ‘a salty rival executive,” perhaps.

As much as the Sox are perpetually in need of offensive help, a Sale departure decimates a rotation that is both already probably giving playing time to James Shields next season, and doesn’t know where their next stud is coming from, confidence in Carson Fulmer, Alec Hansen, or even Jordan Stephens and Spencer Adams, aside. If this is truly a full-scale teardown, where everyone older or further along in their service time than Carlos Rodon could be on the outs, the Sox will need more of everything, and can focus on getting the most value rather than specific help at certain positions.

The Braves are the odd team to see here, because rather than a contender looking for a super weapon, they seem to be trying to slap together a competitive team for their new ballpark, even at the possibility of shipping out pieces that were thought to be their new core going forward. Dansby Swanson is both seemingly the new face of the franchise for the Braves, and their best chip for building a package to match Sale’s value, rather than a group that has not made their major league debut.

As much as fencing a crop of guys under control for three years or more just to get a new crop of players under control for six years seems slightly pointless, the Sox both need to take some big league guys because building a package of guys at Double-A or below would take too much volume to counteract the level of uncertainty, and if the Sox can’t take their payroll above $120 million to compete, they are going to need to be in the game of aggressive pre-arbitration extensions to their youngsters anyway.

The Nationals are considered strongly in the mix, but if they insist on withholding Trea Turner, as Rosenthal is reporting, their top prospect is Victor Robles, who is very good, but also 19 until May and has not reached Double-A yet. How much risk are the Sox willing to assume in the return for the biggest trade chip in the league? Typically not very much, but this rebuild is supposed to a new paradigm for White Sox thinking.

While Sale and Jose Quintana seem to be the most sought after trade pieces, they are probably the only pieces in the core group of Adam Eaton, Jose Abreu, or even Nate Jones, that would be worth holding onto through the rebuild. Even though they are pitchers, if the Sox are going to be in the tank for two-to-four years, Sale and Quintana are better bets to be excellent on the other side of that gulf than soon-to-be 28-year-old Eaton, whose game is heavy on speed and depends on corner outfield defense for value, or Abreu, who will turn 30 in January and has seen his production decline every season. Jones is the oldest of the group, has the longest injury history and is an extreme hard-thrower with unusual mechanics.

All the fire sale trades get a lot easier to conceive of and make fair value for if they are simply moving everything, because it will shed all restrictions both for position and for future timeline. But this whole article was just stalling to avoid admitting I have no idea what is coming from the Sox.

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1. But one of the few times where Gonzalez–Gio, that is–looked vulnerable for a prolonged stretch was right away in the first inning. Austin Jackson and Jose Abreu waited out back-to-back one-out walks, and right after Michael Taylor robbed Todd Frazier on a lineout to center, Melky Cabrera flipped a breaking ball off the outer edge just beyond Taylor’s diving grasp in the right-center gap to score a pair and grant the Sox an insurmountable lead.

Otherwise mired in an inescapable slump since the beginning of May, Brett Lawrie stepped up as the next batter and ripped a center-cut fastball down the left field line to plate Cabrera, and the Sox were done for the night. They would not collect another hit until the fifth when Cabrera missed a home run by feet in the sixth, but he would be the last Sox baserunner of the night.

2. While Sox hitting took a back seat, Miguel Gonzalez took a starring role. Flashing the ideal location and low-90s heat that marked his best outings against the Royals, Gonzalez was perfect until Daniel Murphy led off the fifth inning with a solo shot into the right field bullpen. After walking five his last time out, Gonzalez didn’t issue a single free pass, and struck out five over six easy innings.

There’s obviously a large need for him to step up in the wake of Mat Latos getting DFA’d, and Gonzalez allayed all fears Thursday night.

3. Other than the whole part where Tyler Saladino bobbled a Jayson Werth grounder to bring up Bryce Harper as the tying run with two outs in the ninth, the Sox defense excelled.

With Gonzalez in a runners on second and third, no out jam in the sixth, Saladino fielded a ball deep in the hole and recovered his balance in time to gun down Jose Lobaton at the plate, and Frazier and Lawrie teamed on a crisp around the horn double play to seal the escape. Adam Eaton also tracked down a deep Danny Espinosa drive with a leaping catch at the wall in the eighth.

4. David Robertson is clearly not all the way back, and had to get checked on by Herm Schneider in the middle of his inning of work.  After two quick outs, Robertson allowed back-to-back singles to Werth and Harper. Murphy’s deep lineout to left sealed up his first save of June. It’s certainly not high times for the $46 million closer, but a successful outing in his natural setting is a better environment than what he’s been used to the last couple of weeks.

5. The victory brought the Sox back to .500, where they sit a half game back of both Kansas City and Detroit.

Team Record: 30-30

Next game is Friday vs. Kansas City at 7:10pm CT on CSN+

Lead Image Credit: David Banks // USA Today Sports Images

1. James Shields: 2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3 HR, 84 pitches.

Man, MAN. WOW he was bad. He had nothing, nuthin’. NOTHING. That line looks bad, I’ll admit that line looks bad, but listen, listen, lissen…it was worse than that looks.

He was awful. Awful! Not bad luck, not BABIP, just meatballs and pitches in the dirt. Nothing else. Whoa. Whoa, that was bad. Wowee kazowee. Looooooooorrrrrrd.

2. Shields could not, would not, throw his curve for a strike. Or really finish any of his pitches at all. Maybe I shouldn’t be so specific about the strikes or balls distinction, as Shields just couldn’t find his location in any sort of way. The super-hangers he offered up to Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Drew, and Danny Espinosa that got bombed into the seats certainly found the zone after all.

Those were some standouts moments of hard contact, but Shields got behind everyone, and couldn’t come back in the zone with any kind of command and just was hammered until he was mercifully pulled with no one out in the third.

If it’s any solace, Shields stuff seemed like it had somewhat normal life, and his velocity was fine, he just looked completely a mess mechanically. This is obviously really bad for someone who is supposed to be an immediate upgrade and instead looks to be his own project, but he doesn’t look completely cooked and near retirement. This distinction is significant for a team that gave John Danks the ball several times this year.

3. Max Scherzer effortly blitzed through the White Sox punchless lineup, twirling seven shutout innings with just 97 pitches. The only runner he allowed to reach third base was Jimmy Rollins in the fifth, who was unwisely sent home by third base Joe McEwing on an Avisail Garcia single, only to be thrown out at home by 15 feet by Bryce Harper to end the inning. The Sox were losing 7-0 at the time.

A pair of ninth inning doubles by Jose Abreu and Melky Cabrera ended the shutout, and RBI singles by Garcia and Adam Eaton gave the Sox offense a semi-decent night thanks to some inexplicable late-game relief noodling from Nationals manager Dusty Baker, who no one would criticize for being bored.

4. The White have an eight-man bullpen, and got three innings out of Last Man Matt Purke the previous night, but not only used by Nate Jones and David Robertson to “get some work in” (In Robertson’s case he just got worked for a Jayson Werth three-run bomb), but also used J.B. Shuck to pitch the ninth.

Shuck touched the low-90s with some sinking action and should probably start stealing some innings from Dan Jennings, but tossing out Jones and Robertson to knock the rust off is less than amusing after the Detroit series, and every other game where the Robin Ventura sent out the flotsam of his relief corps every time they fell behind by a run.

5. After being 23-10 at one point, the Sox have gone 6-20, which is the worst in baseball over that time, because how could it not be.

Team Record: 29-30

Next game is Thursday at 8:10pm ET vs. Washington on WPWR

Lead Image Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski // USA Today Sports Images

Mat Latos somehow survived the ax when James Shields was added to the rotation. Though it’s likely just a statement about Miguel Gonzalez and his skill set more likely to play up in the bullpen than what Latos is working with, it does provide him at least one more opportunity to prove himself able. Though the Sox have won the last two games Latos has started, run prevention has not been a strong point. He’s managed to finally accumulate some swings and misses on his fastball, but his inability to limit walks hasn’t allowed his extremely modest increase in strikeout rate to play up. He waited until his fourth start of the season to allow his first home run, but has been consistent in allowing one or two per start since. He also lowered his two-seam usage during that time, perhaps not coincidentally.

Joe Ross would seem to be putting together a nice little season thus far, bringing a 2.37 ERA into Tuesday’s contest over 10 starts. That number isn’t reflective of his peripherals, though – cFIP (103) shows him as roughly league average on the season – scouting reports on him from last season project a fourth starter profile for him, which falls more in line to what his early fielding independent numbers are showing. Like Latos, a nice start has caught up to him a bit, as 12 of his 16 earned runs have come in his last five starts after he cruised through the first five allowing just four. An opportunity to take advantage of a trend exists for the White Sox.

Melky Cabrera has returned and seen his shadow, which means summer is here and there is no longer a need for Coats, who has been optioned back to Charlotte. J.B. Shuck will get some extra plate appearances at DH with Austin Jackson hopefully fully mobile in center field again. A glance at the batting order any given day is a plea for the next trade. Jerry Sands found himself DFA’d today, so not everything is chaos.

White Sox Lineup:

1. Adam Eaton – RF
2. Austin Jackson – CF
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Brett Lawrie – 2B
7. J.B. Shuck – DH
8. Dioner Navarro – C
9. Tyler Saladino – SS

Nationals Lineup:

1. Ben Revere – LF
2. Jayson Werth – DH
3. Bryce Harper – RF
4. Daniel Murphy – 2B
5. Wilson Ramos – C
6. Ryan Zimmerman – 1B
7. Anthony Rendon – 3B
8. Danny Espinosa – SS
9. Michael Taylor – CF

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports Images