WHITE SOX HEADLINES of DECEMBER 18, 2017 “Former White Sox Players Return to Rep Team”… Scott Merkin, MLB.Com “White

WHITE SOX HEADLINES OF DECEMBER 18, 2017 “Former White Sox players return to rep team”… Scott Merkin, MLB.com “White Sox reportedly not offering up top prospects for Manny Machado” … Vinnie Duber, NBC Sports Chicago “Jose Contreras, Tim Raines join A.J. Pierzynski as new White Sox ambassadors” … Vinnie Duber, NBC Sports Chicago “Player injured at Guaranteed Rate Field sues White Sox for negligence” … Staff, Chicago Tribune “Tim Raines joins A.J. Pierzynski, Jose Contreras as White Sox ambassadors” … Chris Kuc, Chicago Tribune “Ballplayer sues White Sox over injury at Guaranteed Rate Field” … Tom Schuba, Chicago Tribune “Jose Contreras embracing new role with White Sox” … Daryl Van Schouwen, Chicago Sun-Times “Rick Hahn: Acquiring more talent, inspiring more dreams” … Jon Greenberg, The Athletic “The votes are in for The Athletic Chicago’s Person of the Year” … Jon Greenberg, The Athletic “White Sox have eyes trained on players’ offseason progress, but balance is key” … James Fegan, The Athletic “Q&A: Nick Hostetler on slow starts, best player available myths and the deepest draft he’s ever seen” … James Fegan, The Athletic “Jose Contreras aims to make transitions for Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert easier than his own” … James Fegan, The Athletic “Ballplayer sues White Sox over injury at Guaranteed Rate Field” … Staff, NBC Chicago “Ex-Yankee sues White Sox over season-ending injury” … Greg Joyce, New York Post “MLB player sues White Sox, Illinois over injury suffered in outfield” … Matt Bonesteel, The Washington Post “Former Yankees Outfielder Dustin Fowler is suing the White Sox” … Charlotte Carroll, Sports Illustrated “Dustin Fowler, former Yankee, sues White Sox over injury” … Nicholas Parco, New York Daily News “Dustin Fowler suing White Sox, Guaranteed Rate Field agency for serious knee injury” … Staff, ESPN.com Former White Sox players return to rep team Contreras, Pierzynski, Raines brought aboard as ambassadors By Scott Merkin / MLB.com | Dec. 15, 2017

CHICAGO -- Jose Contreras was working out recently when he received a call from White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams to rejoin the organization as a team ambassador.

"I was almost in shock," Contreras said through interpreter Billy Russo during a Friday conference call following the official announcement. "I had to discuss it with my family, and we're ready to do it because it's a very good opportunity.

"Baseball is my life. I've been around it for 30 years."

The White Sox also announced A.J. Pierzynski and Hall of Famer Tim Raines as part of Friday's new ambassador trio, joining Harold Baines, Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk, Mike Huff, Bo Jackson, Ron Kittle, Carlos May, Bill Melton, Donn Pall, Dan Pasqua and Mike Squires. Team ambassadors make appearances on behalf of the organization and serve as team representatives in the community and throughout baseball.

"It's always good to have former White Sox back and looking to contribute," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said of the new ambassadors. "It's a testament to their time here and their loyalty to [chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] and appreciation to him."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Raines, who played five years for the White Sox and coached for two years, joining Contreras and Pierzynski as part of the 2005 World Series championship team. "Being a part of an organization after being a player is sort of giving back, giving back to the game, giving back to some of the players that are trying to reach their goal as far as being Major Leaguers. I feel like that's my way of giving back."

Contreras' role runs deeper within the organization. The 46-year-old will do work on the baseball side and spend time in the Minor Leagues with some of the club's Latin players to help in their acclimation to being pro players in the states.

This job already has been achieved unofficially by Contreras, who served as a mentor to Cuban countrymen Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo while playing for the White Sox. Contreras had two years of big league experience before his '05 season, which stands as the best of his career. Contreras credits that development, in part, to the presence of fellow Cuban Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez guiding him in the rotation.

Cuban natives Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert all hold significant roles in the current White Sox rebuild.

"When I left the island, I spent 11 years after I was able to come back," Contreras said. "My dad died and I had to bury him by phone. I wasn't able to come back there to be with him or with my family at that time. It's hard for everybody.

"But the guys from Japan or the guys from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, once the season ends, they could go back to their country. For us as Cubans, we couldn't and that made the process even tougher for us.

"Having people who can understand that is going to help all those young guys in trying to make adjustments as easy as possible. I'm excited just to be with them and try to share my knowledge."

White Sox reportedly not offering up top prospects for Manny Machado By Vinnie Duber / NBC Sports Chicago | Dec. 15, 2017

The Manny Machado saga spins on, though it’s looking far less promising for White Sox fans who wanted to see the Baltimore Orioles’ superstar third baseman come to the South Side this winter.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale chronicled the latest happenings with Machado in an exhaustive Thursday report that heavily featured the White Sox, who apparently have not decided to blow up their rebuilding effort by dealing away multiple top prospects. That’s not happening, per Nightengale, who reported the White Sox didn’t include any of their highest rated guys in an offer that was at one point reported to be the best out there for Machado. Nightengale did still report the White Sox offer as “solid.”

In fact, as Nightengale continued, it seems the White Sox made their offer completely expecting to have Machado for just the 2018 season. Machado is slated to be one of the headliners of next winter’s crazy good free-agent class.

The catch comes, perhaps not surprisingly to those familiar with the Orioles’ reputation, from Baltimore owner Peter Angelos, who is dramatically concerned that the White Sox would acquire Machado simply to flip him elsewhere in a trade — specifically, Angelos worries, to the New York Yankees, the Orioles’ division rivals. Nightengale added that the White Sox have repeatedly assured the Orioles they won’t do such a thing, but Angelos doesn’t seem to be sold.

The big headline for the White Sox, though, from the whole thing is that all this buzz and speculation doesn’t seem to involve them pulling a 180 on what they’ve worked for more than a year to do: gather a ton of highly touted prospects and build a homegrown champion. Michael Kopech, who seemed to fit the Orioles’ wishes as a young controllable pitcher, has been said to be “untouchable.” And if none of the organization’s top prospects were included in the deal, as Nightengale said, it’d be logical to assume that Lucas Giolito wasn’t involved in the team’s trade proposal either.

The White Sox became the buzz of baseball on the final day of the Winter Meetings with reports flying all over the place that they were making the most aggressive push for Machado and that they had made the Orioles the best offer of any team. The initial, middle-of-the-night report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal listed Kopech and Giolito as potential trade chips.

But a trade seemed to make little sense for the South Siders, who would have to give up multiple of their precious prospects — players projected to be the future of the big league team and deliver perennial contention — for nothing more than one guaranteed season of Machado, who is expected to receive a huge payday once he hits the free-agent market. Even with Machado, the White Sox wouldn’t figure to be a championship contender in 2018. That’d be putting all the eggs into one basket, that one season in Chicago would somehow convince Machado to skip the free-agent frenzy and sign with the White Sox.

Simply put, it’d be an incredibly risky move.

But apparently those aren’t the dice Rick Hahn and his front office are ready to roll, which ought to ease the concerns of rebuild fans, even if it might disappoint those who wanted to see Machado come to Chicago.

Jose Contreras, Tim Raines join A.J. Pierzynski as new White Sox ambassadors By Vinnie Duber / NBC Sports Chicago | Dec. 15, 2017

The White Sox are welcoming back two more fan favorites.

They added to their growing list of team ambassadors Friday, announcing that Jose Contreras and Tim Raines will be joining A.J. Pierzynski — who made his own announcement Monday at the Winter Meetings — in returning to the organization.

Like Pierzynski, Contreras was a member of the beloved 2005 world championship squad. He teamed with Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland and Orlando Hernandez to form a formidable rotation that season. Contreras posted a 3.61 ERA during the 2005 regular season but was even better in the postseason, turning in a 3.09 ERA in four starts. He pitched into the eighth inning in each of those starts, including a complete-game effort in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, which the White Sox won to clinch the pennant.

All in all, Contreras spent six seasons with the White Sox from 2004 to 2009.

Raines, meanwhile, is a newly enshrined Hall of Famer, inducted earlier this year in honor of his 23-year major league career. He spent five of those seasons on the South Side and holds the franchise record in stolen-base percentage. He swiped 143 bags during his White Sox tenure.

Raines hit 98 doubles, 28 triples and 50 homers in a White Sox uniform.

The addition of this latest trio of ambassadors adds to an already impressive group of former White Sox in that role: Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, Mike Huff, Bo Jackson, Ron Kittle, Carlos May, Bill Melton, Donn Pall, Dan Pasqua and Mike Squires.

Player injured at Guaranteed Rate Field sues White Sox for negligence By Staff / Chicago Tribune | Dec. 16, 2017

Former New York Yankees outfielder Dustin Fowler is suing the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority for negligence after he suffered a serious knee injury June 29 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Sun-Times reported Friday that Fowler, now with the Oakland Athletics, is seeking an unspecified amount of money for injuries incurred when he crashed into an unpadded electrical box in right-field foul territory during the bottom of the first inning.

He suffered an open rupture of the patellar tendon in his right knee and later underwent surgery, ending his season before his first major-league at-bat. He was due to lead off the next inning.

According to the report, Fowler filed a lawsuit Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming the Sox and the ISFA “acted negligently by not securing the metal box or taking precautions to prevent players from colliding with it.” In addition, the suit alleges the Sox and ISFA failed to adequately inspect the right field wall and the box.

Tim Raines joins A.J. Pierzynski, Jose Contreras as White Sox ambassadors By Chris Kuc / Chicago Tribune | Dec. 15, 2017

While the White Sox remain focused on the future, they dipped into their past Friday with the official announcement that A.J. Pierzynski, Jose Contreras and Tim Raines will be team ambassadors.

Raines, inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, played 648 games with the Sox from 1991 to ’95 and batted .283 with 440 runs scored and 143 stolen bases.

“It was five great years I spent in Chicago,” Raines said. “Not only that … (but) winning a World Series as a coach (in 2005), so a lot of fond memories. I’m looking forward to being a part of it all over again.

“Being a part of an organization after being a player is sort of giving back … to the game, giving back to some of the players that are trying to reach their goal as far as being major-leaguers.”

The news of Pierzynski and Contreras — teammates on the 2005 World Series champion Sox — becoming ambassadors was reported earlier this week.

Contreras played six seasons with the Sox (2004-09), going 55-56 with a 4.66 ERA and 628 strikeouts in 148 games.

“It’s something I’m going to take a lot of pride in,” Contreras said via a team interpreter. “As I did as a player, I’m going to do that as an ambassador. I’m going to do my best and help … all the people who need my help.”

In addition to representing the Sox in the community, the ambassadors will be looked upon to be mentors to current players. For Contreras, that includes Cuban countrymen Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert and Jose Abreu. Contreras said he can use his experience of leaving Cuba in 2002 to join the Yankees and some of the difficulties that followed to help guide them.

“It’s something that people have to understand and take into consideration when you are trying to evaluate the performance of us on the field,” Contreras said. “I think I can help those young guys who try to make the adjustment, who try to make this process as smooth as possible, and share my experience and help in wherever they need me.”

Pierzynski hit .279 with 198 doubles, 118 home runs and 460 RBIs in 1,068 games over eight seasons with the Sox (2005-12).

“He was my catcher for most of my career with the White Sox,” Contreras said. “He’s a competitor, he’s a serious guy. He doesn’t like to lose. … He helped me a lot in my career. I’m glad to share the role.”

Ballplayer sues White Sox over injury at Guaranteed Rate Field By Tom Schuba / Chicago Sun-Times | Dec. 16, 2017

An outfielder who was seriously injured during his Major League debut at Guaranteed Rate Field last summer is suing the White Sox and the state agency that manages the ballpark.

Dustin Fowler’s lawsuit, filed Friday, claims that the Sox and the agency were negligent in not securing the unpadded electrical box he collided with along the right field line during the June 29 game.

Fowler, then playing for the New York Yankees, crashed into the right field wall while chasing down a fly ball in foul territory. Fowler hit the low side of the wall at full speed, causing him to flip over. When he tried to stand up, he fell to the ground, prompting a gasp from the crowd.

The top-100 prospect, playing his first major league game, was sidelined for the rest of the season after emergency surgery at Rush University Medical Center.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority acted negligently by not securing the metal box or taking precautions to prevent players from colliding with it. In addition, the suit alleges the White Sox and Sports Facilities Authority failed to adequately inspect the right field wall and the box. The box was installed at knee-level “in a manner so as to create a hidden and undetectable hazard” to Fowler and other ballplayers, the suit alleges. By failing to properly pad, guard or cover the exposed box, the defendants showed “an utter indifference to or conscious disregard” for Fowler’s safety.

Both the Sox and the the agency knew of the unsafe condition and had ample time to improve them before the incident, the suit claims.

Representatives for the White Sox and the ISFA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fowler, traded to the Oakland Athletics in July, suffered “severe and permanent” internal and external injuries, as well as mental pain and anguish, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also claims Fowler had to spend “large sums of money” for medical care related to the injury.

Fowler is seeking an unspecified amount of money from the White Sox and the ISFA.

Jose Contreras embracing new role with White Sox By Daryl Van Schouwen / Chicago Sun-Times | Dec. 15, 2017

The White Sox’ expanding club of ambassadors added three more members Friday, including one, Jose Contreras, who in addition to performing customary ambassador-type work is expected to assist Latin players with the sometimes difficult challenge of adjusting to life in a new country.

Contreras, 46, who went 3-1 with a 3.09 ERA and one complete game for the Sox during the 2005 postseason, said he was “almost in shock” when Sox vice president Ken Williams called to ask him about a role Contreras said he feels “absolutely” equipped to take on.

“I lived the experience as a player and I survived that process,’’ said Contreras, a Las Martinas, Cuba native who enjoyed an 11-year career with the Yankees, Sox, Rockies, Phillies and Pirates. “I can tell the young guys to make adjustments more smoothly, to help and put them in the best possible position. I’ve passed through that process, I know how to do it, and that’s why I feel very confident that I can [assist] with those young kids.’’

The Sox have a long line of Cuban influence in their history, starting with Minnie Minoso and continuing today with Jose Abreu and prized prospect Luis Robert. After discussing the offer with his family, Contreras jumped in.

“Baseball is my life,’’ he said. “I’ve been around it for 30 years. To come back to my organization … I’m going to take a lot of pride in this, and I love this organization, I love this city, the fans and all the people all around the White Sox.’’

The Sox also named Hall of Fame outfielder Tim Raines and catcher A.J. Pierzynski ambassadors. Pierzynski caught Contreras during the 2005 World Series season and Raines, who played for the Sox from 1995, was manager Ozzie Guillen’s first-base coach in 2005. He was inducted into Cooperstown in July.

Pierzynski announced his new role with the Sox at the Winter Meetings near his home in Orlando, Fla., earlier this week. Raines joined Contreras on a conference call with translator Billy Russo and media Friday morning.

“Being a part of an organization after playing for it sort of giving back to the game, giving back to the players trying to reach their goal of being major leaguers,’’ Raines said.

Five years as a player and “two years as a coach and winning a World Series [provided] a lot of fond memories,” Raines said. “I’m looking forward to being a part of it all over again.’’

Contreras, Pierzynski and Raines join Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, Bo Jackson, Bill Melton, Carlos May, Ron Kittle, Mike Huff, Donn Pall, Dan Pasqua and Mike Squires as team ambassadors who make appearances and serve as team representatives in the community and throughout baseball.

Pierzynski will represent the Sox at the 2018 Draft.

“If Rick Hahn or Kenny picks the wrong guy I can always change it at the podium,’’ Pierzynski joked this week.

Rick Hahn: Acquiring more talent, inspiring more dreams By Jon Greenberg / The Athletic | Dec. 17, 2017

On the back wall of Rick Hahn’s office hangs a framed depth chart.

In a room full of professional tchotchkes, framed pictures of his sons, moments and players that remain frozen in time, this is an important piece of memorabilia for the White Sox general manager.

The depth chart is from the end of the 2004 season and there’s a reason he keeps it up in an office that has become ground zero for the ongoing rebuild of the White Sox.

On the color-coded sheet of paper, a flood of names return. Wilson Valdez is the starting shortstop. Jamie Burke and Ben Davis are the catchers. Timo Perez and Joe Borchard in the outfield. Carlos Lee wasn’t yet traded. Jon Adkins and Shingo Takatsu were in the bullpen. It was the remnants of an 83-win team and an 83-win culture that had the Sox lagging behind their crosstown rivals and grasping for relevance.

“I mean, that's up there for a reason,” Hahn says. “Because, you see the date, 11-1-04. That '05 team, sort of came together a little bit over the course of that offseason. There's no (A.J.) Pierzynski, there's no (Bobby) Jenks at that time, there's no Tadahito (Iguchi), there's no (Scott) Podsednik. And that's up there as a reminder, purposely over there, but closest to my desk, as a reminder of what you're capable of putting together over the course of an offseason.”

That was the old White Sox way. Work and dream and see what happens. And there’s reason to remember the past, because in this case, the White Sox are trying not to repeat it. No more chasing the ghost of 2005.

“That said,” Hahn continues, “we’re trying to build something, obviously for the long term, and it's going to take a little longer than just an offseason to go from that to a championship caliber team.”

From 2006 through 2016, the White Sox made the playoffs just once. The ghost kept getting away.

In 2017, the Sox did something different. They lost 95 games, marking only the second time they lost more than 90 games since 1989. But unlike 2013, when they lost 99 times, this time, they lost with a purpose.

Over the past six years, all but one of Chicago’s five major teams have undergone or are undergoing rebuilds, truly living up to the city’s history of doing something with a do-over.

The Cubs, most famously, rebuilt a mediocre organization with a stripped-down approach that seemed interminable at first, and now, after a World Series and three straight NLCS appearances, like it was paint-by-numbers. (As the Cubs will tell you, it wasn't so easy.)

The White Sox had more to trade and thus, have gotten more early returns than the Cubs did in Year 1.

Will it work the same in the end? That's the question that will take years to answer. Winning, at some point, is the only thing that matters when you go down this road.

But in 2017, no general manager in town acquired more talent and inspired more dreams than Rick Hahn, and in this year, that was enough to make him The Athletic Chicago's Person of the Year. He didn't hit any actual homers, but his work at reshaping the White Sox roster and giving Sox fans a chance to dream again deserves some accolades.

Because at their core, all sports fans are dreamers. The allure of the unknown is what brings us back to losing teams, hopeless missions, impossible results.

The story of the 2016 Cubs wouldn't have been half as rich without the comeback in the World Series, the rain that drenched us in metaphor.

Nowadays, a professional sports rebuild is a dream wrapped in a modern, secular parable. Suffering leads to happiness. A long road to a worthwhile destination. It's not just wishful thinking. We've seen it happen the last two years with the Cubs and the Astros.

It wasn’t exactly a banner year for Chicago sports in 2017. The Cubs made their third-straight National League Championship Series, but after winning a World Series, losing a series in five games to the Dodgers wasn’t exactly thrilling. The Bears improved to 4-9 on Sunday. The Blackhawks lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year, getting swept by Nashville this time. The Bulls had the least enjoyable playoff season in recent memory and then blew up their team for their own rebuild.

In a vote among our writers and editors, Hahn wound up edging Anthony Rizzo, the charitable, selective, first baseman. (Perhaps if Rizzo didn’t finish the postseason in a 1-for-25 slump, he would’ve won.)

It’s a little odd to give an award to a GM whose team lost 95 games and traded two elite pitchers he should’ve built around, right? When he was told he won, Hahn asked for a recount.

Did he feel like a person of the year?

“Honestly, not at all,” he says. “Not at all. Fundamentally it’s nice for all of us around here to get recognition for what we’ve done over the last year. But in reality, everything that’s happened over the last year is just the first step in a long process that leads to ideally team accolades.”

Starting in last year’s winter meetings, Hahn traded, in order, Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Anthony Swarzak, Dan Jennings, Melky Cabrera and Tyler Clippard.

The Sox got back, in order, Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Dane Dunning, Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Blake Rutherford, Ian Clarkin, Tito Polo (“Eighty grade name,” Hahn says.), Ryan Cordell, Casey Gillaspie and A.J. Puckett, among other lesser names.

Those 14 players are all considered to be among or graduated from the White Sox’s top prospect list — our Sox prospect rankings are here — and they don't include the players acquired in recent drafts, which have been under new management the last two years.

In his first year of a rebuild, Hahn got the top hitting and pitching prospects from both Theo Epstein’s old team and his current one for the Sox’s top two pitchers. He got three pitchers for Eaton, a skilled but not overwhelming outfielder. He packaged two relievers and a third baseman going into free agency for a polarizing prospect. Most importantly, the White Sox acquired organizational depth.

In 2016, Baseball America considered the White Sox to have the 23rd rated farm system. Every year, it seemed, the Sox were ranked somewhere between 20 and 30 and while they could usually spot pitching talent, impact position players were harder to come by. The 2005 team, remember, had just two homegrown starting position players, Joe Crede and Aaron Rowand.

By February 2017, Baseball America ranked the Sox's farm system fifth in baseball. After the Braves lost their top international prospects due to a scandal, the Sox's system is considered by many evaluators as having the top collection of prospects in baseball.

On the most recent MLB.com prospect list (which includes Shohei Ohtani), the Sox have the fifth, 10th, 23rd, 58th and 91st ranked players. That list doesn’t include Yoan Moncada, Giolito or Lopez, all of whom ended the season in the majors. Baseball America had Moncada listed as the top prospect in its midseason rankings, with Jimenez fifth, Kopech 20th, Robert 45th and Lopez, Giolito and Cease all in the top 100.

“It was an exciting year, and one that I hope a few years from now we can look back on as a start of something real good,” Hahn says. “But as I sit here right now, at the end of '17, and wanting to make that next move that continues that progress going, and knowing that it’s probably not out there right now, given the things we’ve already done and the fact that we need to let these guys grow. I don't really take too much solace in what we’ve already accomplished. It’s more about what’s next, and trying to put us in a position to do what’s next. So, it was a good year. What’s next?”

“What’s next” is the appropriate mantra for this team. But it doesn’t hurt to think back to what happened in 2017.

Let’s start in 2016, first.

Mired in mediocrity On July 21, 2016, Hahn met with reporters before the start of a homestand. The White Sox had just finished off a 1-5 road trip and were 46-48. They had gone 23-38 since a hot start to the season had led many to believe the team's most recent infusion of veteran players had pushed the team into contention. As it turned out, trading Fernando Tatis Jr. for James Shields wasn't an organizational masterstroke.

“As we sit here today, we’ve been wrestling with being a couple games over, a couple games under .500 for the last few weeks,” Hahn said. “We’re mired in mediocrity. That’s not the goal, that’s not acceptable, that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish for the long-term.

“We’ve spent a fair amount of time focusing on the here-now for the last few years and it hasn’t paid off as handsomely as we hoped,” he said.

As I reminded Hahn of that moment, he pointed to the Sox’s vice president of communications Scott Reifert, who was sitting on his office couch during our conversation.

“Someone sitting in this room, not me, probably not you, was not too happy with me after that press conference,” Hahn says. “Scott turned to me and said, ‘Did you have to use alliteration?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about.’ He said, ‘You said mired in mediocrity.’ First, I didn’t realize the alliteration and second, I was just talking and didn’t realize that was a catchphrase, so to speak, or emblematic labeling of where we were at. It was just honest. We obviously branded where we were at pretty effectively, but that was not the intent — but just trying to clearly express to our fans that we were feeling the same things they were feeling.”

The 2016 season was a wild one, even by White Sox counterculture standards. First, you had the Adam LaRoche retirement and the national story that made Drake LaRoche a household name. You had Sale, the team spokesman, ripping vice president Kenny Williams to reporters. You had Eaton going on Chicago radio and declaring that the teenage son of an over-the-hill slugger was a team leader. It was a circus.

“Did not like having 'Good Morning America' broadcast from outside our spring training complex,” Hahn says. “Yeah, unless it's following a World Series, or some sort of parade or something, that's generally not an indication that things are functioning well from a baseball standpoint. So that was frustrating. … The non-baseball media coverage of the LaRoche situation was probably the depth to which we do not want to sink ever again.”

But then the Sox started off 23-10, erasing notions this was a sinking ship (for like a month).

“It looked really good for awhile,” Hahn says. “People were talking about a crosstown World Series in May. And then by whatever mid-June, late July we started turning the page on it.”

Two days after Hahn's mired in mediocrity speech, Sale showed his frustration with the team’s retro jerseys by cutting up them all up in the clubhouse. Another national joke in which the White Sox were the punchline. Sale was suspended and it truly felt like the beginning of the end.

The Cubs won the World Series in seven games, giving Sox fans the blueprint for how you start over. The fans, who seemed almost allergic to going to games, were ready.

Time for a Sale The White Sox had won the winter in recent years, with nothing to show for it in the summer. In 2010, they re-signed Paul Konerko and added Adam Dunn. In 2013, they traded for Eaton and signed Jose Abreu. In 2014, they added Adam LaRoche, Zach Duke, Jeff Samardzija, Cabrera and Robertson.

Last winter, they won the offseason by losing guys. On the second day of the winter meetings last December, the Sox executed the Sale trade. On the third day, Hahn traded Eaton for three pitchers.

“The Friday before a bunch of us are sitting in this office,” Hahn says. “The boards are covered up behind you, but there are all sorts of tags on those boards and we’re going through all kinds of different scenarios on Chris and one of the guys sitting on the couch over there said, ‘What’s the latest on Boston?’ and I said ‘Let’s find out.’ It was around 5 or 6 o'clock our time and I think we caught David (Dombrowski) at dinner. That conversation was sort of the first real step forward, that Friday night, and we talked again Saturday. We had travel issues Sunday with the snow and Monday we zeroed on it and we came to an agreement on Tuesday. It happened really quick in the end, but it took several weeks to get to that point. But really it was Friday night in this office, it really ramped up.”

After the tumultuous year and Hahn’s insinuations about a rebuild, Sale knew he was likely a goner.

“Chris knew the trade was coming and not just because it leaked out on Twitter in advance,” Hahn says. “But he knew where we were at, he knew what we trying to do. I had conversations with his agent and I talked to Chris at the end of the year. It was difficult to trade Chris, I certainly didn’t relish going down as the general manager who had to trade Chris Sale.”

Sale finished fifth in the Cy Young voting in 2016 and second in 2017 with Boston, striking out 308 in 214 1/3 innings, after trying to go easy on strikeouts the prior season. When he returned to Chicago, fans were happy to see him, but more hopeful for the future. After all, what did the Sox win with him?

When Chris Sale returned to the South Side this past season, fans were happy to see him, but more excited to talk about Yoan Moncada, the star infield prospect they got in return for Sale. Jon Durr/Getty Images) “The day after the Chris Sale trade, we had these general manager meetings,” Hahn says. “A bunch of clubs were coming up to us, ‘Great haul for Sale…Fantastic deal…I understand why you were asking for so much when you were talking to us…blah blah blah.' The first thing that came to your mind was, of course we did well. We traded Chris Fricking Sale. If we’re the least bit competent, we should be doing well in a deal like that.”

Eaton was a different story. A talented player, his personality didn’t always mesh in the clubhouse. While Sale was hot- tempered on things that mattered to him (Drake LaRoche, jersey comfort), Eaton could just be annoying.

That he got the Sox three pitchers — including Giolito, who was once considered the top pitching prospect in baseball — was a crucial part of the rebuild because it gave the Sox much-needed pitching depth.

Robert barons Between the winter meetings and late May, the White Sox didn’t make any significant moves. But that didn’t mean they weren’t working. Starting in February, everyone was focused on a young Cuban outfielder named Luis Robert.

Robert was the last of the big Cuban players on the open market before new international signing rules kicked in. Even though the Sox had to pay a $26 million bonus and a nearly dollar-for-dollar tax for exceeding international spending limits to sign him, they were dead set on doing it. Yes, that includes the chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who didn’t have to be talked into this deal.

“Most of my phone conversations with Jerry, there’s a reason for the call, we handle the issue, we kibitz for a few minutes and it’s over,” Hahn says. “On average, three to seven minutes, let’s say. Jerry called me one night during spring training, randomly, and we talked for 35 minutes about Luis Robert. He called me, he wanted to hear more about where we were at, what we planned to do, how it was going to unfold, what was the timing. He was locked into this from February.”

This is the kind of move Hahn gets credit for, but the real organizational hero was Marco Paddy, their Latin American scouting boss, who saw Robert play in 2012 for Cuba in a 15U world championship tournament in Mexico. He pushed Hahn and Kenny Williams into pouring his international budget (and then some) into Robert’s basket.

Robert, who turns 21 next August, played 28 games in the Dominican Summer League last season and killed his competition. He’ll likely spend most of the upcoming season at Class-A Winston-Salem, playing for new manager Omar Vizquel.

“There was a lot of people around here felt thrilled here and it went against some of the conventional wisdom that the White Sox would never pay a $26 million tax to Major League Baseball to sign one player,” Hahn says.

Why was Reinsdorf so focused on Robert?

“Because he knew it was an attainable impact piece that would further this progress,” Hahn says. “It would build off what we started and hopefully we’d be able add at the deadline on the other side of it. It’s never an easy conversation with Jerry when you point out it's just money, but in this situation it wasn’t going to cost us talent, it wasn’t going to cost us draft picks, it was going to cost us money, but we were in the position economically where he supported to get it done. He knew it would be a big shot in the arm in what we’re trying to accomplish long term and it was attainable too.”

The crosstown trade Hahn has two White Sox meatball fans as sons and when they’re not quizzing him about the timeline of the rebuild, they’re often playing baseball or hockey. On the day he first reached out to Theo Epstein about trading Jose Quintana to the Cubs, Hahn was at a game somewhere in the northern suburbs.

“I was actually sitting at my older son’s baseball game the morning I wound up reaching (out) to Theo,” Hahn said. “A buddy, a dad of one of his teammates, walks by me. I was sitting by myself over the left field wall sitting on the bench. Parents had to walk by me to get to their seats. One of the dads, as he walked by, said, ‘If there is anything I can add to the package to get Q to go to Milwaukee instead of the Cubs, let me know.'

“So we laughed it off. Little did he know I had spent the last hour half-watching this game — I think my kid’s team was getting no-hit — and half going through scouting reports on the Cubs.”

Hahn and his staff had done their work gauging the market and they knew what the line was as far as an accepted return for Quintana.

“If the Cubs were willing to start something with Eloy and Dylan Cease, that put them over the line,” he says. “We at least wanted to have the conversation.”

Going back to Williams’ days publicly running things, the White Sox were known for being straight-forward with trade proposals. There isn’t a lot of BS with them. Hahn told Epstein if he were willing to talk Jimenez and Cease, they could do a deal. If not, they would move on.

But Quintana was exactly what the Cubs needed, a top-three rotation type with years of control and an affordable salary.

Aside from a geographical rivalry (Sox officials tend to resent the Cubs for having such advantages in media coverage and fan support more than the other way around), one reason the teams didn’t make many deals is they were both usually “going for it,” albeit with limited success. But in this scenario, the Cubs weren’t focused on their minor league system any more. Their rebuild culminated in a World Series and Quintana was a guy who could help through 2020.

So Hahn could ask for their top hitter and pitcher and work from there.

“That’s certainly not how every trade begins,” Hahn says. “But in the interest of time and the fact we had already fully vetted this market and were close to doing something elsewhere, it was easy to do. Especially with them because we knew ancillary noise involved we knew we had to cut to the chase and be clear. 'Look it needs to start with this and if it doesn’t, we completely respect that, but we’re going to go a different way.' Once we were able to zero in that was going to be workable, it was time to build off it, which took a few hours but we were able to get there.”

By the time the talks were finalized, Hahn was in Miami for the All-Star game with his younger son Charlie. While they watched the game, he texted back and forth Epstein “bickering over the last two players for several hours.”

They agreed on the four players (infielders Matt Rose and Bryant Flete were traded to the Sox as well) late in the game, ownership checked off on the deal Wednesday and the players’ medical info was passed along.

On Thursday morning they told the players and announced the trade via Twitter. While the trade had already leaked out on Reddit and through lesser-known Twitter profiles, several mainstream reporters had heard the stirring and were trying to get it confirmed as Hahn, standing in his backyard, broke the news to a surprised Quintana.

“Literally when I’m on the phone with Q, I got text messages from a couple members of the Chicago media,” Hahn says. “One of them was like, ‘Q to the Cubs?’ One of them was ‘Eloy?’ I knew once I hung up with him, we’re announcing this thing. So I had to cut the conversation short with him, which sucked, but I caught up with him next week when we played. He was so gracious, so appreciative about everything we’ve done for him. He was going on and I had to go.”

Despite reporters asking him when he was going to traded and how would he feel about it since the first day of spring training, Quintana was still affected by the trade and that made it tough for Hahn, who said it was harder to deal Quintana than Sale in that regard.

“We all knew it was the right thing to do, but he was shook by it,” he says.

Sox fans were overjoyed. Jimenez was already a familiar name in town as one of the jewels of the Cubs system. No one was focused on the Cubs getting the Sox's best remaining pitcher, but rather the Sox getting the Cubs' best prospect. Jimenez quickly showed he was worth the love.

Now this isn't important anymore, but I had to ask: For all the talk about doing what’s best for the team, would Hahn have had the guts to trade Sale to the Cubs to start this entire process? The Sox were criticized last winter because ESPN insider Buster Olney hinted they wouldn't trade Sale to the Cubs.

“Fair question,” he says. “I want to say no because my job is to be objective and take the best deal and not be overly attached to a guy’s name or his personality. But the fact is there’s a strong argument especially with the extra year of control that Quintana is every bit as valuable as Chris Sale, if not more so, given the contract. But there is something, if it were the first trade of this entire process and it was to move our most marquee name to the Cubs, on the other side of town, that might’ve been a bridge too far initially.”

Let's be real, Sale’s “stick it up your ass” persona going to the North Side wasn’t going to happen unless the Cubs offered Kris Bryant.

With that in mind, the Cubs, the local media and the fans in Chicago didn’t think a deal would happen with the White Sox, but the Sox loved to surprise us in 2017.

“The Wednesday night after ownership signed off and we got the medicals, Theo and I were talking and he was actually the one raised it,” Hahn says. “He goes, ‘I think both organizations should take a great deal of pride of not letting any of the BS get in the way of a good baseball deal that makes sense for both teams.’ They’ve obviously felt it as well. They have had similar conversations as well.”

While the Sox could sell their plan on the rebuilding success of teams like Kansas City and Houston, having the Cubs front and center in their fans' minds made for an easy sell.

“People get it,” Hahn says.

Wheelin' and dealin' Hahn kept pushing after that one was done, packaging Frazier, Robertson and Kahnle to the Yankees for a package of lesser-touted players, led by outfielder Blake Rutherford. This was the one deal where the return value was less clear, but Hahn felt packaging those three players was the team's best option. Again, organizational depth.

“We obviously had a fair amount of conversations going on about them individually with a number of clubs,” Hahn says. “The Yankees obviously were interested in all of them. Breaking them up just wasn’t delivering the type of value back that we felt had the potential to have a longer-term impact, like a deal centered around Blake Rutherford. Could have moved them each individually, we could have obviously saved the money on each of them. We could’ve brought back some level of prospect from each of them individually, but in the end, we felt, ‘Let’s maximize the return. Let’s get the most impactful potential player that’s available.’”

There are differing views on exactly what kind of prospect Rutherford is.

“There is,” Hahn says. “And I get it. Let’s revisit that one in a year. And I get why there’s some doubt about the power because he hasn’t shown it at the professional level just yet. But this is an athletic kid with good mechanics, who’s still growing into his body and learning his swing and I think those that are a little more optimistic on his future are going to wind up proven correct. We’ll see.”

The moment All season, one TV in the Sox baseball operations suite was tuned to a minor league game. The front office could follow the action from Winston-Salem or Kannapolis or Birmingham or Charlotte on their personal devices, but there was a purpose to their viewing habits.

“We make sure it’s on the most interesting game for Jerry when he wanders over to ask why a guy didn’t get a bunt down in a certain situation at the big league level,” Hahn says. “We hope we can point to some highlights in Winston-Salem or elsewhere where guys are getting it done.”

Needless to say, everyone in the organization, not to mention Sox fans, watched more minor league baseball than they ever had. It’s easier to sell a rebuild in 2017 when every minor league park has cameras. The future is tangible and retweeted.

It helped that the guys the Sox traded for rose to the occasion. Kopech, considered a risky bet, excelled in Double-A, quickly surpassing Giolito as the top pitcher in the system. Giolito overcame some mechanical problems to earn his second trip to the majors. Moncada starred in Charlotte. Pitcher Alec Hansen, drafted in 2016, led the minors with 191 strikeouts. And Jimenez looked like the best prospect in the system. In 54 games between Single-A and Double-A, he put up a .338/.391/.609 slash line with 30 extra-base hits in 207 at-bats. Jimenez and Kopech could made their Sox debuts this season.

Moncada's debut in late July — almost a year to the date of the “mired in mediocrity” speech — was the most anticipated game of the season. His second-inning walk was treated like a ninth-inning plate appearance in the World Series.

“We chuckle a little bit thinking back to Moncada night, but that was sort of like the first taste of what we hope becomes a regular thing,” Hahn says. “It was the first chance for White Sox fans to get a little glimpse of future, just a little tease. One guy on his own is not going to change the course of a franchise, but people had a level of anticipation and excitement about what he brings, that was palpable that night in the ballpark.”

Hahn was sitting in the crowd with his son Jake and some of his friends during Moncada's first plate appearance, where he went from 0-2 to a walk.

“The baseball junkies in us get excited about stuff like that, but you rarely see the whole ballpark get excited about a guy going from 0-2 to working a walk,” Hahn says. “But it also sort of reinforced a little bit what we got going, thinking about the next guy's debut, the next one and the next one. Hopefully we'll have multiple nights like that next few years until they’re all together and the excitement comes from the wins and loses, as opposed to individual performances.”

Some baseball executives would argue that trading good major leaguers for prospects is the easy part. The winning is the hard part.

“I’m going to disagree with you,” Hahn says. ” The hard part is being patient and waiting for that chance to win.”

But, like Moncada in the box, the Sox are fine being patient for now and waiting for their moment to come.

The votes are in for The Athletic Chicago’s Person of the Year By Jon Greenberg / The Athletic | Dec. 18, 2017

At 46, Rick Hahn's best days as an athlete are over. But as you can read here, he won The Athletic Chicago's Person of the Year award.

How, you might ask? Well, you can read the story, of course. But here was the problem for the Chicago staff. Unlike, say, The Athletic Philadelphia or The Athletic Cleveland or The Athletic Bay Area, we didn't have a clear-cut winner.

Mitch Trubisky isn't Carson Wentz. Jimmy Butler wasn't LeBron James. No one in Chicago could be compared to Steph Curry. And the Cubs had the impossible task of living up to 2016.

Anthony Rizzo, the top athlete to be a contender, won the Roberto Clemente Award for his charity work and compiled more walks than strikeouts, but his numbers, will still very good, were better the last two years and his postseason tail-off is still fresh. Judging by our Slack conversation, it was essentially between him and Hahn.

So I put it to a vote with staff writers and regular contributors. I used the BBWAA voting method for the Cy Young Award, which is seven points for first place, four for second, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. I sent out a list of candidates with my own write-ups on their worthiness, but also allowed for write-in votes. A couple of candidates were submitted with a humorous bent, like Yoan Moncada's Instagram Page or ubiquitous sports radio personality (and author) David Kaplan.

Hahn and Anthony Rizzo had the same number of first-place votes and Rizzo had one more second-place vote, but Hahn, like Ricky's Boys, didn't quit, getting four third-place votes to stretch his lead over the Cubs first baseman.

In the interest of transparency, here are all of the ballots. The only voting explanations I included were from our Cubs columnist Andy Dolan, simply because they were funny. If you want the rest, hassle them on Twitter.

Vote totals Rick Hahn: 48 Anthony Rizzo: 42 Chris Collins: 22 Kris Bryant: 20 Javy Baez: 14 Rajon Rondo: 12 Bastian Schweinsteiger: 10 Theo Epstein: 7 Nemanja Nikolic: 7 Mitch Trubisky: 6 Jordan Howard: 5 Yoan Moncada’s IG account: 5 Corey Crawford: 4 Patrick Kane: 3 Taj Gibson: 3 Jimmy Butler: 2 Akiem Hicks: 2 Chicago: 2 Christen Press: 2 Joe Maddon: 1 Jonathan Toews: 1 David Kaplan: 1 “Not” John Fox: 1

Ballots

Jon Greenberg, editor-in-chief/columnist 1. Kris Bryant 2. Rick Hahn 3. Javy Baez 4. Mitch Trubisky 5. Theo Epstein

James Fegan, White Sox beat writer 1. Rick Hahn 2. Kris Bryant 3. Rajon Rondo 4. Yoan Moncada’s Instagram Account 5. The German guy on the Fire

Scott Powers, Blackhawks beat writer 1. Bastian Schweinsteiger 2. Chris Collins 3. Rick Hahn 4. Theo Epstein 5. Anthony Rizzo

Kevin Fishbain, Bears beat writer 1. Anthony Rizzo 2. Chris Collins 3. Rick Hahn 4. Jordan Howard 5. Bastian Schweinsteiger

Andy Dolan, weekly Cubs columnist 1. Anthony Rizzo – Led the league in being hit by pitches (again), got screwed out of a Gold Glove, won the Roberto Clemente Award, still has a sandwich named after him at Buona Beef and got chased by an elephant while on vacation.

2. Kris Bryant – Got a first place MVP vote, put up a “disappointing” (for him) .295/.409/.537 slash line, still starts every answer to every question with “Yeah,” got the funnier lines in the Bryzzo commercial, and couldn't recognize Greg Maddux throwing BP to him in a Red Bull ad.

3. Jordan Howard – There once was a time when being the best Bear automatically would have put you on top of this list, now it's basically like having the best toupee at the barber shop. Fastest Bear ever to 2,000 yards — faster even than Walter Payton, Gayle Sayers, Cedric Benson and Lewis Tillman.

4. Rick Hahn – Hard to give him this award until the prospects he's traded for actually…you know…play, but he gets bonus points for actually answering questions and stiff arming Kenny Williams (for now) away from the media after (most) every trade.

5. Chris Collins – If anybody actually cared about Northwestern basketball he'd be higher for ending the most embarrassing streak in NCAA men's basketball history. I'd rather vote for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, since she's the only recognizable thing associated with the program. Honorable mention: Miguel Montero for his immortal quote: “Whether they hate me or love me, they're going to remember me forever.”

Dan Pompei, Bears feature writer 1. Anthony Rizzo 2. Mitch Trubisky 3. Patrick Kane 4. Chris Collins 5. Joe Maddon

Sahadev Sharma, Cubs beat writer 1. Chris Collins 2. Theo Epstein 3. Anthony Rizzo 4. Rick Hahn 5. David “The Kapman” Kaplan

Lauren Comitor, editor/writer 1. Rick Hahn 2. Anthony Rizzo 3. Javy Baez 4. Rajon Rondo 5. Bastian Schweinsteiger

Will Gottlieb, Bulls contributor 1. Anthony Rizzo 2. Kris Bryant 3. Rick Hahn 4. Jimmy Butler 5. Javy Baez

Dan Durkin, Bears analyst 1. Rick Hahn 2. Chris Collins 3. Taj Gibson 4. Akiem Hicks 5. Kris Bryant

Rian Watt, Cubs contributor 1. Rick Hahn 2. Javy Baez 3. Yoan Moncada's Instagram 4. Chicago still not having won the Olympics for 2016 and thus having avoided crippling debt setting in this year. 5. Not John Fox

Evan Moore, contributor 1. Rajon Rondo 2. Corey Crawford 3. Rick Hahn 4. Anthony Rizzo 5. Chris Collins

Guillermo Rivera, Fire writer 1. Nemanja Nikolic 2. Anthony Rizzo 3. Javy Baez 4. Christen Press 5. Jonathan Toews

White Sox have eyes trained on players’ offseason progress, but balance is key By James Fegan / The Athletic | Dec. 15, 2017

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Maybe every young player in the White Sox organization saw the way Gordon Beckham was treated over the years on social media, with every posted photo of a dinner or a night out becoming an opportunity to inquire whether he was doing enough to tweak his swing. For whatever reason, a lot of the young Sox core is very active in informing fans just how much they're working in the offseason.

Nicky Delmonico, in particular, has upped the ante by taking the extra step of moving to the Phoenix area, so that he's close enough to the White Sox spring training facility to commute every weekday and do his work. Jake Burger indicated during instructional league that he would follow Delmonico's lead.

“It's exciting for us to see guys want to be there and want to be a part of continuing to improve and maintain strength and fitness leading to spring training,” manager Rick Renteria said of the emerging trend. “A lot of guys are kind of setting some roots there, some winter roots there. It's actually pretty awesome to see players, you have your own facility, our organization has our own facility, for them to be able to access at will and then have teammates that are in the area willing to go ahead and go out there and work.”

Delmonico, fresh off months of working and swinging in Arizona, had a surprisingly dominant 2017 spring training followed by a surprisingly dominant major league debut and did not hesitate to draw a connection between the two. In this line of work, finding some new tweak or adjustment a player has undertaken that leads to a different result is pretty much my reason to get up in the morning, and it's tempting to just write up how a team getting all its players to spend the offseason at its spring training complex is the new market inefficiency.

But there are some issues with that. First of all, the location is really ancillary. It's a user's choice sort of thing. Yoan Moncada is clearly keeping busy between trips back home to Cuba, Jose Abreu's offseason regime remains famously rigorous from his home in Florida. Zack Collins notably traversed to his alma mater, the University of Miami to catch from a machine last winter, Micker Adolfo told me he drives 25 minutes from his home in the Dominican Republic to the White Sox academy every weekday, and Charlotte Knights chief operating officer Dan Rajkowski said they had a notable local resident using their facilities the other day: Tim Anderson.

The White Sox roster isn't embarking on a self-directed mission of preparation when the season ends. We detailed previously how director of conditioning Allen Thomas gives every player an offseason training program to begin in November, but on top of that are individual development plans (IDPs, for those in the know) mapped out by director of player development Chris Getz that instruct players of what they should be working on with their game. It's a sort of remote spring training, and it's aided by in-person check-ins.

Secondly, there are limitations on what the White Sox are allowed to mandate for offseason work, and with good reason. The season ends at some point, and players have collectively bargained some restrictions so that their time off isn't just one neverending rehab assignment. Even the now-annual hitters minicamp in January that puts players in direct touch with hitting coaches Todd Steverson and Greg Sparks requires enough machinations to understand why there's only so much time the Sox try to wrest from their players' offseasons.

“We send out invites that go to MLB and are then handed over to the [players association] and then handed off to the player,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “The player answers the PA, who tells MLB and then MLB lets us know. We are not supposed to put our thumb on the scale at all. We can’t apply any undue pressure to get anyone there. We invited somewhere in the upper 20s in terms of numbers of players. Once we get all the RSVPs in, we’ll announce who is coming and the dates and all that. You start with the players that are the pre-arb on the 40-man and then we added a bunch of prospects to that group as well.”

Finally, the other side of all the enthusiasm about extra work and extra reps is that at the end of the year, the most common explanation for the woes of a struggling prospect du jour is fatigue. The Sox suspect fatigue as the culprit for slow starts from Burger and Gavin Sheets, and Blake Rutherford stopped short of blaming exhaustion but admitted he was battling it in his first full professional season. Given the jump in workload from high school to the pros, or college to the pros, or minors to the majors, adjusting to pushing their bodies to new levels is the constant problem for young players that all-year training can only mitigate so much.

There are outliers like Eloy Jimenez, whose claim that he's just preparing his body for playing through long October playoff runs is a fun mixture of determined an unhinged, and there are clear success stories like Delmonico making up for his lost development time. It's always exciting to see a young player working hard and enthusiastic about getting better, but there are limits to “more is more,” and the White Sox are already monitoring to make sure everyone is finding a balance.

“We can't mandate them to come out obviously, but they can take it upon themselves and they have the facilities to do it and they do it,” Renteria said. “They know the workout routines that they have established for them through the winters, and they know what they're building up to.”

Q&A: Nick Hostetler on slow starts, best player available myths and the deepest draft he’s ever seen By James Fegan / The Athletic | Dec. 18, 2017

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Scouting for the 2018 MLB first-year player draft is in as much of a quiet period as Manny Machado-to-Chicago rumors right now. Even with players in southern California still playing games these days, White Sox scouts are giving their eyes a break, focusing on in-home visits and getting a feel of the makeup of the players they're targeting as they prepare for the most important draft of the Sox rebuild.

I pulled White Sox amateur scouting director Nick Hostetler aside for a chat during the winter meetings last week, and like all our conversations, it is trimmed for length.

James Fegan: What's the size of your target list right now?

Hostetler: It’s funny, I was looking at that the other day and it’s still pretty, we keep it wide open. I don’t want any of our guys being close-minded.

This is as many first round numbers as we’ve had on guys I can remember coming into the year. This is exciting for us because it really, truly is one of the deepest classes I’ve ever seen. We don’t want to shut any of those guys off because over that three-month span from the last time we’ve seen them play to mid-January, these guys change a lot, especially these high school kids. They put on 15-20 pounds and look like different human beings.

We’ll start dwindling down come March 1, April 1. I like to be on April 1 right around 25. If I can be around 25 on April 1, picking at No. 4, I know at that point there’s a pretty good chance we’ll get both our first- and second-round pick out of that 25. So I’d like to be around 25 come April 1 and we’ll start going down even further for pick No. 4.

JF: Guys who are near the top of the mock drafts — Brady Singer, Nick Madrigal — at this point you have years of reports on them. How is it that their ranking and these mock drafts can change so much over the next six months when everyone already knows so much about them?

Hostetler: That’s a great question that we continue to ask ourselves over and over. I think while it may seem on the outside like it changes so much in that six-month frame, really inside it doesn’t change as much as it may look. We might not have a certain player up where some of the services have them, or we might have a guy who is lower than all these places have them, and we do, it’s one where I was just talking to Rick [Hahn] about him a minute ago, that is nowhere to be found in the top-20 on these services, where if right now we were picking today, would be in consideration at No. 4. I think that sometimes on the outside it looks a little bit more volatile than what it actually is.

It’s hard because when you’re investing five, six, seven million dollars on a certain player, you’ve got to be careful how much stock you put into the last look. Also, the first look. You’ve got to get out of your mind maybe what you’ve seen in the past if he just is continuing not to show it.

JF: It’s always best player available, but…

Hostetler: I can give you the boring best player available answer all spring if you want.

JF: But last June you focused on polished college power bats, which is something the system definitely needed at the time. Probably not a coincidence.

Hostetler: Yeah.

JF: Does your focus shift to a new weak point of the farm system now?

Hostetler: Your best player available cliche and line that everybody uses and I’ve used ad nauseam, it also means the best player available that fits into what you’re trying to do at that point. Obviously I’m not going to come out and say we’re looking for the best power bat and we’re going to take the best power bat. Couldn’t do that, wouldn’t do it. I think picking at No. 10 at last year’s draft class, it wasn’t nearly as deep as this year’s is, so I think there’s a difference at picking at No. 10 and No. 4. At No. 10, you can focus on a certain type of player that you’re looking for. I think at No. 4, you can’t do that. If you start pigeonholing yourself at No. 4, you’re going to pass on potentially a superstar, so all of the demographics have to be in play at that point.

I’ve been very public about the fact I think some of these prospects we need to start spreading out. We’re creating somewhat of a logjam taking all these college guys. So you know the high school guys have to be a consideration. We have to look at an 18-year-old compared to 21-year-old. I think this might be a situation this year where we’ve got to be more open-minded about what we’re trying to do.

JF: So you’re not actually trying to build the greatest outfield the Carolina League has ever seen?

Hostetler: I’m not worried about getting a ring in Winston-Salem.

JF: Don’t tell Omar that.

Hostetler: I told [player development director Chris] Getzy that if he hires Carlos Baerga, I’m voting him for the No. 1 farm director of all-time because I grew up in Cleveland. Loved Omar Vizquel and Jim Thome was my favorite player, so we’ve got both of them. If [we get] Carlos Baerga, I’m all in.

JF: Is Fryman available?

Hostetler: Yeah, Travis Fryman, Matt Williams.

JF: Both Jake Burger and Gavin Sheets were working on tweaks at instructional league. Burger was trying to lift the ball more, Sheets is trying to add a leg kick to create separation in his swing. Did you see these tweaks needing to happen eventually when you drafted them?

Hostetler: Yeah, and I know that most of these guys we scout we’re going to have to make tweaks to them because of the difference between the aluminum bat and the wood bat. When you change equipment, you change bats, there are going to have to be adjustments made. We knew both of them they’re going to have to make some small tweaks. With Jake it was something he worked on from his freshman to sophomore year, was increasing some of the lift in his swing and producing more backspin with the baseball. Gavin — that’s actually Gavin’s agent right there [points across to lobby to elevator] — one of the things we knew that creating the leg kick a little bit was going to create some of the separation.

They both were extremely tired last summer. When I saw them both in Kannapolis I asked them both and they were like, “I’m dead. I’m tired.” And that’s understandable, they’ve had a long year. So it was good to see those changes made in instructs, but as a group we saw some things that we knew they could tweak and that’s where the makeup comes into it, finding out how coachable they are.

JF: I think when people hear about a college bat they want to see them fly through the minors like Kyle Schwarber.

Hostetler: There are some superstar college guys that can just boom, hit it and go, sure, yeah. But most of these guys have faced inferior pitching over the course of three years in college. They’re facing the Thursday or Wednesday starter at North Carolina A&T, and it isn’t going to be anywhere close to what they face in professional baseball, plus you’re giving them a wood bat to do it. It’s going to take some time for some of these guys to really grasp it, get a hold of it and get an understanding of how it works with their swing.

I think Zack Collins was a perfect example of that. As you saw the second half of Collins’ season last year was more indicative of the player we scouted and thought we were going to get production from. If you eliminate the first half of what he did, and you can’t overall, but if you do and just look at the second half, he made really tremendous strides and started to get a feel for it. It’s just a process with these guys. The hardest thing to do in this game is be patient. It sucks. I hate it. The fans hate it. I understand it. It’s hard. It’s hard to be patient.

JF: Something I say to troll the fan base —

Hostetler: You? Nah

JF: — is to say Luis Gonzalez could be the best player from this draft. Did you have that feeling that he could be the best player in the draft?

Hostetler: We had first round grades on Luis. One or two of our scouts did. We had a couple who had him in the third round where he did, and we had one guy that had him right in the middle. Our grades were a little bit all over the board on him, but we had guys who truly believed he was a bottom end of the first round talent. Did we think we were going to get him in the third round, under slot? No. Obviously there were some other circumstances that went into it that we needed to dig deeper on and get all the answers.

He understood it and he knew we knew the risks, but at the same time we knew the talent. I think what Luis did toward the end of the season last year, his instructional league was tremendous. He really opened a lot of eyes with our PD department. I think with those three guys at the top, and we didn’t even get to see a lot of Kade McClure and Lincoln Henzman because of the inning limits and pitching in the [College] World Series, so with those guys, that group of guys, yes, all of them older, we’re pretty excited about what the future might hold for us. I think any of those five could become the best guy in this draft. But I don’t think you’re far off thinking Luis could the be the best guy in this draft, especially playing the middle.

JF: My other sleeper is —

Hostetler: I forgot to say Tyler Johnson. So it is six guys, I forgot Tyler Johnson.

JF: I was going to say Johnson. On the night he was drafted you said he had what it takes to start, Getz said reliever, [minor league pitching coordinator Richard] Dotson said “Eh, reliever or starter, we’ll see.”

Hostetler: He would have never gotten into the fifth round if it wasn’t for the fact that he had that forearm tightness. That got him to us. We had seen him the year before pitch for Team USA and loved him. The delivery is compact enough that his delivery could be conducive to starting. The mentality, and this is why I think you get multiple answers, the mentality of the person is back-end, shutdown, eighth- or ninth-inning guy. That’s where I think the difference lies.

Once we got him and got to know him more, we realized the mentality probably fits the back end better. It would be a big adjustment for him to calm that down to start every fifth day. He’s got a lot of energy, hyper kid, not sure four days off is a good thing for him. Man, when he’s right, with that fastball-slider combo and changeup, the way the changeup is developed, it’s three pitches that have — I was joking the other day I called him Zack Burdi Lite. His stuff might be a tick below Zack’s but it’s that kind of impact type stuff.

JF: Speaking of Zack, was it just that someone who throws that hard is always at risk, or did you see something in his delivery that portended trouble?

Hostetler: I think anytime a guy is a reliever in college you get a little bit concerned about when he starts accumulating pro innings because they’re different types of innings. We stretched him out, threw him some multiple innings and pitched him on back-to-backs. I think he only threw 25-30 innings in college, and then to go out and pitch for us and start to throw back-to-back, he threw two innings one day, he’d take a day off and then throw another, so I think the innings mounted up, and I think the big leagues were in sight for him.

Not that he tried harder or anything. That’s his mentality: balls to the wall. But I think guys that throw that hard it’s always a concern and yeah the arm action, how deep and long it got, it can get a little slingy at times, there was some concern on the elbow and just the torque that you put on throwing 102 mph coming from that slot is going to be difficult. But his rehab is going really well.

JF: In drafting guys like Johnson and Burdi, relievers with sliders and changeups, is the idea that they could be multiple inning guys that are ultimately more valuable than just a closer?

Hostetler: Absolutely. [Burdi's] coach at Louisville made the comment that he’s a six-to-nine-out pitcher for them. If you watch these playoff games, if a starter got through the sixth, you can forget about it, the seventh, eighth and ninth was bullpen for sure, and most of the time the starter didn’t get through the sixth. I think the Royals, not that they started it, but I think that the Royals were the first one that it was so publicized when they won the World Series that year that if you got to the sixth inning you were done. The back end of that bullpen was big.

JF: I remember the '96 World Series, the Yankees.

Hostetler: They did the same thing.

JF: [Mariano] Rivera and [John] Wetteland.

Hostetler: If you just look at what these relievers are getting on the open market right now, $10 million for a one-year contract for a guy who is kind of a journeyman reliever, that’s what these guys are getting right now, so the value is big. We created a spot, [assistant general manager] Jeremy Haber came up with the idea of having a relief pitching scout. It worked great last year, we’re going to continue that this year. We’re excited. We took Henzman, we took Tyler Johnson, so it’s obviously something we see value in so we’re going to continue that.

JF: Is there someone from last year's draft who took you by surprise in a good way?

Hostetler: We took a guy late out of University of Tampa named Laz Rivera and he really opened some eyes in instructs. Shortstop and we were like, whoa, this guy’s really a good player.

Buddy Bell, I remember when Buddy called me and said, “Where’d we get this Rivera kid?” I’ll be honest with you, I was like “Who?” “Kid from Tampa.” “Oh yeah, the senior.”

I think Alex Destino is another one. That guy can really hit. We would have liked to get him out of Arizona last year, but again the logjam, it’s just hard. He was one who came out and swung the bat. We had some big numbers on him so we were really happy with both of those guys.

Jose Contreras aims to make transitions for Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert easier than his own By James Fegan / The Athletic | Dec. 15, 2017

The White Sox team ambassador parade is easy great optics. Bringing back Tim Raines returns a member of the 2005 World Series-winning coaching staff in addition to a Hall of Famer, and appears to heal any lasting wounds from when he was let go after 2006. Fellow new team ambassador A.J. Pierzynski will be hard-pressed to make it out of any of his visits to Guaranteed Rate Field without being bombarded with fans trying to buy him a beer, and the White Sox's giddy approach to celebrating their own history is good and fan-friendly.

But nothing is as attention-grabbing as the return of Jose Contreras, who has rejoined the organization not just as an ambassador, but as a mentor to young Latino players. With a particular focus on fellow countrymen Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert, Contreras will help acclimate them to living and working in the United States. Given the investment the Sox have made in Latino talent, any efforts to improve their environment seems like a value-add, and Contreras put the matter in stark terms.

“It’s something that people have to understand and take into consideration when you are trying to evaluate the performance of us on the field,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “My role is going to be very important to the White Sox because I think I can help those young guys who try to make the adjustment, who try to make this process as smooth as possible, and just trying to share my experience and trying to help in wherever they need me.”

When asked who served as his mentor and aided his transition when he debuted with the Yankees in 2003, Contreras indicated that help really didn't come until he was paired with fellow Cuban Orlando Hernandez on the White Sox in 2005. Not coincidentally, he felt that relationship enabled him to have his best season.

“He helped me to improve and to do better, not just on the field but off the field too,” said Contreras, who posted a 3.61 ERA and a league-high 20 wins during his first full season in Chicago in 2005. “That’s why I think that it’s very important for young kids, especially for those kids that are not from here. Especially in my case, I’m referring to the kids from Cuba because when you left the island, you know that you can’t come back.

“When I left the island, I spent 11 years after I was able to come back. My dad died and I had to bury him by phone. I wasn’t able to come back there and to be with him or with my family at that time. People don’t realize how hard it is for us because it’s hard for everybody but the guys from Japan or the guys from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, once the season ends, they could go back to their country. For us as Cubans, we couldn’t and that made the process even tougher for us.”

That's no longer the case for Cubans at this point. Jose Abreu, whose easy transition to producing in the majors is something Contreras admires, is now able to regularly visit his son Dariel after a difficult first two seasons, and Moncada traveled back to the island after the 2017 season ended. Still, the isolation during the season for a player coming over from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela or elsewhere is an additional level of difficulty that Contreras feels he can help with and guide players through. So when Kenny Williams interrupted his workout with a call about a job, once Contreras got over the shock, he leaped at the opportunity.

“I lived the experience as a player and I survived that process,” Contreras said. “Now with experience I can tell the young guys to make adjustments more smoothly, to help and put them in the best possible position. I’ve passed through that process, I know how to do it, and that’s why I feel very confident that I can [help] with those young kids because I know what they have to expect, and pass through to perform at the level they want.”

Ballplayer sues White Sox over injury at Guaranteed Rate Field By Staff / NBC Chicago | Dec. 16, 2017

An outfielder who was seriously injured during his Major League debut at Guaranteed Rate Field last summer is suing the Chicago White Sox and the state agency that manages the ballpark.

Dustin Fowler’s lawsuit, filed Friday, claims that the Sox and the agency were negligent in not securing the unpadded electrical box he collided with along the right field line during the June 29 game.

Fowler, then playing for the New York Yankees, crashed into the right field wall while chasing down a fly ball in foul territory. Fowler hit the low side of the wall at full speed, causing him to flip over. When he tried to stand up, he fell to the ground, prompting a gasp from the crowd.

The top-100 prospect, playing his first major league game, was sidelined for the rest of the season after emergency surgery at Rush University Medical Center.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority acted negligently by not securing the metal box or taking precautions to prevent players from colliding with it.

In addition, the suit alleges the White Sox and Sports Facilities Authority failed to adequately inspect the right field wall and the box. The box was installed at knee-level “in a manner so as to create a hidden and undetectable hazard” to Fowler and other ballplayers, the suit alleges. By failing to properly pad, guard or cover the exposed box, the defendants showed “an utter indifference to or conscious disregard” for Fowler’s safety.

Both the Sox and the agency knew of the unsafe condition and had ample time to improve them before the incident, the suit claims.

Representatives for the White Sox and the ISFA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fowler, traded to the Oakland Athletics in July, suffered “severe and permanent” internal and external injuries, as well as mental pain and anguish, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also claims Fowler had to spend “large sums of money” for medical care related to the injury.

Fowler is seeking an unspecified amount of money from the White Sox and the ISFA.

Ex-Yankee sues White Sox over season-ending injury By Greg Joyce / New York Post | Dec. 16, 2017

Nothing will make up for the heartache Dustin Fowler suffered when he was denied his first at-bat as a Yankee, but now he’s seeking money to help pay for the physical toll.

Fowler, who ruptured his patellar tendon when crashing into the wall to make a catch in foul territory at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field on June 29, is suing the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The outfielder, since traded to the Athletics in the Sonny Gray deal, filed the lawsuit Friday, claiming negligence “in not securing the unpadded electrical box he collided with.”

Fowler attempted to get up on the warning track after the collision, but his right leg collapsed. The 22-year-old was supposed to record his first major league at-bat the next half-inning but underwent emergency surgery that night instead.

“He hit the electrical box, and to me, that’s a problem,” former Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after that game. “I am not blaming the White Sox, but that is something that needs to be inspected, and it should have been padded. If the kid hits the electrical box, he still might be hurt, but my guess is he doesn’t rupture his [patellar] tendon.”

Fowler’s lawsuit claims the White Sox and the state agency knew about the dangerous condition of the unpadded electrical box and had time to improve it before the accident occurred. The suit goes on to allege Fowler suffered “severe and permanent” injuries and that he had to spend “large amounts of money” for medical care related to the incident.

MLB player sues White Sox, Illinois over injury suffered in outfield By Matt Bonesteel / The Washington Post | Dec. 16, 2017

Dustin Fowler’s promising MLB career was derailed after just one inning June 29. Called up to the New York Yankees from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre just hours earlier, Fowler suffered an open rupture of the patellar tendon in his right knee while trying to make a catch in right field during the first inning of a game at Guaranteed Rate Field against the White Sox. His debut season was over.

On Friday, Fowler filed a lawsuit against the White Sox and the Illinois state agency that manages the ballpark, alleging both were negligent in not securing the un-padded electrical box he collided with along the right field line.

(WARNING: The video below isn’t all that graphic, but it might be too much if you’re overly squeamish about such things.)

The Chicago Sun-Times has more on Fowler’s lawsuit:

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority acted negligently by not securing the metal box or taking precautions to prevent players from colliding with it. In addition, the suit alleges the White Sox and Sports Facilities Authority failed to adequately inspect the right field wall and the box. The box was installed at knee-level “in a manner so as to create a hidden and undetectable hazard” to Fowler and other ballplayers, the suit alleges. By failing to properly pad, guard or cover the exposed box, the defendants showed “an utter indifference to or conscious disregard” for Fowler’s safety.

Neither the team nor the state agency would comment on Fowler’s assertions. He claims to have suffered “severe and permanent” internal and external injuries along with mental pain and anguish, and he says he had to spend “large sums of money” on his medical care.

Fowler was seen as one of the Yankees’ top prospects, hitting .293 with 13 home runs and 43 RBI at Scranton/Wilkes- Barre and earning an International League all-star bid. But about a month after he suffered the injury, the Yankees traded him to the Oakland Athletics in the deal that netted them pitcher Sonny Gray.

Former Yankees Outfielder Dustin Fowler is suing the White Sox By Charlotte Carroll / Sports Illustrated | Dec. 15, 2017

Former Yankees outfielder Dustin Fowler is suing the Chicago White Sox and the state agency that manages Guaranteed Rate Field after being seriously injured in his major league debut at the ballpark June 29, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Sun-Times reported Fowler filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, claiming the Sox and state agency were negligent because they failed to secure an unpadded electrical box along the right field line. The suit claims both parties knew of the unsafe condition and had time to improve it before the incident. It adds Fowler has suffered internal and external injuries while having to large amounts of money for medical care.

Fowler collided with the box, was unable to stay upright and was carted off the field, later undergoing surgery.

Fowler was the Yankees’ No. 10 prospect at the time according to Baseball America.

He was traded to the Athletics in July.

Dustin Fowler, former Yankee, sues White Sox over injury By Nicholas Parco / New York Daily News | Dec. 16, 2017

Former Yankee outfielder Dustin Fowler has filed a lawsuit against the White Sox and the company that manages Guaranteed Rate Field for a serious knee injury he sustained while playing in Chicago last season.

Fowler was in right field for the Bombers in his MLB debut against the White Sox on June 29 when he collided with an unpadded electrical box along the right field wall.

He is claiming negligence on the part of the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facility Authority for not “properly securing” the unpadded part of the wall he crashed into, according to ESPN.

The gruesome incident left Fowler with a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee and caused him to miss the rest of the season following emergency surgery. He was one of the Bombers’ top prospects, but after the injury Fowler was traded to the A’s as part of the Sonny Gray deal.

Dustin Fowler suing White Sox, Guaranteed Rate Field agency for serious knee injury By Staff / ESPN.com | Dec. 15, 2017

Oakland Athletics outfielder Dustin Fowler is suing the White Sox and the state agency that manages their ballpark, Guaranteed Rate Field, for a right knee injury he suffered in Chicago on June 29.

Fowler, then playing for the New York Yankees in his major league debut, was seriously injured when he crashed into the right-field wall while chasing down a ball in foul territory. Fowler flipped over when he hit the wall and fell to the ground when he tried to stand up.

Fowler's lawsuit -- filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, according to the Chicago Sun-Times -- claims negligence on the part of the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority in not properly securing the unpadded electrical box he crashed into.

A highly regarded prospect, Fowler underwent emergency surgery at Rush University Medical Center and was sidelined for the remainder of the season with a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee.

He later was sent to Oakland as part of the Sonny Gray trade.