GLENDALE, Ariz. — Todd Frazier would eat breakfast daily with his 2-year-old son during the offseason, and part of the routine included watching MLB Network, which often led to Blake pointing at the TV and screeching “Daddy.”
“I was traded a lot this offseason,” Frazier said. That he offered this while still wearing a White Sox uniform is why he smiled. He constantly was named in rumors, hence why Blake saw his dad’s mug up on the screen so much.
And, really, it is just a matter of time — between now and the July 31 trade deadline — that Frazier and several current teammates will be dispersed to contenders. For while most clubs are prepping for a season to open, it is open season still for the White Sox.
“Right now you are seeing the construction of two clubs,” Chicago general manager Rick Hahn said. “We are getting the 2017 White Sox ready and also seeing about our long-term club. And the long term is where the priority of the front office is right now.”
No team is a more obvious seller for 2017 than the White Sox. That is because they are willing to trade even now — should they hear the right offer for Frazier, Jose Quintana, David Robertson, Melky Cabrera and possibly even Jose Abreu. This began with the well-regarded deals of Adam Eaton and Chris Sale, which reloaded the White Sox to such a degree that they went from ranked the 23rd-best system by Baseball America last year to fifth this season.
But the White Sox have executed no other trades. Hahn said they had two deals completed on the baseball-operations level that were quashed by opposing ownership, with one of those believed to be Robertson moving to the Nationals.
However, opposing executives say Hahn did so well in his two bigger winter deals by, particularly, landing Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech and Yoan Moncada that he is shooting too high now, wanting to mimic the success — particularly when it comes in discussions involving Quintana.
The contender most associated with Quintana has been the Astros. Houston GM Jeff Luhnow would not discuss him specifically with me, but said the prices are such on high-end starters that “it would be sacrificing too much for the next two to 10 years to [address] right now.”
Dealing Quintana is not easy. He generally is viewed as the kind of starter you would want to start in Game 2 or 3 of a playoff series, so teams do not want to pay ace prices. However, there currently are no aces available (supply/demand). Quintana is lefty, durable, consistently above average and — perhaps most vital — has a very affordable $35.35 million over four years left on his contract.
“I think our asks are commensurate with what we are willing to give up,” Hahn said.
As long as Quintana stays healthy and productive, Hahn can let the pressure of a nearing deadline push up prices. You could see teams climb into the race, possibly even the Yankees, suddenly stepping up for a starter.
Closers such as Robertson always are in demand during the season. Perhaps David Wright never gets healthy enough and the Jose Reyes Plan B doesn’t work, forcing the Mets to consider Frazier.
“We are open,” Hahn said. “We did deals with Boston [for Sale] and Washington [for Eaton], teams with World Series aspirations. Clubs like ours are focused more on the future and so if we are helping someone win in the short term, we have to feel they are helping us win in the long term.”
How White Sox owner came around to a rebuild
Jerry Reinsdorf turned 81 last month. The White Sox owner’s age is pertinent because general manager Rick Hahn said it comes up often in conversations among himself, Reinsdorf, and Chicago executive VP Kenny Williams. “And it is not me or Kenny bringing it up.”
The perception within the game is Reinsdorf will step back as owner at some point soon, either handing off to his children or selling. That helped motivate the push in recent years “to win Jerry a second title,” Hahn said.
It also has made it a difficult, multi-year sell by Hahn that the right thing to do, especially after the team collapsed following a 23-10 start last year, was a massive rebuild.
“As competitive as [Reinsdorf] is, more often than not he is the smartest guy in the room,” Hahn said.
That led to understanding that the White Sox did not have enough depth on the major or minor league levels to sustain winning.
That the Cubs won last year to reward a patient rebuild helped the argument, but that they won in the same town raised the temperature even as Hahn said “the Cubs’ [championship] had nothing to do with the final decision. … The lack of patience [by Reinsdorf] is still there. But he got it.”