QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 06:47 AM)
I'm not buying into the Saladino hype. Maybe if he keeps this up all year I'll reconsider, but until then he's a fringe reserve infielder prospect IMO.
Semien, Johnson, & Sanchez all may be legit to varying degrees. I think Beckham is pretty much a guarantee to be moved by next offseason and more likely by this deadline IMO. That opens up one spot in the lineup for Semien or Johnson. The real question is what they do with Alexei. If we keep him, the only way we're getting two of these guys' bats into the lineup is moving someone to the outfield, most likely Micah Johnson. I think Carlos Sanchez is the odd man out and will be traded in the next 9 months.
This is going to be an interesting deadline for us, because we have several pieces that should probably be moved, but with how the team is playing right now, a White Flag 2.0 is going to be a hard sell to the fans. Also, I don't think we should under estimate the addition of Rodon, who can be a member of our rotation as early as next year. With him in the fold, there is little doubt in my mind the Sox will active in free agency next offseason. I would argue having some momentum heading into the offseason would be beneficial when courting big name free agents and doing another White Flag isn't going to help in that regard. I could honestly see the Sox hold some of their trading chips and attempt to go on a run here. I don't see them being buyers by any means, but Hahn may feel a long-shot playoff run is more beneficial to the organization than the prospects we'd get back for guys like Dunn & Belisario.
I'll reluctantly buy into the hype of Saladino out of most likely to stick at SS it would be Saladino, Sanchez then Semien in my opinion. He is age appropriate for AAA and he has always had enough tools to be dangerous.
For the notion of a "white flag 2.0", I don't buy that and I don't think the fan base would buy that either. Hahn set the expectation that this was going to be a rebuilding year and we would be foolish to hold assets(Ramirez, Beckham, Dunn, Belisario) that would be better served bolstering our minor league rosters with depth and major league ready prospects then be in the hunt for a potential wildcard spot where we could go one and out.
I'm sure Hahn will be very active on the offseason as we will need another OF ideally CF or RF and move Garcia to LF.