The correct term, a noun, is “rebuild.’’ It is not “major reconstructive surgery.’’
At first glance, it might seem as if the White Sox are confused about this. Injuries have hit them hard, bruising the enthusiasm that has grown over their rebuild. But what’s happening to them is a reminder of a truth that too often gets lost as teams tank in the hope of winning a championship:
It takes a massive amount of good fortune for a rebuild to work.
It’s too early to say if the Sox’ rebuild is doomed because of injuries. But there’s no doubt that it has taken a few steps back. If luck is choosing sides, it seems to have looked at the Sox and cackled.
Pitcher Carlos Rodon went on the injured list Thursday with left elbow inflammation, which is a nice way of saying the Sox are scared to death he’ll need Tommy John surgery.
“Unfortunately, at this point everything is on the table,’’ general manager Rick Hahn said.
Three Sox prospects have had Tommy John surgery – Michael Kopech, Dane Dunning and Zack Burdi. Sox rookie Eloy Jimenez is on the injured list after he sprained an ankle against the left-field wall while trying to make a catch.
Top international prospect Micker Adolfo, an outfielder, needed Tommy John surgery last year. Luis Robert, another top prospect, has been battling injuries the past few years. First-round pick Jake Burger blew out his Achilles twice – once while running to first base and once while, what, looking for dandelions?
“He was walking in his backyard and took a step and unfortunately felt a pop,” Hahn said last year.
Other than that, the Sox are the picture of health in the third year of their rebuild.
The Cubs made rebuilding look easy, so easy, in fact, that many of their fans and fans of other teams came to believe that the mere act of starting from scratch guaranteed success. But what they failed to understand is that very little went wrong for the Cubs as they rebuilt. A good percentage of the players they drafted succeeded. The player they wanted in the 2013 draft, pitcher Mark Appel, was taken by Houston, leading them to choose Kris Bryant. Appel never made it to the big leagues.
And injuries weren’t a big problem for the rebuilding Cubs. Even when Kyle Schwarber blew out his knee in 2016, he came back to hit .412 in the World Series that season.
All of that involves luck, the good kind.
The Cubs have been criticized for not growing their own pitchers, but their rebuild wasn’t tied to a group of young, talented pitchers, the way it partly is with the White Sox. Were the Cubs able to win in 2016 because they didn’t have to live and die with every twinge in a pitching prospect’s arm? We’ll never know. But they lived very, very well with some of the position players they did draft.
The Sox are dealing with simple math. If 10 teams are in some stage of a rebuild, not all of them are going to succeed. The Cubs weren’t competing against a bunch of teams that were tanking. They helped start the rebuilding trend. The Sox are competing against lots of other tankers that have stocked up on high draft picks. Hahn’s talk of constructing a team capable of contending for multiple championships seemed lofty even when the Sox’ health was good.
Their health doesn’t look quite so good now, though it doesn’t mean that the players who are struggling with major injuries won’t return and make big contributions. It just means that the Sox are dealing with depression on top of their physical issues right now.
Some of the excitement about the future has been replaced by anxiety, and that’s not a good thing. Teams sell hope when they decide to rebuild. They want their fan bases focused on the prize. They push the idea that the pain of losing, as excruciating as it might be in the moment, is transitory. Happy days are right around the corner. Or at least down in the minors.
Rodon has an edema in the flexor muscle mass of his left elbow. There’s nothing happy about that.
In 2000, the Sox featured a number of young, talented players, including Paul Konerko, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee and Jim Parque, leading to the team’s slogan that year, “The Kids Can Play.’’ They won 95 games and made the playoffs.
A working slogan for the organization now is, “The Kids Possibly Can Play, But We’ll Know More After the Surgery and Rehab.’’
I’d advise Sox fans to keep their heads up, but I’d be worried about cervical spine injuries.
