White Sox fans will have to be patient while waiting for their team to become World Series contenders.
In a couple years, maybe three, maybe never, who knows how long?
In the meantime, Sox fans can play fantasy baseball by proposing trades for general manager Rick Hahn to make to accelerate the rebuild.
For the real fun of it, however, fans can monitor the progress of Yoan Moncada and Andrew Benintendi.
They were primary pieces — Moncada included, Benintendi excluded — in the White Sox’ trade of Chris Sale to the Red Sox.
“To get a guy like Sale, that was great,” The Boston Globe quoted Red Sox pitcher David Price as saying last week. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the game.”
Then came the kicker that advances the Moncada-Benintendi discussion.
“But to get (Sale) without giving up our best young player?” Price mused. “That was amazing. Benintendi is a special player.”
According to the Boston Herald, Benintendi said his agent texted him around trade time: “You’re either going to go or not in the next two minutes.”
Benintendi didn’t go and Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski has been quoted as saying, “We never came close to trading him.”
Media sentiment in Boston is that “retaining Benintendi while at the same time so dramatically improving the rotation could be what propels the Red Sox back to the World Series.”
The lingering question is whether Dombrowski persuaded Hahn to settle for Moncada instead of Benintendi or Hahn landed the player he wanted all along.
Regardless, the White Sox are happy with Moncada and the other players from the Red Sox while the Red Sox are happy to have both Sale and Benintendi.
Analyst Jim Callis has written, “Moncada has a higher ceiling than any prospect in baseball, with scouts describing him as a speedier version of Robinson Cano.”
Comparing Moncada to Cano, an all-star for the Yankees and now the Mariners, is a win for the White Sox … unless Benintendi turns into a homegrown hybrid of Ted Williams-Carl Yastrzemski-Jim Rice in Boston.
The Red Sox believe Benintendi at least will fit into their killer Bs lineup with other young producers Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr.
The tale of the tape shapes up like this: Benintendi vs. Moncada, outfielder vs. infielder, left-handed hitter vs. switch hitter, 22-year-old vs. turning 22 in May, collegian vs. Cuban.
MLB.com ranks Moncada as baseball’s No. 1 prospect and Benintendi at No. 5. Both made their major-league debuts last season with the first round going to the latter.
Over eight games, Moncada had 4 hits in 19 at-bats with 12 strikeouts; over 34 games, Benintendi batted .295 before going 3 for 9 in three postseason games.
The samples are too small to draw conclusions. Moncada could turn out better, Benintendi could or both could be busts.
Then again, each could go from rookie to all-star to even the Hall of Fame, which would make the Sale deal one of those baseball deals that helped both teams.
For now, Benintendi is expected to begin this season in the majors and Moncada in the minors.
Soon, though, Benintendi-Moncada will be an intriguing match race to follow while the White Sox try to become what they want to be.
mimrem@dailyherald.com
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