Manny Machado? Christian Yelich? Rick Hahn not big on White Sox trading prospects for big names quite yet

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Rick Hahn wouldn’t mention anyone by name, of course. But you knew what he was addressing.

The news of the day at the Winter Meetings here at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort was that the Baltimore Orioles are actively shopping superstar third baseman Manny Machado, one of the headliners of next year’s monstrous free-agent class.

A White Sox fan base that’s long eyed Machado as a fit on the South Side predictably took to Twitter to suggest that Hahn bring the 25-year-old to Chicago.

Hahn, though, speaking during his daily briefing late Tuesday afternoon, outlined why a deal makes no sense for the White Sox. Trading any of the organization’s highly rated prospects makes little sense when Machado’s services would only be guaranteed for one season.

“It would have to be extended control,” Hahn said. “That’s an important part of this for us. We’re not looking at stopgaps, we’re not looking to jump up and contend for one wild card and then regress back. We’re trying to build something that’s going to last, and extended control is part of that.”

It makes perfect sense, of course, that Hahn would shy away from punching holes in his carefully laid rebuilding plans. Machado is a sensational player, no doubt about it, but trading away future cornerstones for a guy the team would only hope would sign a long-term deal could completely blow up the work Hahn and his front office have done over the past year.

Meanwhile, Machado isn’t the only big name generating trade buzz. After the Miami Marlins shipped Giancarlo Stanton out of South Florida — and appear to be starting completely over under Derek Jeter — there’s been plenty of speculation that outfielder Christian Yelich could be next.

Yelich does fit the “extended control” description, under contract for the next four seasons with a team option for a fifth. In the last two seasons, he’s hit a combined 39 homers and drove in 179 runs. In 2017, he scored a career-high 100 runs, smashed 36 doubles, stole 16 bases, walked 80 times and slashed .282/.369/.439.

But before White Sox fans set their sights on a new big-ticket item this offseason, realize that he too would likely carry a big price tag, one involving multiple members of that future White Sox core currently cooking in the minor leagues.

Hahn said that while the team is open to trading prospects, it just wouldn’t make sense to make that type of deal, either, stating that the team is probably a year away from knowing exactly what kind of fruits the rebuilding effort will bear.

“I think, frankly, we’ll probably be in a little better position for deals like that a year from now,” Hahn said. “I think we’ll have a much better understanding of which of this group is going to be taking a step forward. We’ll certainly have a better understanding of what the timelines are and where potential holes may exist. To do such a trade at this point would be a little bit conjecture in terms of ‘Hey, we think there’s going to be a hole there, we think we have depth there,’ whereas a year from now we’ll have a lot more information along those lines.

“Again, we’re open to it. Just, maybe perhaps being too candid, think that a prospect-for-prospect, ‘dealing from strength to address a need’ type of deal, we’re probably still a few months away from something like that.”

So while White Sox fans are certainly allowed to keep dreaming about a big addition via a signing or a trade, they might have to wait a year before such a thing actually happens.

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