If White Sox are ready to win in 2020, Field of Dreams game could serve as breakout stage

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Time will tell whether the White Sox will make their transition from rebuilding mode to contention mode in 2020. But if next season is the one where the South Side rebuilding project begins to bear fruit, a nationally televised event like the Field of Dreams game could be the perfect stage for a national breakout.

The first-of-its-kind event pitting the White Sox against the New York Yankees in the Iowa cornfields of the “Field of Dreams” set is scheduled for Aug. 13, 2020, and has already generated a ton of buzz since its announcement Thursday morning.

By then, the White Sox will have been through a crucial offseason worth of roster change; young core players like Lucas Giolito, Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez will have another year of big league experience under the belts; and highly rated prospects Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal and Michael Kopech all figure to be on the major league roster.

Will it all be enough to make the White Sox contenders? Again, that remains to be seen. While all those things count as positive developments, things have to go right for the White Sox to count that game against the Yankees, one of baseball’s best teams this season, as an important one.

But if things do go right, an event that draws the eyes of the baseball world would be the perfect opportunity for the up-and-coming White Sox to announce their arrival.

“It will mean a lot for us and how we're moving forward as an organization,” manager Rick Renteria said before Friday afternoon’s game at Guaranteed Rate Field. “I think it's a positive thing. I hope that there's a lot of recognition for these young men who continue to develop as major league players.

“Hopefully everybody kind of sees the excitement that we have and the reasons we have (to be excited about the future). Hopefully it will be a nice game and everybody will be able to kind of pin some really good hopes on us moving forward."

That’s the plan. The White Sox hung onto relievers Alex Colome and Aaron Bummer at this summer’s trade deadline, with general manager Rick Hahn explaining that he received no offers that warranted detracting from the 2020 roster. That was as big an affirmation as any that the White Sox do believe that 2020 could be the light at the end of this rebuilding tunnel.

Hahn has continued to profess the team’s intention to be aggressive this winter. Whether that means a big-time free-agent signing or a big-time trade acquisition remains unknown, but there’s an expectation of meaningful activity that could go a long way toward getting the White Sox into the winning portion of this effort in 2020.

There will surely be skepticism that the good times could come that soon, and there are plenty of question marks in this equation.

There’s excitement about Kopech’s return from Tommy John surgery, but his next start will be just the fifth of his big league career. Robert and Madrigal will be getting their first tastes of the majors. Growing pains for those young players — like the ones Giolito and Moncada went through in their first full major league seasons — would not be unexpected.

Meanwhile, despite a good run of late from Reynaldo Lopez, questions exist about his consistency. Despite showing flashes of his star ability, Jimenez is going through those aforementioned growing pains in 2019. Despite All-Star appearances, Jose Abreu and James McCann have gone through second-half slumps, though both players had more success on the just-completed road trip through Philadelphia and Detroit. Despite a recent offensive adjustment that’s working well in Triple-A, Zack Collins struggled in his brief big league stint earlier this season and still faces questions about his defense.

These are all valid concerns, and it’s possible they could conspire to push winning time back another season for the White Sox.

But the ingredients certainly exist — and figure to look even better after offseason moves — to bring about that transition in 2020. And if that transition takes place, the White Sox appearing with a winning roster in one of Major League Baseball’s biggest events of the regular season could make people take notice.

The famous line from the movie goes, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, what about if you rebuild? Will the eyes of the baseball world come? That could happen when the White Sox take the field among the cornstalks next summer.

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