Logjam

Orson Welles used to do a commercial that ended with the tagline, “We will sell no wine before its time.”  That must be where White Sox general manager Rick Hahn got the idea of doing a rebuild in slow motion.  No prospect gets promoted until his time, which right now looks to be close to never.

Not only does Hahn refuse to move star prospect Eloy Jimenez out of AA Birmingham, he’s pretty much frozen everyone else in place, too; chalk it up to the Welles-Hahn time test.  Consider what Hahn has done at AAA Charlotte.  Rather than promote anyone from the lower affiliates, he’s gone out and signed the following: infielder Johnny Giavotello, who’ll turn 31 in July; outfielder Michael Saunders, 31; and outfielder Alex Presley, 32.  Oh, and one of his three AAA catchers is already 30 while another is a career .233 hitter in the minors.  So much for Zach Collins and/or Seby Zavala—both honest-to-goodness catching prospects facing off against one another in AA—getting a chance to show what they can do at the next level.

With the draft taking place, the Sox will have even more players to sit on.  Usually, players who do really well in rookie ball are promoted to A-ball before season’s end to get their feet wet.  If that doesn’t happen this year, thank Rick Hahn channeling his inner Orson Welles.