The Bernstein Brief: White Sox Are In Low-Risk Spot
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) It has been a fun little spasm of competence for the White Sox, this six-game win streak that has vaulted their Baseball Prospectus-calculated playoff chances from 0.7 percent a week ago to 9.1 percent entering play Wednesday.
Their odds of winning the World Series have increased from 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent over that span, too, with the team said to be remaining in evaluation mode as the non-waiver trade deadline looms Friday. The good news is that they really can do no wrong at this point with their primary asset.
If general manager Rick Hahn can get something better than the compensatory draft pick for Jeff Samardzija signing elsewhere this offseason, he'll trade him. Or he can keep him, let him walk and take the pick. Hahn could also let him test free agency and sign him to a multi-year deal, keeping a very solid rotation intact for the near term. In another scenario, Hahn trades Samardzija, then later signs him as a free agent.
It all makes very little difference, is the real point. There's just not much at stake at the moment.
Anything other than a quixotic effort to bolster this year's roster by dealing any of their viable prospects seems reasonable, and unless executive vice president Kenny Williams is meddling in the day-to-day operations, that's not happening. Hahn may be many things, but dumb is not one of them.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.