4 Chicago Tribune|Chicago Sports|Section 2|Saturday, March 7, 2020
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Sale wound up pitching only four more season for the Sox
before being sent to the Red Sox in a trade that netted Mon-
cada and Michael Kopech, the deal that kick-started the
rebuild.
Just as former Indians general manager John Hart locked
up young stars Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr.
and Carlos Baerga in the 1990s, Hahn is putting all his chips
on the table and betting Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Luis
Robert, Tim Anderson and Aaron Bummer will be solid
contributors for contending teams for years to come.
Hahn stressed the importance of “having players like
Moncada, Jimenez, Robert under control for at least six
years, not to mention Anderson and Bummer and other
starters that are still here, and not even mentioning guys like
(Nick) Madrigal and (Andrew) Vaughn, who are going to
provide us with at least six years of control.
“You can start seeing what the better part of this decade is
going to look like for this club, and we’re excited about it.”
Giolito is part of that core, but whether he signs a team-
friendly extension is a question he’s not ready to address.
“It’s not something I’m thinking about,” he said. “For me,
I’m more like present moment — ‘What can I do this day to
improve and become a better player?’
“All that stuff — the money, the contracts — that will all fall
into place if I keep focusing on what makes me successful.”
Whether the mythical kingdom of “SoxTown” can be-
come a reality in the next decade also is unknown, but there’s
no doubt the Sox have opened eyes all around baseball, in-
cluding on the North Side.
“I felt like last year they didn’t quite play to where they
should’ve,” Cubs pitcher Jon Lester said. “Their lineup was
very, very talented. They had a lot of different dynamics in
there. Now you’ve got Giolito coming out like he’s the dude
now. He’s the No. 1 guy.
“And you get another guy behind him, and it just makes
that rotation a little bit deeper. It’s just like football — defense
wins you championships, good starting pitching wins you
championships.
“You can bash a bunch of runs, but if you don’t stop them,
you’re still going to lose. But yeah, I like where they’re at. It’s
a good lineup. ... “They’re right there. Now it’s just a matter
of playing the 162 (games) and seeing where they’re at at the
end. That division is definitely for the taking for them.”
Lester said the Sox’s strategy of locking up so many young
players is good for the organization and the players, even if
some of the contracts are considered team-friendly deals.
“Any time you can make your first fortune, it’s always a
good thing,” Lester said. “It’s good for the game. I don’t think
there are any negatives.”
Lester then presumed the next question was ‘So, what
about the Cubs?’
“Why haven’t we signed our guys?” he said, asking the
question himself. “We have guys that are just betting on
themselves, and once you reach a certain point, it’s like, ‘Why
not test free agency and see?’ It doesn’t mean you can’t come
back here.
“It’s a cool process and it’s a frustrating process at the
same time. We wait to get that that leverage, and when you
do, sometimes it’s good to wait.”
Perhaps Giolito, who will make $627,000 this season and
won’t be a free agent until after 2023, will be the one to bet
on himself.
But who knows? A lot can happen in four years.
Just ask Chris Sale.
WHITE SOX
Sullivan
Continued fromPage 1
- The Sox hold an option for $
million in 2025, with a $5 million
buyout.
General manager Rick Hahn said
negotiations had been going on for
less than two weeks. Moncada, 24,
said he was happy to have a deal
behind him.
“My focus this year is on baseball,
it doesn’t matter what happened
with this contract,” Moncada said.
“If it didn’t happen, I would still have
my focus on this season, but of
course it’s good to have this done ...
because as I said before, I have big
plans for this season. I’m expecting
to have a way better season than I
had last year.”
The switch-hitter slashed .315/
.367/.548 with 34 doubles, five
triples, 25 home runs, 79 RBIs, 83
runs and 10 stolen bases in 132 games
in 2019. He finished third in the
American League in average behind
teammate Tim Anderson (.335) and
the Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu (.327).
He went 3-for-4 with an RBI and
scored a run Friday in the Sox’s 6-
victory against the Cubs at Sloan
Park.
“He’s got a special understanding
of the strike zone, one that poten-
tially got him in a little bit of trouble
in 2018 and then led to a 2019 where
he was a little more aggressive,”
Hahn said. “The ultimate peak Yoan
Moncada is probably somewhat a
little in between those two ap-
proaches over the course of a season.
“Certainly not as passive as 2018,
and probably in the future, using that
awareness of strike zone and selec-
tivity a little bit above where it was
last year. If he winds up being the
same guy he was last year, that’s a
pretty darn good player and one that
certainly deserves MVP consider-
ation, as he got in 2019.”
Moncada improved his average 80
points from 2018, the fourth-best
jump in franchise history, while
cutting his strikeouts from 217 to 154.
Defensively, he made the transition
from second base to third.
“The work ethic has been there,”
Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “He
actually has stepped it up a notch.
More than anything it’s just focus.
He’s understanding the things heneeds to do in order to continue to
improve. He certainly made adjust-
ments. That was a big swing for him
in terms of in particular strikeouts.
“And then understanding he can
be aggressive early in the count. Still
be able to work counts, get on base.
He just had tremendous growth. On
top of that, looking at him playing
third base, you realize he had a
chance. I know that was the next
question we had last year — what if
we moved him from second to third?
Was he going to be able to do it?”
Moncada is the latest member of
the Sox young core to sign a
long-term deal recently.
Last spring, the Sox reached a
six-year, $43 million deal with
Jimenez. They came to terms with
Robert on a six-year, $50 million
contract Jan. 2. And they announced
a five-year, $16 million extension with
reliever Aaron Bummer on Feb. 22.
“This team has a lot of young
talent,” Moncada said. “Part of that is
we all can be able to carry this team
to win a World Series championship.
That’s our goal, but definitely the
talent that we have right now is
something that makes you feel ex-
cited.”With a five-year contract extension in his pocket and an emerging club around him, Yoan Moncada is in the right spot.JOSE M. OSORIO/CHICAGO TRIBUNEMoncada
Continued fromPage 1