Rebuild 102 – Alen Hanson

Sometime on Friday rumors swirled (the actual transaction occurred after the game), our White Sox claimed one Alen Hanson (2b/ss) who was placed on waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Hanson is out of minor league options (ie, the Pirates couldn’t just send him to the minors without passing him through waivers) and any team that claimed him would have to put him directly on to their major league roster.  The White Sox corresponding move was to send Adam Engel back to AAA Charlotte.  Before we get on to Hanson, quickly on Engel………I was impressed with Engel in a quick snap shot of his work.  He’s MUCH MORE major league ready than Jacob May appears to be and his speed is a definite asset on the 25 man roster of a team that is trying to win (which ain’t us, but will be us SOME DAY).  It wouldn’t surprise me if we see more of Engel as the season wears on.  On to Hanson….

Hanson was once a pretty big deal. 

Rated inside of the top 100 prospects in major league baseball as recently as 2015, he was part of a robust Pirates system that seems to keep producing high end prospects.  He was a victim of numbers….and Josh Harrison playing well……….oh and Hanson himself not hitting at the major league level.  Hanson does however happen to have a career .340 OBP in the minors, so he has some on base skill.  None of this shit is important to me, you and all of the other White Sox fans reading this.  This type of move does do some potential signaling and signaling is an important TING.

SIGNALING

Tyler Saladino‘s back is probably more fucked up than anyone is letting on………

This shit makes me sad as the #southsidestacheman himself, the People’s Mustache Champ, the reigning crown for best White Sox mustache 2016-2017 (sorry Derek Holland) and friend of the 108 was supposed to be a big part of this 2017 rebuilding squad and @mysoxsummer was ready, with these delicious fucking inflatable mustaches.  The signing of Hanson might mean that Saladino is going to be on the shelf for a while and that ain’t good for Saladino, it ain’t good for the White Sox, it sure af ain’t good for the 108….really it is only a boon for ‘Los Sanchez and Hanson.  Hanson fills the spot of playing a bunch of infield positions so that the White Sox aren’t forced to play Sanchez every single day until Moncada is ready.  It also allows Leury Garcia to concentrate on centerfield, a position that is new to him and that he NEEDS WORK on.

 Hahn and the crew see something in Hanson that they think is worth taking an extended look at…………

Rebuilds are funny in that you have the opportunity to try out lots of different players from your system (and in this case others) and give them playing time.  As one of my favorite writers Joe Sheehan often states, in a rebuild “plate appearances are a commodity”.  These plate appearances should be used wisely.  This is why you saw Cody Asche jettisoned so quickly.  He can go to AAA and smash while we give some worthwhile semi-prospects a look with the big club (looking at you Leury!).  Undoubtedly, someone in the White Sox pro scouting group saw something with this kid that they wanted to take a look at…….I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you start seeing him in the lineup several times a week spelling the guys up the middle.  He can also play the OF and 3B (or at least he did in AAA) so if he can re-create the on-base skills that he displayed in the minors, he’d be a boon to this club, picking up innings that patch us until the Moncada era begins and then becoming more of a super utility player on a team that is very likely to start dealing people soon.

 ‘Los Sanchez is drawing interest from other clubs and the Front Office had to add some depth to the middle infield………

I have written before that I think ‘Los (don’t call me Carlos, but I won’t call you Yolmer) Sanchez is a better trade asset than a long-term piece of the White Sox……….since I wrote that he’s done nothing but hit this season and further increase his trade value.  Look, the future of the middle infield is already set for the White Sox, we expect to see at least 5 more years of Anderson at SS and Moncada at 2B.  I don’t see a real future of Sanchez here, so why not trade him to a team that could really use him and add things (preferably younger things) that the White Sox can use.

Back, Back, Back to Hanson……..

Chris Berman is such a fucking pudd whack…..sorry, I’ll stay on topic.  Hanson is one of these chances you take during a rebuild.  He’ll be here, we’ll see him hit, we’ll see him play the field, we’ll probably see him make a base running mistake or two and likely he’ll move on about as quickly as Orlando Hudson did, but Hahn and crew will be trying these things every so often during this rebuild.  It is sort of like watching the previews when you go to the theater, most of them won’t be worth a shit, but it’s worth checking out 2 mins of it to see what you think.

– BeefLoaf