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If you were looking southward from downtown Chicago when reports hit that Chris Sale had been traded to the Boston Red Sox, you would have noticed that Guaranteed Rate Field was shrouded in a light fog. That might be a pathetic fallacy, but the vision seems appropriate for the current state of the Chicago White Sox.It has been a rough few months for the White Sox. A torrid start to the 2016 season put Chicago six games up in the American League Central, a lead that disappeared in less than three weeks and never came back. They finished 16? games behind the Cleveland Indians and missed the postseason for the eighth straight season. The only times the White Sox drew any real national attention were both strange controversies in which Sale was involved -- first when veteran Adam LaRoche retired over his sons clubhouse access during spring training, with Sale calling out executive VP Kenny Williams, and then during the season, when Sale lost his mind and cut up a bunch of throwback jerseys.And this all quietly unfolded in a city where the north-side Cubs became the biggest story in sports. The White Sox have long been second-class citizens in their own metropolitan area despite a fan base that is fervently loyal and, even now, largely immune to the happenings in Wrigleyville. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding. According to Forbes, the White Sox were working with $100 million less in revenue than the Cubs in 2015, a chasm that has almost certainly widened since then. The last bit of bragging rights the White Sox owned -- their 2005 championship -- has been erased by the Cubs World Series win.With the Cubbie-blue shadow looming larger than ever over the White Sox, does that make this the best or the worst time to rebuild? In most ways, it probably doesnt matter. While the franchises vie for a certain overlap in local media coverage, their respective fan bases dont seem to intersect as much as youd think, considering the ballparks are only about nine miles from each other. White Sox fans dont tend to judge their team against the Cubs, especially those who have sworn to never set foot inside Wrigley Field.The Sale trade doesnt represent a full-on rebuild by general manager Rick Hahn, but it sends a hard-to-ignore signal that one is underway. At 27, Sale is one of the best and most durable starting pitchers in baseball. His contract, according to the Cots Contracts, will pay him $38 million over the next three seasons. Thats ridiculously team-friendly. Simply put, he was one of the most valuable trade assets in baseball.Hahn could have held onto Sale, allowing the pitcher to continue anchoring Chicagos rotation at a bargain price. But to what end? The White Soxs best players -- such as Sale, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, Jose Abreu and Melky Cabrera -- are in the middle of or nearing the end of their career primes. The players with the most upside -- shortstop Tim Anderson and starter Carlos Rodon -- are too few in number. The White Soxs minus-29 run differential last season was a four-year high. It just wasnt working.For far too long -- well before Hahn took over as chief decision-maker from Kenny Williams -- the White Sox have focused on patching up their big league roster at the expense of building up their minor league system. The last, big patch-work push came before the 2015 season, when the Sox doled out around $128 million in contracts for Cabrera, Zach Duke, David Robertson and LaRoche. That accomplished nothing, so before last season, the Sox traded three prospects to the Dodgers in a three-way deal with the Reds that brought back veteran third baseman Todd Frazier.The end result? Continuing their string of second-division finishes.Worse, the White Sox have been neither fish nor fowl: The lack of player development has left the organization thin, and the lack of an elite revenue stream leaves the White Sox battling for second-tier free agents with far too much downside risk.This left the White Sox at a crossroads entering the winter meetings:Door No. 1: Should they keep throwing money at their problems, hoping to catch lightning in the bottle? It wasnt the longest of shots, after all, because at the very least, they could hope for a good starting rotation.Door No. 2: They could finally bite the bullet and attempt to put together a more sustainable model.With the trade of Sale, the White Sox seem to have finally set off in the right direction. Door No. 2 it is.Keith Laws last full set of organization rankings had the White Sox at No. 22. According to Baseball America, the White Sox havent ranked in the top 10 since 2002. They havent been in the top half of the majors in Baseball Americas rankings in a decade, and the past five years have been brutal: 27th, 30th, 29th, 24th, 30th and 23rd.Prospect rankings arent everything. However, the current economic realities of baseball and the structures in place under the current and recently-agreed-to collective bargaining agreements have put scouting and development at the forefront of most front office strategies. The Yankees are doing it. The Dodgers are doing it. The Royals and the Cubs have converted recent lofty draft rankings into World Series titles. But the White Sox didnt even need to look at those trends or those teams. They only needed to look at their own history.In 2001, the White Sox were Baseball Americas top team in the preseason prospect rankings. While a lot of the players who populated the top rungs of that list (such as?Joe Borchard and Jon Rauch) didnt pan out, that overall commitment to player development was a big part of the Soxs title in 2005, in terms of homegrown products on the roster (Joe Crede, Aaron Rowand, Mark Buehrle) and prospects dealt for veteran pieces.Now the White Sox seem pointed toward replicating that process, beginning with the crucial first step theyve skipped over for years: establishing a solid base of prospects. They seem to be off to a great start with the Sale trade. With the acquisition of Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and Luis A. Basabe, along with the selections of catcher Zack Collins and pitchers Alec Hansen and Zack Burdi in the draft back in June, there is a lot more upside in the organization than there was before the season. But its only a start.Now that Sale is gone, the other impactful veterans on the roster make even less sense. Eaton, 27, is a solid hitter and excellent defender at a time when several contenders need a center fielder. Quintana, also 27, is kind of Sale-lite on both the production and consistency fronts and has a similarly team-friendly contract. Abreu, Frazier and Cabrera will all be in or past their age-30 seasons in 2017, which means their value is higher right now than its likely going to get. And they are at career stages out of step for a team at the outset of a full-blown rebuild.The White Sox are well positioned to deal. Their primary veterans are good players on reasonable contracts. This isnt a blue-light-special situation -- Hahn should find multiple suitors for each veteran, and he can always stand pat if the right offers dont come in. He can deal this winter, or hold out until the trade deadline. However, if he doesnt pull the trigger on anything, suddenly the Sale trade starts to look like an odd, half-done attempt at going the prospect route. That outcome would be a surprise, especially since the thin free-agent class this winter means its a good time to dive into the sellers trade market.Up until the moment Hahn said yes to the Red Sox, that fog around The G (formerly the Cell) really did seem like a metaphor. With that one phone call, the White Sox are no longer a team running in place. But dealing Sale was just the first step, and for the White Sox to end up where they want to go, the next steps will be the most important theyve taken in years. Cheap Jerseys From China . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. Cheap Custom NFL Jerseys . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. http://www.cheapjerseysfinish.com/ . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Wholesale Stitched Jerseys . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said he let his team down Saturday in its 10-3 loss at NC State, but he wasnt second-guessing a game plan that had the Fighting Irish throw the ball 26 times in tumultuous conditions that were brought on by Hurricane Matthew.I dont think I would second-guess that, Kelly said.?We still had 38 carries. I think it was pretty evident to me that we were in need of throwing the football when we did throw it. We just werent as effective as I thought we could be.Asked what he meant when he said he let his team down, Kelly alluded to a punt that NC State blocked and returned for a 10-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter -- the games only touchdown.When your team is flat and not playing with that energy, you kind of sense it, Kelly said. They were excited to play today and you want to be there for them. You want to make the right call, you want to put them in the right position. You had two guys back there [on the punt], maybe you second-guess yourself. Maybe we shouldve been in a three-man wall there instead of rugby. You second-guess yourself in games like this where your team is ready to play and excited to play. Thats what I was meaning by that.Notre Dame drove to the NC State 16-yard line late in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie the game, but center Sam Mustipher snapped the ball early on fourth-and-8, the last gaffe in a game that saw 10 total fumbles in wet conditions at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.Were looking for wins, not improvement on one side of the ball or the other, Kelly said. Although, I was very pleased with our physicality, toughness and tackling.dddddddddddd Im just extremely disappointed in the offensive execution and lack of ability to manage the snapping of the football -- which was atrocious as well.Kelly was visibly upset with Mustipher on the sideline after the play, which was the final offensive play of the game for the Irish, who tallied just 113 yards of total offense.He thought he heard something, Kelly said of Mustipher, according to Irish Illustrated. We were trying to scan the play. Get a peek at what it was. He thought he heard something and the ball got snapped. I dont know if you can prepare for this. All the wet-ball drills you do -- and I thought the officials did a great job of getting us dry balls; its generally an 18-ball rotation and they gave us 36 -- I thought from that point it was managed well.Both teams turned the ball over in very difficult conditions, both teams had a hard time moving the football. Both field goal kickers managed to eek one over the uprights in sloppy conditions. We gave up a flippin blocked punt for a touchdown. Thats the difference in this one.Notre Dame fell to 2-4 on the season, its worst six-game start since opening 1-5 in 2007. The preseason No. 10 Irish also became the first AP preseason top-10 team to start 2-4 or worse since Arkansas in 2012.The Irish are 1-1 since firing defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder four games into the season and replacing him with analyst Greg Hudson.Notre Dame hosts Stanford next Saturday before having a bye week. ' ' '