The 12^th of February marked the first official day that pitchers and catchers reported to spring training for some teams, including the Chicago White Sox, and for the first time in a long time there is some real hype backing this team right out of the gates.

When the 2017 season ended, many fans of the team knew that it was going to be a long winter to wait for the new look Sox to take the field again. Record numbers for SoxFest turned out to show support and get a look at the young bucks that will be coming up and making their case to be a part of the future for this team. With many experts and analysts picking this team to only place 3^rd in the division this year, here is a look at just how young and how close this team will be to competing in the playoffs for years to follow.

In a recent interview for Chicagowhitesox.com the manager of the White Sox Rick Renteria was asked the question: “What are your expectations for a team that only won 67 games last year and is now one of the youngest in the league this year?”

He said “I know there is hype behind this team with all the acquisitions the team made and the potential each new guy has, I get that people have us pegged as a dark horse for the wild card. But I must be realistic, we are going to compete for 27 outs, this team is going to compete every night and leave it all out there on the field each and every day, those are my expectations and that is what this team is going to do night in and night out.”

In the interview Ricky, as everyone likes to call him, had a little more pep in his step in the way that he conducted himself and in the way he talked about his young players. At the end of the interview you could tell that Renteria is the man to lead these young guys to the next level of competition and beyond.

According to FanGraphs and Bleacher report, two nationally syndicated statistic and analytics articles for Major League Baseball, the White Sox have twenty of the top one hundred prospects in all of the big leagues. This ranks Chicago’s farm system as number one in the league as well. However it does not take into account the amount of talent that is already on the club. With all of that information the question most asked is when will this team be vying for not just a playoff chance or push, but when will they be competing for championships on a regular basis. Most people and experts, as Ricky stated, peg them to be the dark horse team to get the last wild card spot in the America League.

General Manager Rick Hahn does not agree with those picks, he has stated: “I love the enthusiasm that the fans have beyond this team and organization as the rebuild process has gone on. But this is still a process like I said, and you cannot speed up the process to get to the goal faster. If you cheat the game the game will cheat you and we want to put this team, this organization in a position to compete for many, many years to come. Do I love the attention, the fans exhilaration? Absolutely I encourage it, but this is a process that needs to be done well and it needs to be done right.”

This outlook on the team may come off as detrimental or off-putting for the team and fans but I think a realistic outlook on the organization is needed to fairly judge this team accurately and accordingly. I would have to agree that this team is headed in the right direction and will be competitive, but I do not think that this team will win the wild card spot, rather they will get better and make more acquisitions in order to have this team in the playoffs come the 2020 season. Who knows maybe this team can exceed expectations and surprise all of us White Sox fans. Fans are never opposed to the team winning, especially when the winning is done right.