Despite a lineup of talented players, the White Sox are currently sitting at a .500 win percentage, winning and losing 24 games so far this season.  The White Sox finished just three games behind the eventual American League champion Detroit Tigers in the AL Central last season, mostly due to a poor end to the regular season by both clubs.  Currently, they only sit four and a half games back of the Tigers this season.  If it were any other division, you might think that a .500 ball club wouldn’t have to think about rebuilding, but the Tigers roster looks like it will be solid for years to come. 

I think a bigger question might be, if the White Sox do plan on blowing up their roster, could they even do it?  Many starting positions are currently occupied by White Sox players with completely untradeable contracts.  The easiest position to start looking at an upgrade would be the two spots of first base and designated hitter, currently alternating between Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko.  Dunn is in the third year of a four-year, $56 million contract, which he has not lived up to.  The White Sox knew when they signed him that he was a high-strikeout, high-homerun, and low-average type of hitter, but I don’t think they envisioned him hitting well under .200 in his time with the team.  He is continuing those trends in 2013 with 12 homeruns, hitting .159, with an on-base percentage of .253.  Konerko is also having a down year, only hitting .237 and five homeruns, and he also has an on-base percentage under .300. 

The White Sox could definitely use an upgrade at those two positions, but these are two players that will be hard to get rid of for very different reasons.  Dunn is completely untradeable at this point, because of his large contract, and the fact that there is no market out there for a part-time first basemen who can’t hit .200.  Many players with big contracts have been traded recently with the original team eating a large portion of the money on the contract, but with the way he is playing, I don’t think a team would trade for him no matter how little the cost.

Trading Konerko might be a different story.  I think there is a good chance Konerko gets it together this year, and brings his average and homerun numbers up, but Konerko is a long-time fan favorite in Chicago, and trading him could be an unpopular move with their fan base.  Konerko has spent almost his entire career in Chicago, and there was even talk about making him the manager two years ago before the front office ended up tapping Robin Ventura for the position.  The White Sox do have some tradable assets on their team.  I think a team making a playoff push would gladly take on a lot of Jake Peavy’s contract, and Jesse Crain would be a welcome addition to any team’s bullpen.  The only untradeable players in my eyes are pitchers Chris Sale, and Addison Reed.

I think the White Sox have enough talent on their team where they don’t have to worry about rebuilding right now.  They have a solid top end of the rotation with Sale and Peavy locked up for a little while, some excellent pitchers in their bullpen in Crain and Reed, and some other nice pieces on offense in Alex Rios, and Alexei Ramirez, and hopefully Gordon Beckham will start living up to his first-round potential. 

Let’s not forget either; since the Tigers assembled their super team, they really haven’t accumulated a ton of wins.  They are 29-20 so far this year, and they won 88 games last year, so let’s not pretend like catching the Tigers this year will be like beating out the 1929 Yankees.  The White Sox may not be legitimate World Series contenders right now, but they are a solid club who could put a streak together and contend for a wild-card spot in the playoffs.