KANSAS CITY -- There will be teams who have interest in acquiring White Sox reliever Aaron Bummer before the July 31 Trade Deadline. It comes with the territory for a 25-year-old southpaw who has served notice via a 1.80 ERA posted in his first 30 games this season.

There are no indications that Bummer will be doing anything but helping the White Sox move from rebuilding to contention during their ongoing rebuild. But he also understands that this is a situation where he literally has no control over the outcome.

“We are at the mercy of the guys upstairs in that respect,” Bummer said. “It’s something where two or three months ago, I was in Charlotte working through some stuff, and now I’m having a really successful year. I’ve got a year and a half of service time. I couldn’t sit there and tell you I’m thinking about this or that. I’m trying to do my job every time.

“It’s a testament to the work you are putting in that other teams want you. I’m happy with where I’m at. I’m happy the White Sox gave me every opportunity they have. I look forward in moving forward with the White Sox and putting together a winning culture, a championship level team.”

As far as rumors go, with a little less than two weeks to go until the Deadline, Bummer has heard or seen nothing aside from speculation on Twitter of who might fit well where.

“If [the White Sox] figure out they have something else in the plans for me, then so be it,” Bummer said. “But right now, I’m happy with where I’m at.

“Continue to do the same thing. There’s something to be said for getting better every day, and that’s still my goal. There’s still a lot of things I want to improve on. Hopefully it will allow me to propel to an even better second half. That’s the goal.”

Renteria not about excuses

A few ready-made excuses exist behind the White Sox 0-6 start to the second half entering Wednesday afternoon’s series finale at Kauffman Stadium. Shortstop Tim Anderson remains sidelined, and now left fielder Eloy Jimenez has joined Anderson on the injured list.

Chicago is also in the midst of a 10-game, three-time zone road trip to start the second half, following four days of All-Star break inactivity. But White Sox manager Rick Renteria won’t deal in excuses.

“That’s not the mentality we want to have,” Renteria said. “We want to create a winning mentality, which means you deal with everything on a daily basis. 

“You go out and put your best foot forward, play the best game you can, do a better job. You put more points on the board, hopefully you make less mistakes than the opponents and your pitching does what it’s supposed to.”

Renteria equated finding excuses as a team for poor play to an individual who comes into the manager’s office and asks why he isn’t playing more. 

“Play better,” said Renteria, presenting his response. “So, we as a team have to play better and do the things we’ve done since the beginning of the season and turn it around. I’m not an excuse guy.”

Hahn likes Robert pressure

Luis Robert, the No. 5 overall prospect in the Majors, per MLB Pipeline, has a slash line of .440/.500/.960 to go with three home runs and nine RBIs since being promoted to Triple-A Charlotte. There’s a good chance those numbers won’t stay at that ridiculous level for his entire stay with the Knights.

“I'm not going to put any limits on him just yet,” said a smiling White Sox general manager Rick Hahn. “He'll make me look silly.”

Hahn called Robert’s high level of production a good problem to have, in terms of calls to promote the 21-year-old to the Majors sooner than might be expected. 

“It's been six games, so let's keep a little perspective. It's certainly been a very impressive six games,” Hahn said. “With every extra-base hit or every fine defensive play or stolen base or whatever he happens to be doing, to wow people on a nightly basis on any given night, I'm fine with the calls getting greater or the excitement getting greater to see another potential premium piece here at the big league level.

“I hope he keeps this roll going. It's probably unrealistic to hope he rolls like this all the way through Triple-A. But we're as happy as anyone when we see what he's doing on a nightly basis.”