White Sox GM Hahn talks Trade Deadline

CHICAGO -- The White Sox fully understand that time is winding down in terms of making something significant out of this 2015 season that began with such lofty expectations. If that turnaround doesn't happen in the next couple of weeks, then changes could be coming to this current roster.

But according to White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, his players remain more concerned about winning the game at hand than any far-ranging trade ramifications.

"I heard from one guy specifically, who really seemed to express the sentiment is that, they want to put us in a position where it's obvious that we're not sellers over the next few weeks," Hahn said prior to Wednesday's game. "They expect to go on a run and make it clear that we're fulfilling the expectation we all had and there's not going to be a need or a desire to start focusing on the future. That's more the vibe I'm getting from this clubhouse."

White Sox strengths and shortcomings have been discussed at length since the middle of April. The pitching is there, but the offense is absent. The defense has improved from a fairly poor level, but the team has put itself in quite a hole to climb out from in regard to the thought of playoff contention.

Those who expect a wholesale rebuild, though, might be surprised. Since this reshaping plan began in 2013, Hahn has talked about building a core to win multiple championships and not just going all-in for one season. So the White Sox could subtract and add in the present through the same deal.

"When we sort of started initially down this path midway through '13, it was with the idea that we were going to try to add on an annual basis and expand the core on an annual basis," Hahn said. "Obviously we felt heading into this season that we put ourselves in a position to contend but it was still, as I said at the time repeatedly over the offseason, part of a process.

"We weren't done, and in our minds, [weren't] going to stop looking to try to add to our core group. We have a fair amount of controllable talent entering or in their primes for the next several years and that's an enviable position to be in. From our standpoint, if we do start focusing on the future, it's to figure out how many of this group are going to be part of that core and the best way to add to it."

With such great parity found to date, especially in the American League, the overall trade market has been slow to develop.

"We've got a lot of clubs, especially in this league, that are still arguably in contention, a good week away from being right in the thick of things," Hahn said. "It's been a somewhat slower evolving market in talking to GMs, even some who are in the so-called declared sellers camp, who are saying it's moving fairly slowly in terms of getting specific offers.

"Obviously there haven't been any deals announced yet. That's all going to change. We've got 22 days until the deadline and things can happen fairly quickly once teams get committed to making a decision."