Hahn on White Sox rebuild: ‘We know what we want to do’

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Without specifically using the “R” word on the first day of baseball’s Winter Meetings, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn made it quite clear Monday the White Sox are in rebuilding mode and that ace Chris Sale tops the long list of players on the trading block.

“We know what we want to do,’’ Hahn said. “We have known all along what we wanted to accomplish.’’

That means, after four straight years of losing and being “mired in mediocrity,” as Hahn put it this summer, Sox fans should prepare to get bogged down in a notch or more below mediocre for a couple of years while the young players Hahn hopes to acquire turn a corner and put the franchise on better footing.

That could start with Sale and possibly a trade to the Washington Nationals and their aggressive GM Mike Rizzo, who were known to be in accelerated pursuit Monday night. Outfielder Victor Robles and right-hander Lucas Giolito, ranked first and second among Nats prospects by MLB.com, might be in a package that would include more players and prospects.

“If you have a plan,’’ said Hahn, speaking openly about Sale while discussing what the Sox want to accomplish this offseason, “and you articulate it clearly [to fans] …. Certainly in our city it’s easy for them to see the fruits of those hardships on the other side of town. I think people would understand that.’’

For those living under a rock, the Cubs underwent a painful rebuild that produced a World Series championship, the first in town since the Sox won it all in 2005. The Sox, though, have made the postseason only once since then.

And so the time is now for a new plan.

To get it off the ground in a big way, Hahn knows he can use a potential mother lode in Sale for a return of prospects or young major league ready players. If fellow GMs here are testing him to see if he will back off a steep price that is set, he says they’re wasting their time. The Sox know what they want and won’t cave “in the heat of the negotiation or an environment like this where there is a bit of a fever pitch to make moves.’’

“Otherwise you are compromising too much in terms of the value,’’ he said.

Other GMs here are predicting Sale won’t be moved this week because of that. Hahn wouldn’t be surprised, either.

“It’s conceivable,’’ he said. “We’ve had a lot of really productive conversations. Both leading up to getting here last night as well as since we’ve been here. It could come quick on certain fronts or it may well be a thing that takes us through the holidays.’’

The Sox are encouraged about the quality of players who have been discussed. On the other hand, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, 80, has seen enough young phenoms come and go over the years to know the risks as well.

“That’s why when you’re trading a player of stature you’ve got to get multiple can’t-miss prospects back,’’ Reinsdorf said in an interview with CSN Chicago’s Chuck Garfien. “That’s why it makes it tough to trade a player of great stature.”

Sale likely won’t be the only one, and he doesn’t have to be the first to go for others to fall in line, Hahn said. Left-hander Jose Quintana is also a possibility, and if he and Sale are that means everyone is. In explaining why second baseman Brett Lawrie was re-signed over the weekend, Hahn pointed to Lawrie’s flexibility to play third base – which might suggest Todd Frazier, who becomes a free agent after next season, will be playing for another team.

“We are pretty confident about what we want to try to accomplish and how that’s going to unfold,’’ Hahn said.