With Spring Training finally upon us, there will be no shortage of stories across the league. Which prospects will make the biggest impact in camp? What position battles will be the most interesting to keep an eye on? Can the Cubs repeat? Will the Indians suffer a World Series hangover, or come out of the gates firing?

These are just a handful of stories that MLB fans across the nation will be tuning into. One that Chicagoans in particular will be eager to hear about is what the future holds for the White Sox. After two blockbuster deals done already, fans of the team are waiting for more A-list assets to be traded, and a plethora of A-list prospects in return. It is no secret that the White Sox are going to have a boatload of young talent in their farm system when the waters have calmed and all the trades have been completed. With luck, the team on the South Side should be contending for a World Series within the next 3-5 years. However, perhaps the best asset that the White Sox will have on their side during this rebuild isn’t a future prospect or manager at all.

It is the timing.

As of today, the A.L. Central is probably the weakest division in all of baseball. There are the Cleveland Indians… and everybody else. Cleveland is without question the cream of the division crop and should have no trouble whatsoever repeating as division champs in 2017. After that, things get pretty terrible.

The Detroit Tigers maybe have a shot at a Wild Card, but I would be shocked to see them make the playoffs. They are somewhat stuck in the middle as of now. Not good enough to really be any type of postseason threat, but not bad enough to tank or be in a position to trade any of their assets. Definitely not the best position to be in.

For the Kansas City Royals, 2017 could very well be the last year they have a chance at a World Series run. After this season, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, and Alciedes Escobar will all be free agents. AKA, their entire core. That’s not even counting the fact that the Royals have also lost Wade Davis, and tragically, Yorando Ventura. Depending on how hot or cold the Royals start, we could very well see them blow up the team at the deadline, strengthen their farm, and start building another young core.

Minnesota is currently horrible, perhaps even more so than the White Sox. However, unlike the Tigers and Royals, they have some young talent in the MLB already, (emphasis on Byron Buxton) and 4 prospects currently in the top 100 according to MLB.com. However, while they may take a solid step forward in the next couple years, they still do not have enough of that young talent to build around as of today.

Which leads us to the White Sox. By the time the South Side is finally ready to compete, the division may be wide open for them to take by the throat. Although Cleveland is a phenomenal team right now, it is incredibly hard to keep a championship caliber roster around for an extended period of time. Just ask Kansas City. Players become too expensive, injuries happen, and age starts to factor in.

Then there is Kansas City and Detroit, who may be in full blown rebuilds themselves a couple years down the road. And finally, there is Minnesota, who I think will be in the good-not-great category come 2019. Could they maybe compete for a Wild Card? Absolutely, but as far as having enough to win the division, I personally do not see it unless they can bring in some additional young talent to round out their roster.

The influx of young talent that the White Sox have been getting, and will continue to get, is obviously going to get all of the attention. Rightfully so. However, when the Sox are finally ready to compete for a World Series, don’t be surprised to see the A.L. Central in another state of mediocrity. Right now, Cleveland’s path to the playoffs is nothing short of a cakewalk. Don’t be surprised if the White Sox find themselves in a similar position in the not-so-distant future.

The St. Louis Cardinals received some awful news on their top prospect 22-year-old RHP Alex Reyes, who is undergoing an MRI on his sore elbow and could miss the entire 2017 season.

I am told : Potentially season ending injury for Alex Reyes. Tough tough blown for Cardinals.

— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) February 14, 2017

Now, the Cardinals are no strangers to injuries in their starting rotation as it seems like the club has been perpetually dealing with one of their aces sustaining a major injury for the last decade. Guys like now retired Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, and even Carlos Martinez have all spent time nursing injuries. In 2016 alone, the St. Louis players spent a collective 1228 days on the disabled list, ranking 24th in the baseball according to Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA.

With Reyes’ entire season in jeopardy, the Cardinals are losing a possible ace and need some starting pitching depth with Lance Lynn being the only pitcher on the roster with real starting experience. And while Lynn adds a level of insurance for the rotation, he’s coming off Tommy John surgery that shut him down for all of 2016 and was not expected to have to contribute right away this season.
The Cardinals No. 2 overall prospect, and No. 81 in top 100, RHP Luke Weaver is close to being MLB-ready as well but he has been slowed down some after sustaining a left wrist fracture at the start of 2016. Most scouts believe Weaver is ready to be a major league pitcher, but if he has a rough spring and needs more time in the minors, the Cardinals have no proven options to turn to.

With all the tremulous injury history St. Louis has dealt with over the last decade, it might make sense for the club to pursue a more reliable option to add to their rotation.

Enter Jose Quintana. 

The White Sox have been trying to move the 26-year-old lefty all offseason, and reportedly have come close a few times, but each deal has had GM Rick Hahn fixated on acquiring more elite hitting prospects after stockpiling an incredible amount of talented, young pitching from the Red Sox and Nationals this offseason.

Luck for both clubs, the Cardinals have a few intriguing bats they could dangle in front of Hahn in exchange for Quintana and his incredibly team-friendly contract that has four more years of team control. Now, it would take St. Louis parting with a player like Harrison Bader, Delvin Perez, or possibly breakout catching prospect Carson Kelly to make this deal to come life, but I would find it hard to believe Hahn would turn down a deal centering around any of those three players.

The Cardinals did have a serious log-jam at the starting spot with really seven semi-decent options for their rotation, but losing Reyes is a major blow to St. Louis and to baseball. Regardless, St. Louis needs more stability in their rotation and while they may have a few options to choose from in-house, adding a reliable and cost efficient arm like Jose Quintana to their roster could help soften the blow of losing Reyes. Plus, it would allow the Cardinals to take their time grooming Luke Weaver,
and the White Sox add another promising bat to their offensively starved farm system making this deal on paper a win-win.

But, for now, everything will be put on hold until Reyes is officially done for the season. If the young ace is lost for the entire season, expect the Cardinals to be major players for Jose Quintana as the 2017 season starts to take shape.