Rodon on schedule after shoulder surgery

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodón continues to make solid progress with his rehab following arthroscopic shoulder surgery in September, sidelining him for six to eight months.
"Everything is progressing according to schedule," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "Until he's in Spring Training and really getting after it and throwing the ball again, we won't really know when that window will fall. But so far it's been positive."
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"He's doing great," Rodon's agent, Scott Boras, said on Wednesday during the Winter Meetings. "From the doctors, we haven't heard anything other than the normal course of his rehab going forward. They [White Sox] see him as a top-of-the-rotation starter."
Hahn doesn't believe Rodon's injury-plagued 2017 season will serve as a source of frustration for the southpaw, who turned 25 on Sunday.
"Players get hurt. It happens," Hahn said. "It certainly is an unfortunate event for guys, but many players have come back from injury and gone on to have prominent, extended careers. We still think Carlos has the upside and potential to do that.

"We certainly remain diligent with him in terms of his routine and his pre-rehab, at this point rehab, but once he gets back healthy, the pre-hab element of preparing in between starts and the importance of being diligent with that. And Carlos is a pro. He knows, he gets it, he's learned from this, and the upside and ceiling that he had the day we took him out of N.C. State remains the same."
Hahn working under control
Hahn was asked about the hypothetical potential to acquire Orioles third baseman Manny Machado on a couple of occasions during his Wednesday media session without Machado's name ever being directly mentioned.
"We like good players who fit into the long term," Hahn said in response to the first question posed to him.
That reply fit with what Hahn stated on Tuesday, in that contractual control would be an important part of trade returns involving the White Sox moving any of their recently acquired prospects. But Hahn left all possibilities somewhat open when he was asked again later in his interview about possibly acquiring and then trying to extend a player with one year remaining prior to free agency, a profile fitting Machado.
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"Sometimes you need to be creative. Sometimes you need to perhaps take a risk," Hahn said. "It's probably slightly easier after a player has been part of this organization, understand what we're about, to extend him as opposed to meeting him cold as a free agent and trying to sell him on the organization.
"We've had success with both, so we're not afraid to do either, but perhaps there is a little advantage from time to time to have a guy already be on campus when you're talking about extending him into the future. You guys have heard from many of our players how much they enjoy being with us, how they want to stay here, how they want to be part of this rebuild. That's in part due to the type of guys we've brought in and in part due to the culture and direction we've created."