This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin's White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Are the 2023 White Sox strong enough to win a World Series championship, or at least emerge as the American League’s top team?

Those questions should be front and center for White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, executive vice president Ken Williams and the entire front office as they continue to fortify the roster during the offseason. It’s the goal set out by Hahn early on in the rebuild, discussing the winning of multiple titles on a few occasions over the past five years.

To date, with Year 3 of the competitive window complete, the White Sox have produced multiple playoff victories, as in two total. You all know the details, along with the disappointment of 2022.

But the addition of free-agent left fielder Andrew Benintendi via a five-year, $75 million deal moves the White Sox steps forward in trying to achieve postseason success. Benintendi’s deal is the largest guaranteed money in franchise history, surpassing catcher Yasmani Grandal’s $73 million over four years, Yoán Moncada’s $70 million over five years and José Abreu’s original deal of $68 million over six years. That fact is a little startling, at first, but it’s also the current market cost for a player of Benintendi’s overall skill set.

As I tweeted on Friday, Benintendi makes the White Sox a better overall team, which is the primary goal of this entire project. It’s not to assemble the biggest payroll or the greatest array of superstars, although both of those ways of operating certainly help for teams so inclined. Take a look at the 2005 White Sox, though, as an example of winning it all as a great team.

The White Sox brought in a left-handed hitter who is a Gold Glove-winning left fielder. He’s a tough out at the plate and a great clubhouse fit. The White Sox would have drafted Benintendi in 2015 if he were available at No. 8, but Benintendi went the pick before to Boston. They tried to acquire him again before the Red Sox eventually traded Benintendi to the Royals on Feb. 10, 2021.

An outfield of Benintendi, Luis Robert and Oscar Colas, whenever it materializes in 2023, features two Gold Glove winners and a center fielder playing right in Colas. Overall, this White Sox crew has what it takes to win the AL Central. That statement is meant as no disrespect to the Guardians, who captured the division title in '22 as one of the most entertaining teams in baseball.

Houston, the defending World Series champion, lost '22 Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, but it has six starters in place and White Sox icon Abreu now a part of its power-packed lineup. I wrote in last week’s newsletter about the White Sox banking on nine or 10 players bouncing back from injury or underperformance in '22. It's a tough proposition, but it also gives the group an extra edge, as Hahn discussed in San Diego. The Sox also needed to spend to improve the team to compete with baseball’s best.

“You have to measure yourself up against the rest of the league at some point,” Hahn said at the Winter Meetings. “Initially you measure yourself up against the division, and even there we're chasing the Guardians based on what they did last year. Certainly, ultimately whoever wins the American League is going to have to get through Houston. And that's highly relevant to the rest of the clubs in there.

“I think this time of the year certainly is focused on ways we can improve this club. As you're comparing where we ultimately land versus where other teams are is relevant. But the focus is on how do we make this club better and make ourselves on par with not only the team ahead of us in our division, but the others competing in the division and ultimately the others competing for a championship.”