10 of 10

David Banks/Getty Images

The Chicago White Sox don't have Sale anymore. Pretty soon, they probably won't have Jose Quintana anymore either.

But not to worry, for the long-term future of their rotation is many shades of ridiculous.

For starters, there's Carlos Rodon. Although the former top prospect has had ups and downs in the majors, the ups have consisted of him flashing ace potential. This includes a sustained run in the second half of 2016, when he started throwing more changeups and put up a 3.45 ERA with a 3.5 K/BB ratio.

Rodon should be an ace well before 2020, at which point he'll still only be 27. And he'll have company.

Thanks to the trades of Sale and Adam Eaton, the White Sox's farm system now includes Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech and Reynaldo Lopez. They're MLB.com's No. 11, No. 16 and No. 46 prospects, respectively, and they have one thing in common: heat.

Only Kopech can touch as high as 105 mph, but each of the three right-handers can work in the mid-to-high 90s. Even in an age of heightened velocity, having three arms like this is something to write home about.

"The power arms seem to be certainly a trend," Chris Getz, the White Sox's director of player development, told MiLB.com's Alex Kraft. "You look at some of the teams that have had a lot of success, the guys at the front of the rotation are coming with a lot of heat. These guys have those tools."

That's four dominant arms lined up for 2020. To round things out, the White Sox can either groom another prospect—such as Carson Fulmer, Alec Hansen, Zack Burdi or Dane Dunning—or put the huge amount of payroll space they're soon going to have to good use.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant. Payroll data courtesy of Cot's Baseball Contracts.