This winter was billed to be relatively calm for the White Sox compared to the organization-shifting chaos of one year ago. But that mirage was shattered in the wee hours of Wednesday night when Ken Rosenthal broke news that the Sox had made the best and most serious trade offer for Orioles star third baseman Manny Machado.

Machado has long been a target of Sox fans’ desire. He is set to become a free agent after next season, and if the White Sox (Jerry Reinsdorf) are actually serious about spending money this time around, he seemed like a perfect fit for third base.

Those dreams have been suddenly pushed to the front burner, as the Orioles have begun to shop Machado on the trade market.

According to reports, the White Sox made an impressive offer, the best in fact, to the Orioles. According to Rosenthals reports either Michael Kopech or Lucas Giolito would have to be headliners, but not both. All of that late on a Wednesday night, sending White Sox Twitter into deep panic.

A few thoughts:

-If the Sox were to make a trade for Machado, they would likely try to sign him to a long-term. You would think that a formal agreement to a signing would have to be in place for the Sox to make such a risky move.

-Reports now say that Kopech is off limits in a potential Machado deal. Untouchable. So where the hell did that leak come from and why?

-Initially, this whole thing reeked of a rush job by the White Sox. Trying to cut corners once again. You spend a year collecting these prospects in an effort to rebuild, and then all of a sudden are ready to deal some of them for a year of Machado. It just made zero sense outside of a guaranteed longterm extension.

-It’s interesting to see if any other prospects packages could pique the O’s interest. Say, a deal centered around Rodon or Fulmer…? The Sox have four untouchables (Moncada, Jimenez, Robert, Kopech), but outside of that there is a haul of guys who could be moved to plug roster holes, but now is not the time to be doing that, and thus rushing the process.

-You’ve emphasized patience during this rebuild process for over a year, why alter that course now?

-In the end, I don’t think the Sox and Orioles make a deal for Machado right now. I think internally the Sox don’t believe they have a shot to sign him straight up a year from now, and this is almost a Hail Mary attempt to possibly woo his services. Trade for him, and give him a year to show him what the future on the southside of Chicago is going to look like.