Quantifying the White Sox roster turnover during a rebuilding season

Jose Abreu -- one of the few Sox veterans left

The White Sox have used 45 players during this 2017 season of rebuilding. If that seems like a high total, that's because it is.

Roster churn is an inevitable part of rebuilding, but because it happens gradually, fans don't always realize how stark the changes have been.

For instance, did you know that only 12 of the players on the Sox's current 25-man roster were with the team on Opening Day? More than half of these guys we're watching now were in the minor leagues, on the disabled list or elsewhere when the season began April 3.

Here are the 12 "survivors," if you will:

Jose Abreu
Tim Anderson
Yolmer Sanchez
Omar Narvaez
Avisail Garcia
Leury Garcia
Tyler Saladino
Jake Petricka
Derek Holland
Miguel Gonzalez
James Shields
Dylan Covey

That's it. Here's a rundown on what has happened to the 13 "other" guys:

Traded:
Jose Quintana
David Robertson
Todd Frazier
Melky Cabrera
Dan Jennings
Anthony Swarzak

On the disabled list:
Nate Jones
Zach Putnam
Matt Davidson
Geovany Soto

Demoted to the minor leagues:
Jacob May
Michael Ynoa
Cody Asche

This list of others doesn't even include Tommy Kahnle, who started the year in the minors before getting called up and pitching well enough to be traded to the New York Yankees.

And I'll bet quite a few people have forgotten that Asche still exists at this point.

And, of those 12 guys who have been with the Sox all year, seven of them -- both Garcias, Petricka, Shields, Gonzalez, Saladino and Covey -- have spent time on the disabled list.

Yes indeed, this is one of those years where you have to be a die-hard fan to know which 25 guys are on the Sox roster at any given moment.