It was spring training of 2017 when a reporter asked how Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf felt about the team’s fledgling rebuild.

“He mentions his age to me in a fair amount of these conversations, usually prefaced by, ‘How long, given my age?’” former GM Rick Hahn replied. “But he gets it, and he has been extremely supportive, and it probably was the hardest thing for him.

“It was probably easier for all of us than it was for Jerry, simply because you point out his age, his competitiveness, he has been through similar such things before and he (understands) the hardships that lay ahead of us as part of this. So he deserves the most credit, more credit than I do or any of the rest of us do, because again it was most difficult for him.”

Reinsdorf was about to turn 81 then, and he hasn’t gotten any younger in the following eight seasons. Times change, and dozens of players and front office personnel have moved on, including Hahn.

But not Reinsdorf.

He’ll turn 89 next February as GM Chris Getz begins Year Two of the current rebuild, and he’s as reluctant to address the media as he was back in ’17. So at the MLB general managers meetings in San Antonio, Getz was asked about Reinsdorf’s patience level coming off a 121-loss season in Year One of the latest rebuild.

“It’s frustrating for anyone watching White Sox games last year for obvious reasons,” Getz told reporters. “You look at the (41-121) record. That said, Jerry certainly understands the long-term vision of our plan here, and he’s been very supportive.

“Is it difficult at times, because you look up at losing streaks that are painful to watch? Of course. That said, we have a talent pool rising toward the major-league level in the organization and we’re going to continue to add prospects and players to make us more competitive.

“And (these are) the pains everyone’s felt that are a part of a rebuild. Unfortunately, you have to endure some of the pain. But you have to know better days are ahead.”

Those are words to live by in these trying times, but if the Sox hope to fast-forward the rebuild and become competitive before Reinsdorf enters his mid-90s, it’s up to Getz to make some bold, creative moves.

Better days were indeed ahead for Hahn and the Sox, though it took four years until they got to the postseason in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, then became a division power in 2021. But they squandered all their goodwill by 2022, leading to the firing of Hahn one year later and the promotion of Getz, who is now in charge of executing rebuild 2.0.

Or is it rebuild 5.0? It’s hard to remember all the Sox rebuilds since the 1980s when Reinsdorf took control of the team and immediately made a splash by signing free agents Carlton Fisk and Greg Luzinski before the ’81 season. Team president Eddie Einhorn, a TV executive, said stealing Fisk from the Boston Red Sox was like “stealing Acapulco cliff diving from ABC.”

The Sox won 87 games by 1982, and 99 in their division-winning year of ’83, the “Winning Ugly” season. But buying their way out of losing is a strategy Reinsdorf has shunned for the most part in his four decades of running the Sox. And really, which prominent free agents would even consider signing with the “Losing Ugly” Sox, who set the all-time record for losses in a modern MLB season and won only twice when trailing in the seventh inning or later?

Instead, Getz must find a team willing to part with multiple prospects for starter Garrett Crochet, his only real trade asset going into the winter. Hahn faced the same situation after the 2016 season and started the rebuild by dealing ace Chris Sale to the Red Sox for a package that included Yoán Moncada and Michael Kopech.

Sale, now with the Atlanta Braves, is likely to win his first Cy Young Award. Kopech was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he found his groove again and won a ring. Moncada’s $25 million option was declined last week, making his tenure on the South Side a bust.

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Yoán,” Getz said Tuesday. “But there always comes a time where you’ve got to make difficult decisions and that was one of them.”

Actually, that was probably the easiest decision Getz will make all offseason. Dealing Crochet, the leader of the clubhouse and an underpaid player with two years of team control remaining, will be the hardest.

What makes it more difficult is that Crochet insists he wants to stay and help bring back the attitude of the ’21 team.

“I always liked in ’21 — it was a different cast and crew — but I liked how it was kind of the villain role,” the pitcher said before the final home game. “We kind of owned that everyone hated us, that sort of thing. I suppose since I was drafted to this team, that’s what I had us to be in our mind.

“The Cubs are probably, in a lot of people’s minds, Chicago’s team, for whatever that’s worth. But I always viewed us as the underdog in that role.”

Crochet understands what playing for the Sox is all about, and yet is willing to go through the pain of the rebuild to try and make things better.

Getz said he could “very easily see him making an opening day start for us” in 2025, which would likely mean he improved the team in the offseason by signing some quality free agents.

But grizzled Sox fans aren’t buying that scenario. They’ve seen this movie before.

And like Reinsdorf, they’re not getting any younger either.