Saturday marks just the fifth day that Rick Hahn has not been the White Sox general manager in the last eleven seasons. In the last decade, Hahn has left his mark on the organization, for better or worse.
There was some good, plenty of bad, and a whole lot of ugly. Not everything was his fault. Recent reports from Chuck Garfein and Ryan McGuffey suggest that Kenny Williams was the one who wanted to make the Jake Burger trade, not Hahn. Williams went over Hahn’s head to do so. Hahn wanted to sign Bryce Harper. Williams did not. Hahn wanted to pay Manny Machado. Williams wanted to get “creative” aka cheap. At this point, everyone knows that hiring Tony La Russa was not his idea. Hahn’s not-so-subtle look of defeat gave that away at La Russa’s introductory press conference. Another report says that Hahn tried to resign as general manager but Jerry Reinsdorf would not let him.
Working with Williams and Reinsdorf did not make his job any easier. However, sports is a results-oriented business. Hahn did not produce good results and was given a much longer runway given his team's performance warranted.
Here is a look at the White Sox record each year under Hahn:
- 2013: 63-69 Last in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2014 73-89 4th in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2015 76-86 4th in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2016 78-84 4th in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2017 67-95 4th in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2018 62-100 4th in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2019 72-89 3rd in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2020 35-25 3rd in AL Central, Lost in ALWC (2-1)
- 2021 93-69 1st in AL Central, Lost in ALDS (3-1)
- 2022 81-81 2nd in AL Central, Missed Playoffs
- 2023 49-76
- Final Record 749-893, .456 winning percentage, two playoff wins
The bottom line is he deserves plenty of blame. But let's take a look at the significant moves he made during that stretch to determine just how much.
MIRED IN MEDIOCRITY (2013-2016)
Early in Rick Hahn’s tenure, he made some moves to try and quickly turn the White Sox into contenders. In 2014 he signed Jose Abreu from Cuba and traded for Adam Eaton. It helped the White Sox improve by ten games but the young and hungry Hahn called the season a failure citing the lack of a championship. He decided to get aggressive in the offseason.
The following offseason he tried to build around his core of Chris Sale, Abreu and Eaton by trading for A’s starter Jeff Samardzija, infielders Marcus Semien and Rangel Ravelo, catcher Josh Phegley, and pitcher Chris Bassitt. Samardzija would only last one season in Chicago and produce a lackluster 4.96 ERA. Semien and Bassitt developed into All-Stars.
Hahn also tried to bolster the bullpen by signing closer David Robertson during the Winter meetings. He then signed outfielder Melky Cabrera to a three-year $42 million contract. He also brought in veteran first baseman Adam LaRoche in an effort to provide some extra power from the left-hand side. LaRoche would only hit 12 home runs for the White Sox in 2015 and the White Sox win total only improved by three wins.
Hahn then doubled down and got back to work in the offseason.
He signed former 2007 NL MLVP, Jimmy Rollins to a minor league deal, catcher Dianoer Navarro to a one-year deal for $4 million, catcher Alex Avila to a one-year $2.5 million deal, and starter Mat Latos to a one year deal worth $3 million. He also traded for infielder Brett Lawrie and third baseman Todd Frazier.
Rollins only played 41 games with the White Sox after hitting just .221. Navarro was traded to the Blue Jays midseason after batting .210 for the White Sox. Availa hit .213 with just 11 RBIs. Latos was released by the team midseason. The 2016 season turned out to be Lawrie’s last in the MLB. He hit .248 with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs. He also struck out 109 times and there were rumblings of attitude issues.
Frazier turned out to be the only solid signing. He hit a career-high 40 home runs and drove in 98 RBIs. However, he also struck out 163 times and batted just .225.
The season turned out to be a disaster. In spring training LaRoche retired because he was asked to stop bringing his son in the clubhouse so much. Veterans like Frazier and Rollins were scratching their heads as to why a kid was in the clubhouse in the first place. This was the beginning of a season-long feud between Frazier and Eaton whose lockers eventually had to be separated later in the season. Meanwhile, Sale went out of his way to defend LaRoche, calling his son Drake a “leader in the clubhouse” and then yelled at Kenny Williams when he tried to address the team. Manager Robin Ventura had to be talked out of resigning during spring training.
Despite the tumultuous spring, the White Sox season got off to a fast 23-10 start. Winning can mask a lot of issues but once the winning stopped things began to crash and burn. They went 11-17 in May and would never recover. At one point Chris Sale got suspended by the team after cutting up throwback jerseys because he did not want to pitch in them.
Hahn tried to salvage things by adding James Shields from the Padres for a 16-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr. at the trade deadline. Shields would post a 5.31 ERA in three seasons in Chicago while Tatis would turn into a superstar.
The White Sox would only improve by two wins from the season before. In the middle of the disappointing 2016 campaign, Hahn declared that the White Sox were “mired in mediocrity”. It signaled an end to the Chris Sale era and ushered in a rebuild.
THE REBUILD (2017-2019)
Hahn decided to tear the team down to the studs. He promoted the team's bench coach and former Cubs skipper Rick Renteria to be the 40th manager in White Sox history.
On December 6th, 2016 he traded Chris Sale for top prospects Micheal Kopech and Yoan Moncada. Moncada was Baseball America’s 2016 minor league player of the year. The next day he shipped Adam Eaton to the Nationals for a package that included Dane Dunning, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez.
He also signed top Cuban prospect Luis Robert. In 2017 he dealt Jose Quintana to the Cubs before the trade deadline for Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez. Rick Hahn’s popularity in Chicago would never be higher.
All the while the White Sox had a string of draft picks that were rising through the ranks. Nine of Hahn’s first 11 draft picks reached the majors. Those included Tim Anderson (2013), Carlos Rodon (2014), Carson Fulmer (2015), Zack Collins (2016), Jake Burger (2017), Nick Madrigal (2018), Andrew Vaughn (2019) and Garrett Crochet (2020)
THE “CONTENTION WINDOW” 2020- 2023
After two years of tanking, it was time to supplement this core of young prospects. The White Sox needed to go big game hunting in the 2019 offseason. Hahn proclaimed the White Sox had “a seat at the table” but the team failed to sign Bryce Harper and Manny Machado despite a constant stream of rumors signaling they were close to getting a deal done.
Instead, Hahn made a slew of marginal moves. He signed catcher James McCann to back up Wellington Castillo. Castillo was signed during the 2018 offseason but got suspended 80 games for PEDs the year before.
Hahn also signed outfielder Jon Jay, who missed significant time due to injury, first baseman Yonder Alonso, who hit just seven home runs and was released after 67 games and washed-up reliever Kelvin Herrera.
They also traded for pitchers Manny Banuelos, Alex Colome, and Ivan Nova. Banuelos was mainly a non-factor with the White Sox. Nova turned out to be a good innings eater and veteran presence in the rotation. Colome was perhaps the best move of the offseason. He recorded 30 saves and a 2.80 ERA in 2019 and then a 0.81 ERA in 2020.
The White Sox showed some promise in 2019 winning 72 games and getting good contributions from Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada. During the 2019-20 offseason, Hahn got back in the lab to try and make them a legitimate contender.
He signed catcher Yasmani Grandal to a four-year deal worth $93 million, the richest contract in franchise history, former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel, starter Gio Gonzalez, reliever Steve Cishek and designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion. He also extended Jose Abreu to a three-year deal and gave Luis Robert a massive six-year $50 million extension with club options for 2026 and 2027. That extension now looks like a steal.
Right field was still a gaping hole. Hahn tried to fill it by trading for Nomar Mazara, who had a mostly disappointing tenure with the Texas Rangers. The White Sox hoped they find Mazara’s untapped potential. It did not work. Mazara hit just one home run and batted .228 during his lone season on the South Side.
Abreu was the league MVP that season, The White Sox finished above .500 for the first time in Hahn’s tenure and made the playoffs for the first time since 2008. But an early first-round exit in at the hands of the Athletics in the Wild Card round exposed their lack of starting pitching depth.
In the 2021 offseason, Hahn inked All-Star closer Liam Hendriks and traded Dane Dunning to Texas for Lance Lynn. He also signed Adam Eaton in another attempt to solidify right field. Both Hendriks and Lynn would become All-Stars that season. Hahn also decided to take a flier and resign Carlos Rodon to a one-year deal. Rodon would also become an All-Star.
That year the White Sox spent 152 days in first place and captured the AL Central title with 93 victories.
Hahn decided to bolster the roster at the trade deadline. He dealt an injured Nick Madrigal for future Hall of Fame closer Craig Kimbrel and reliever Ryan Tepera. He also added second baseman Cesar Hernandez from Cleveland to replace Madrigal. While the White Sox still found success the moves backfired.
Kimbrel could not adjust to an eighth-inning role and got lit up to the tune of a 5.09 ERA. Hernadez, who hit 18 home runs with Cleveland during the first half of the season hit just three for the White Sox. Tepera accused the Astros of cheating after Game 3 of the ALDS which gave them extra bulletin board material to close out the White Sox in dominating fashion.
THE DOWNFALL
Despite getting bounced by the Astros in five games, there was plenty of reason for optimism heading into the 2022 season. Hahn flipped Kimbrel to the Dodgers for outfielder AJ Pollock and traded former first-round pick Zack Collins to Toronto for Reese McGuire. He also signed Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Josh Harrison and resigned Leury Garcia.
The season turned out to be a complete disaster. Dallas Keuchel was released midway through the year, La Russa continued to be a weekly sideshow, players like Andrew Vaughn were playing out of position, there were rumors of locker room issues and the team failed to win a very mediocre AL Central Divison.
During the trade deadline, Hahn’s only move was to add reliever Jake Diekman. Diekman was released just a month into the 2022 season. Later he picked up Elvis Andrus off the scrap head. Andrus, who was released by Oakland, turned in a surprisingly productive 43 games with the White Sox. He batted .271 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs. However, it was not enough to reel in the Guardians who would mock the White Sox after clinching the division.
During Hahn’s final offseason as the White Sox general manager, he let franchise icon Jose Abreu walk in free agency. He signed Mike Clevinger, who shortly after was under investigation for domestic abuse allegations, Andrew Benintendi to the most expensive contract in team history, and resigned Elvis Andrus after failing to identify a proper second baseman. He also made a slew of minor additions for pitchers such as Gregory Santos, Keynan Middleton, and Bryan Shaw.
His biggest move was hiring Pedro Grifol after Tony La Russa left the team with health issues. Grifol's tenure got off to a horrible start. The White Sox began the season 8-21 and never recovered. Grifol looks like he is in way over his head, the team lacks accountability and leadership and Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman and Keynan Middleton were all sold off at the trade deadline.
A slew of embarrassing reports of a toxic locker room culture came to light and the core of Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada Micheal Kopech and Dylan Cease failed to live up to their billing as top prospects.
At the time of Hahn's departure, the 2023 White Sox ranked 25th in the MLB in runs per game (4.1) 29th in WRC+ (85), 26th in ERA (4.80), and 29th in Defensive Runs Saved (-47).
HAHN'S LEGACY
Simply put Rick Hahn deserved to be fired. There is no denying that he was good at getting value back for players. The Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, and Jose Quintana trade all looked great on paper at the time. If his Lucas Giolito trade netted the White Sox a top-100 prospect in Edgar Quero.
However, when it came time to supplement the roster with talent to support the young core he failed more times than not. Grandal and Benintendi received the largest deals from Hahn. Grandal had his moments but his injuries, recent lack of production, and a report from ESPN's Jesse Rodgers saying he is "no friend of the pitchers" make the move ultimately a failure. The jury is still out on Benintendi but his first season in Chicago leaves little reason for optimism.
Hahn also placed way too much faith in his core of Robert, Jimenez, Moncada, Anderson, and Grandal. The five appeared together in just 36 of 451 games the last three seasons. That is only eight percent of the games played.
The 2023 season will be the first time Robert has played over 100 games. He was limited to just 68 and 98 in 2021 and 2022. Jimez only appeared in 55 games in 2021 and 84 in 2022. Grandal played 93 games in 2021 and 99 in 2022. Meanwhile, Anderson played in just 79 games last season.
Time and time again the offseason strategy was to hope that everyone stayed healthy and had a career year despite the fact that they showed time and time again they were not able to do so.
Locker room issues were also a common theme. In 2016 he collected a group of players that did not fit well together despite their talent and it blew up in Hahn’s face. History repeated itself in 2023. That’s no coincidence. Hahn put both rosters together.
His smug way of dealing with the media and fans near the end of his tenure added to the frustration. Hahn was always good at deflecting questions with word salad and jargon. But that act wore thin at the end.
The man who once said “Ask me after the parade” legacy with the White Sox will be constructing a blueprint for other teams on how a rebuild can fail.
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