White Sox GM Rick Hahn has shaped the team as both a buyer and seller in many major trades over the years, involving Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, Jeff Samardzija, Jake Peavy, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, and more. Check out today’s video to see Jeff Todd’s evaluation of Hahn’s trade history.
Headlines
Navigation
MLBTR INFO
Connect
MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com
hide arrows
scroll to top
Actually really good, just that one.
I’d say two. Giving up Semien for Samardzija stings a bit, too, but even the Shields trade was bad at the time more due to trusting James Shields as the answer rather than giving up Tatis. Tatis was just a lottery ticket back then. Semien, when he was traded, wasn’t anything special, either. So those are two trades that didn’t work out well, but at the time, they weren’t indefensible. Arguably his worst trade at the time was Kahnle and more for Rutherford. That said, he’s won more trades than he’s lost, especially Q for Eloy and Cease.
I kinda agree, they also got Zack Burdi for a player who is under control for 1 more year and just broke out to a MVP caliber player.
Not sure what you mean? The Sox drafted Burdi and he’s still in the organization last I checked.
He was a comp pick for losing Samardzija in free agency.
I don’t know about that stuff about Semien. If you would had been around Birmingham in 2013 to watch him lead that team to the Southern League Championship you would had thought about big things coming. It was fun and amazing to watch at times.
Yeah, but he didn’t do anything at the big league level for years. With the Sox for a cup of coffee and then as a utility guy for a year, he didn’t exactly wow anyone with his numbers. Then he didn’t do all that much in Oakland until 2018. It’s great that he’s a late bloomer, but he wasn’t a stud when they let him go.
That’s revisionist. BA, Rob Neyer, and Keith Law all panned the White Sox for that deal, explicitly for giving up Tatis Jr., who they deemed as way too valuable.
Just like some GMs he made some good and bad trades. Signings is pretty mixed as well. If Robert can live up to expectations it will be a great signing by Hahn. He did what he wanted built up the farm system. It’s up to players development.
Boring.
I don’t know that the Robertson /Frazier deal is all that fair a summation. They were essentially looking to salary dump at that point. The fact that they got a top 100 prospect at the time and really didn’t have to pay much of the remaining contracts is at least understandable.
The totally missed point that Hahn doesn’t get enough credit for is his ability to secure team friendly deals to players that make his trade pieces appealing targets to begin with. Sale, Q, Eaton, Anderson, this years crop of young extensions are all attributed to Hahn. Not everyone listed there will be traded, but they may surely be the envy of teams across the league when these guys mature together.
Also, it is impressive what they received in return for sale considering how much of a clown he was acting prior to leaving Chicago. The third piece of the deal, Luis Basabe could potentially be a 3-4 OF coupled with TOR SP and MVP candidate.
Also, it is impressive what they received in return for sale considering how much of a clown he was acting prior to leaving Chicago. The third piece of the deal, Luis Basabe could potentially be a 3-4 OF coupled with TOR SP and MVP candidate.
Even though the Cubs have deep pockets, the White Sox are quite a few clicks below that. In addition, I am not so certain that having Kenny Williams in a position to assert himself is a benefit to Hahn. Hahn is more of a B+ than a B. Let’s give him credit for the signing of Luis Robert, a budding superstar. The retention of Don Cooper – one of the best pitching coaches in all of baseball. He has also been a good steward of Chairman Reinsdorf’s treasury. One of my disappoints however was his all out pursuit of Manny Machado – if that had happened I would have definitely been open to a C rating.
Don Cooper is the most overrated pitching coach in baseball. If he was ANY good – they wouldn’t be going on 10 years of sub .500 baseball.
First of all, they did not go “sub .500” for 10 years. That is a lie. Second, the Sox had good pitchers, like Quintana (who your team traded top picks for), and several solid relievers during that timeframe (who are still floating around the league). Lastly, you need more than pitching, you can’t pin losing seasons on a pitching coach, especially when the team is tanking for draft position. Oh, and you’re a nitwit. The more trash you spew about the Sox, the more dumb and desperate you look as a Cubs fan.
It wasn’t ten? Then tell the folks here, how many was it?
Seriously? Too challenged to look it up yourself?
It has been seven, which is also the entire duration Rick Hahn has been GM.
Look. Hahn certainly deserves credit for the returns on Sale, Quintana and Eaton. But outside of his acquisition of Eaton, Hahn has gotten nothing out of virtually every other deal he has made, and gave up a number of players who have become top ML contributors in exchange for players who ended up regressing badly with the team.
If the Eaton and Q deals represent top returns, the Samardjia and Shields deals represent gross examples of mismanagement of assets. And keep in mind it was the failure of players like Shark, Shields and Lawrie that resulted in the need to trade their best players, since Hahn couldn’t build a winner around them.
The depth of the rebuild is also thin, because Hahn has failed to capitalize on the multitude of flip deals made with other players. Add in the all-around abysmal deal for Alonso, and his record is at best average.
The best franchises don’t just find talent through trading All-Stars, signing top international free agents, or via top ten picks. They find players who are undervalued by other franchises via small deals, and develop their own lower draft picks. This rebuild lacks depth.
If you disagree, look at how the minors rank after the next wave of promotions.
In fairness, the White Sox also found/rebuilt the careers of relievers like Tommy Kahnle, Dan Jennings, Matt Thornton, and Addison Reed. I think that post the Shark and Tatis trades Hahn realized that their minor league and major league scouting was not up to par. That’s why he moved Chris Getz into that scouting role instead of drafting. I also wonder if they expect robots to be calling balls and strikes within the next 4-5 years. That’s why they’ve got some many catchers who can hit but can’t frame.
Grandal has been known to be among the best framers in the league.
Thornton and Reed were KW acquisitions, which brings up Amalie difference between he and Hahn.
Be they from the scrap heap (Jenks, Quintana, De Aza, Oablo Escobar, Dye, A.J.) or via minor trades (Quentin, Danks, Thornton, Willie Harris, Juan Uribe, Santos) KW had a knack for finding players from other teams. He was rather good at pro scouting. Other than landing catchers in Rule-5Hahn has been abysmal in finding players from other teams who have been major contributors, notably through trades. You can count Eaton certainly, but that’s pretty much it in seven years.
A lot of what you posted I agree with. The only rebuttals are …
1.that despite how great a pitcher Sale was, they could still very well win that deal. Worst case scenario, it is a win-win imo. Boston got a World Series out of sale, and Chicago got a guy who looks to compete for the MVP every year he is in Chicago and Ace type talent.
2. No one was expecting Alonso to be anything more than bait to land Machado. Sure it was a bad deal, but can you fault them for trying it when Jerry has known to penny pinch often. That says more about the owner than the GM. I feel if it were up to Hahn, it would have been done
3. Yes the next wave of prospects is much weaker, but we have also had some major bad luck with guys like Burger, Adolfo, Hanson, and Dunning. Still, they have some very intriguing arms drafted out of HS this past year, along with the emergence of Stiever and Vaughn. It feels barren, but that’s because the past 2-3 years have been absolutely loaded. They would likely be maybe middle of the road- lower third at this point once Robert and Madrigal are up. I wouldn’t say they are bottom 5-7 after call-ups tho.
I think the Sale return could ultimately be the best. Kopech should be a front line guy, and I think even Basabe could be a decent 4/5 outfielder. I also think Moncada will be best overall player on team, and still has upside.
I do think they had some bad luck last year. But they need some of those guys to step up, at least to increase trade value.
They paid Alonso and Jay $13M to do literally nothing when they could’ve tacked that money onto a Machado offer.
They also gave money to Ervin Santana and could have saved money by non-tendering Nate Jones and not signing Herrera.
Very fair, and accurate comment man.
The key for the Sox is to continue to build minor league talent. The Sox have never been a team with a deep farm system, and I think that eventually comes back to bite you when you need to make a move to improve the ball club and you don’t have excess prospects to do it. Still, what Hahn has done for the White Sox is make up about 10 years worth of really bad prospect development. When’s the last time the White Sox have had this many top prospects? He’s done a really good job of managing the payroll and that will also prove to be key as the years go by.
I think the Sox have done a fairly good job of putting together a team that will at the least push for a division championship. And if these players click they could play deep into the playoffs. I think the Sox have a very interesting team and kudos to rick Hahn
Yep, and remember, Hahn grew up a Cub fan. And likely still is.
@dogbone, not when he fleeced you for Q. I could see ELOY hitting bombs against that weak ass pitching staff for the foreseeable future