The White Sox are overhauling their front office. The club announced Tuesday evening that both team president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn have been relieved of their responsibilities.
“This is an incredibly difficult decision for me to make because they are both talented individuals with long-term relationships at the White Sox,” said chairman Jerry Reinsdorf in a pre-prepared statement. “Ken is like a son to me, and I will always consider him a member of my family. I want to personally thank Ken and Rick for all they have done for the Chicago White Sox, winning the 2005 World Series and reaching the postseason multiple times during their tenures. … While we have enjoyed successes as an organization and were optimistic headed into the competitive window of this rebuild, this year has proven very disappointing for us all on many levels.
This has led me to the conclusion that the best decision for the organization moving forward is to make a change in our baseball operations leadership.”
As Reinsdorf indicated, both Williams and Hahn were longtime members of the franchise. The former played for the Sox for a few seasons during the 1980s and rejoined the club when he began a scouting career in 1992. By the second half of the decade, he’d worked his way into the front office and took over as general manager headed into the 2001 season.
Williams spent over a decade leading baseball operations. The Sox hovered around .500 for his first few years at the helm before breaking through with a 99-win campaign in ’05, the second year of Ozzie Guillén’s managerial tenure. They won the AL Central and went on a torrid postseason run, dropping just one of 12 games en route to a sweep of the Astros in the Fall Classic.
It was the Sox’s first championship since 1917, snapping an 87-year drought that stands as the second-longest in MLB history. The White Sox didn’t find consistent success following that title, however. They’d make the playoffs once more in ’08 — losing to the Rays in the Division Series — before Williams ceded more control of daily baseball operations to Hahn after the 2012 campaign.
The White Sox promoted Williams to executive vice president while bringing Hahn up as general manager. The latter was no stranger to the organization himself, having spent a decade in the front office prior to his GM nod. The Sox slumped to a 63-win campaign in 2013. Despite the signing of José Abreu to a $68MM deal that immediately paid off when he won Rookie of the Year in his debut campaign the next season, Chicago remained below .500 through 2016.
They firmly kicked off a rebuild during the 2016-17 offseason. Williams and Hahn orchestrated trades of Chris Sale and Adam Eaton that winter and moved José Quintana the ensuing June. Those deals brought in players like Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Yoán Moncada, Michael Kopech, Dylan Cease and Eloy Jiménez to join Abreu, Tim Anderson and international amateur signee Luis Robert as the core of what the club hoped to be a long-term contender.
That group indeed got the Sox back to the playoffs. They qualified for the expanded postseason in 2020 and won 93 games en route to a division title two years ago. Neither team won a playoff round, though, and the organization has stagnated in the year and a half since their division win. Chicago missed the playoffs last season with a .500 record.
The Sox made a bit of an offseason push to try to turn their fortunes last winter, headlined by a $75MM free agent contract for Andrew Benintendi that somewhat remarkably stands as the largest investment in franchise history. Yet the Benintendi signing hasn’t panned out in year one — he’s hitting a slightly below-average .274/.338/.356 in 117 games — and the team as a whole has had a dismal season.
Chicago essentially played their way out of a winnable division within a month, running an 8-21 record through the end of April. The only time they got above .500 was after an Opening Day win. That left the Sox positioned as deadline sellers, moving Giolito, López, Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn, Kendall Graveman, Keynan Middleton and Jake Burger for younger talent. Chicago didn’t fully commit to another teardown — they held onto Cease, Robert and Jiménez — but it nevertheless marked a disappointing admission their prior rebuild hasn’t established the long-term consistency they’d envisioned.
Reinsdorf entrusted Williams and Hahn to oversee their deadline activity but decided to go in a different direction as they look to return to competitiveness. The club’s statement indicated they expect to have a new baseball operations leader in place by the end of the season. There’s no indication they’ll tab anyone to serve as GM on an interim basis, although Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets that assistant GMs Chris Getz and Jeremy Haber will retain their positions.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggests (on Twitter) that Getz could receive some consideration for the full-time GM job. It’s far too soon to identify any kind of frontrunner and it’s not clear if the White Sox will prioritize an in-house candidate or look outside the organization.
Whomever is tabbed as GM seems likely to work with manager Pedro Grifol; Nightengale tweets that Chicago currently envisions retaining Grifol for a second season. The White Sox hired the former Royals’ catching coach last winter after Tony La Russa stepped down because of health reasons. The start of Grifol’s tenure hasn’t gone particularly smoothly. The club has the third-worst record in the American League at 49-76. Middleton and Lynn took aim at the Sox’s clubhouse culture after being traded elsewhere. Hahn defended Grifol’s leadership at the time, noting that overhauling an organizational culture can take some time.
Grifol and his coaching staff will focus on playing out the final few weeks of the season while Reinsdorf evaluates the franchise’s long-term plan. It’s the biggest front office shakeup for the organization in over two decades, one they hope will set the stage for more sustained success in the coming years.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Big W for White Sox fans
Absolutely! I like Hahn and Williams as people but they didn’t produce results and should’ve been gone years ago. A step in the right direction for the Sox.
Agreed. Bad drafts mostly, despite continually getting top 15 picks is a key indicator of weak management. Williams trades were not exactly stellar a lot of the times. Ditto both guys FA deals given.
Different path needs to be taken, then same can be said of Oakland and KC, maybe Pirates as well for teams which always get free picks up high, along with always lose and get normal top 15 draft choice which busts.
One bad year of Samardzija for 6 of Marcus Semien and Chris Bassitt comes to mind…
The Pirates are at least headed in the right direction now. They’ve got the foundation laid with a few good young position players, a young stud atop their starting rotation, and some good bullpen pieces. I can see them contending within the next couple of years.
The Bucs only won 62 games last year and alresdy have won 57 games, with 36 remaining, they should be able to avoid a 100 loss season.
Its a positive step but more improvements should be their goal
Changes to their hitting coach should be their first post season decision
Reinsdorf hires LaRussa as new POBO.
Fans rush Guaranteed Rate Field shouting, “No one here gets out alive! Ahahahaha!
Rowand and GIo leaving for a near (if not) past his prime Thome. I feel if Rowand stayed the Sox likely go back to the playoffs in 06 and 07 instead of looking aimless.
Those two are losers
JR still owns the team. That’s the real problem.
Somewhere avenger is celebrating heavily tonight. Congrats avenger.
Dogbone: Not at all. Hahn and Williams weren’t the problem. It was Reinsdorf not giving them any money to buy the kind of players needed to build a competitive team. Reinsdorf’s whole thing was getting rid of so-called rental players. Then why did he allow the trade of Jake Burger? He’s controllable through the 2025 season. And how delusional is Reinsdorf when he says Hahn and Williams got the Sox to the PO multiple times? 2008. 2020 they were swept by the A’s in the WC series. 2021 they won one game against Houston. Whoever that knucklehead hires for GM and team president, it’s gonna take years for this team to contend again.
This narrative really makes no sense. The sox had the 7th highest payroll in 2022 per sportrac, they finished 11 games behind the indians who were 27th in payroll. The problem isn’t whether or not they spend money, it’s that they do so poorly.
How much money do you need to win? Look across the entire league, and tell me the Sox were just a few hundred million shy of a world series.
It isn’t what you spend, it’s how you spend it. Look at TB, TX, HOU, BAL
100%
teams who need to spend more do so because they spend inefficiently
Kinda funny how Jerry let them make all those trades which clears some payroll space and acquire all those younger guys after the deadline. Certainly he knew he was coming to this decision. Maybe he’s still gonna take care of Rick and Kenny and make them “outside consultants”.
Spot on. They spent the entire budget on grandal, keuchel, and 10 relievers. Most of the prospects didn’t live up to the hype and they had a terrible defense. That’s 100 percent on the front office.
@flam
The Sox payroll was 7th in 2022, but that was the only time it was higher than 15th the whole decade before that. It was only higher than 20th twice. They were 29th in 2018 and 26th in 2019. Benintendi is the biggest free agent contract the team has ever given out, an average outfielder at best. The payroll was higher for one year, but Hahn was never able to give out multi year contracts to free agents who are actually good. He had to settle for the Josh Harrisons, Elvis Andrus, and Adam Eaton’s of the world instead of guys like Harper and Semien. Jerry is cheap as F. Always has been. Charles Barkley talked about how the whole NBA knows that.
Hopefully they get somebody other than Getz, who would be more of the same, basically. Today’s news is good, but only if they hire somebody from outside the organization. Hopefully Jerry sells the damn team at some point, he is the biggest reason that this team is where it’s at.
They are in the AL Central. How much money do they really need to be competitive? When you are up against 3 small market teams and a Detroit team that only wants to try about 50% of the time, more money is not really the answer. The team just needs an attitude overhaul. They have plenty of talent, more than enough to win the AL Central, but they just don’t have the mental toughness to remain on top.
Baltimore. was horrible for 2 decades. They are now crying poor even though they have a good team. Houston shelled out Millions of Dollars to acquire Verlander from the Tigers and just gave up major prospect capital to bring him back.
Plenty of talent? What are you talking about? Robert is the only player on the field who is even average. He is way above average, but nobody else is even mediocre. They are terrible. The only other player with a WAR over 1 was Burger, who they just traded. They are 28th in OPS and runs, and close to the worst defensive MLB team. They just traded half their pitching staff, literally. They are one of the bottom 4 or 5 teams in MLB, and may come close to losing 100 games. Next year will be even worse.
Their goal should not be to barely win the AL central. They can sign a good free agent or two once in a while, so they don’t have the same weaknesses every year. They’ve been close to league worst in RF and 2b for 3 straight seasons. Anyway this team is scorched earth and won’t be close to a playoff spot again for probably 3 or 4 years, and that’s if they hire a decent GM from outside the organization, and/or Jerry sells the team.
@augusto
Hahn, and Williams before him, were given budgets to work with. KC, Cleveland, the Twins, and Detroit (since Mr. I’s passing) all have budgets to work within, most being less than CWS. Both choose to overspend on some areas, while ignoring others. Recently, its been RF and 2B that have been in need, while the bullpen has been living in luxury. Hahn knew what the budget was. He was just unable to work within it.
flamingo: It’s not how much money you spend, it’s how you spend it. Reinsdorf overpaid for Grandal, who has.stunk since at least a year before they got him. Compared to what they had, the Benintendi signing seemed like a relief. He may not have big numbers, but on the Sox, he’s a star.reinsdorf didn’t pay his core players what they should have been paid, he gave that money to other team’s rejects.
Sorry, Joe ! I posted before reading yours.
hiflew: You’re obviously not watching the same Sox team I am. They don’t have plenty of talent, not even in the ALC. They haven’t had a 2b man in three years. They played a 1b man in RF until they gave part of the job to a minor leaguers. They have top players like Robert, Eloy and Cease, but their bullpen has got to be the worst in bb. The starters would have better records but they leave after 7-8 innings with the lead and the BP loses it. They have three SP. They don’t have a decent catcher. This team would be refused entry at the Little League WS.
And they still consistently got out played by teams with even lower spending. Again…it’s not that they didn’t spend, it’s that they did so poorly.
They locked up a decent proportion of their core to early extensions, what are you even talking about?
As a tigers fan, I truly understand how the white Sox fans are feeling. Tigers have been so bad for so long… we have a clueless owner, and gm that picks up .061 hitting scrubs off of waivers.
Let’s hope the south siders come back strong and the AL central can be strong!
Joe !
How much money do you need to win?
=================
I spoke with Preller & Eppler and they said $500M ought to do it.
Burger didn’t have a position. He’s a poor defender and Jimenez needs to be a full time DH. Vaughn also is a poor fielder. Trading Burger for 6 years of a potential #3 pitcher in Eder was a smart play. Unless they could’ve moved Moncada which was t happening.
Fact check: The White Sox won the first game of their best-of-3 Wild Card series versus the A’s behind a stellar start from Lucas Giolito. 🙂
I would of liked to have seen what Hahn could do without Williams above him. But of course he still would of had Reinsdorf above him with the purse strings. Good news is we should get to see Hahn with a real MLB team now. They really need to upgrade the scouting Dept and Minor Leagues if they want to cry poor and compete.
Hahn headed to the NYY!
Ohlendorf
Ogletorpe?
Hahn won’t work in baseball ever again. Hahn was awful.
ogie, ogie, ogie
“See you in 2035”
What took so long?
Nope. It’s already looking like more of the same Reinsdorf nonsense.
They are already basically saying that the new GM will be stuck with Grifol and can’t even make a managerial hire. What reputable GM candidate would take a job with such a meddlesome ownership group?
Mike Elias did.
While new GMs do often get to hire their own manager, especially when the new GM is hired from outside the organization, there are also plenty of examples where the current manager stays on, and many times it works out fine.
@Lanidrac: Yep. Brian Snitker and Alex Anthopolous are an example.
Congrats Sox fans, just pray you don’t end up with Billy inEppler
IMO!! The Sox are safe from Eppler.
Avila is available!
No! You guys don’t want Avila!
Billy HamburgEppler
Makes a great meal!
Hamburger Helper – America’s Favorite One Pan Meal
Right.
Yeah I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday and uhhh cook hamburger helper thar is if you can still afford a pound of beef you filthy animal
San Francisco’s Farhan Zaidi is now on the clock
Agreed
San Francisco’s Farhan Zaidi is now officially on the clock
Gabe Kapler too. Dude is a CLOWN
The Giants baseball ops personifies the saying: “Paralysis by Analysis”.
Those people overthink things.
lmao now just fire the owner and you’re golden
Easier said then done.
The difference between an a and an e changes your entire sentence.
An obvious and significant understatement, “Wayyyyyyyyyyyy overdue!”
Good start, but did Jerry Reinsdorf fire himself? THAT would be progress for the Pale Hosers.
About time.
Woo hoo!! One of the best days ever!
Reports are Hawk coming back as GM
Him or the absolute know it all, Steve Stone. But the ol buzzard, Hawkeroo would be good too, lol.
Dogbone, Dogbone, Dogbone. Let me ask you this: How happy are you that Hawk’s “legacy” lives on every time an announcer calls the pitching mound The Bump? Or “He had some giddyup on that hit.” That’s fine for Mayberry but not above the Mason-Dixon line.
Alright avenger – I’ll give it up. Sorry. I do appreciate Hawkeroo passion. Stony, on the other hand . . . .
Oh, Dogbone. Let me put this another way: Hawk bad. Stoney good.
No, Jason Benetti!
zero reports suggesting it’s anyone but Chris Getz right now
“HE GONEEEEEEEE”
Here comes Theo…
Only if he’s the owner and Reinsdorf sold the team to him.
That is the cure-all. But Epstein was smart enough to bail when the cubs stripped their team to the bone because he didn’t want to go through a rebuild again. With the Sox he’d not only have to rebuild, he’d have to do it on a shoestring.
You rang?
I hope Hal Steinbrenner is taking notes
Wow, 23 year tenure for Kenny Williams. No idea how he lasted this long.
The Sox did win a World Series, early in that tenure.
Probably like as long as Elgin Baylor did with the Clippers a good company man.
Ruben Amaro Jr is available lol.
Blackmail does seem to have been involved.
It’s about damn time. Only a Decade Overdue!! Send Chris Getz packing as well. Guy has no business being Director of Minor league Ops. Pedro Grifol is an atrocious joke and needs to be gone ASAP.
Still need Reinsdorf to SELL both the White Sox and Bulls so fans and the city of Chicago can be rid of this greedy jackal.
He’ll sell the Sox. Will not sell the Bulls.
Take it to the bank. You’re welcome.
Reinsdorf said that exact thing to his heirs. The sad part is he has heirs so the Sox will be owned by the Reinsdorf family ad nauseum.
Steve Stone gets his long wanted GM job.
H
How does Stone figure into this? He’s 76 years old, I think. Too old? I don’t think so.
realsox…Just cub jealousy. Their broadcasters are a bunch of suck ups, constantly correcting themselves if they dare say anything negative about the team. Stoney educates you, talks from his perspective as a Cy Young winner and isn’t afraid to say something negative when it’s called for.
“cub jealousy”? What on earth would the Cubs be jealous of that has anything to do with the abject Pale Hoser franchise?
It’s Sox fans that have the inferiority complex and green envy toward how the Cubs own Chicagoland, from attendance to stadium to neighborhood to uniforms to talent to future success.
Yeah the Marquee network – worse than the East German Stasi in the day. Forced their post game show to retape a segment after someone was deemed too critical of the Ricketts
The Cubs hardly own “Chicagoland”. The fact that you use the term Chicagoland exposes you as a transplant from Iowa or Roselle. The atrocious Wrigleyville Uniforms? The childish Go Cubs Go chant? Future success- aren’t you getting a bit ahead of yourselves? Beat the Tigers first
Aw DDT. Still having your stroke in installments I see.
Not a “transplant”. 3rd Generation Chicagoan. Mom saw Gabby Hartnett’s Homer In The Gloamin’.
What you got, DDT–Disco Night? Cheap pastel exploding scoreboard? Stockyards?
Sox lost it all when Bill Veeck left.
Steve Stone posed for Playgirl. No Cubs broadcaster can say the same.
GM Steve Stone? LOL!
The only time Jerry Reinsdorf hired a broadcaster to run the baseball ops department was the Ken Harrelson fiasco bak in 1985. In his short tenure, ‘Hawk’ went on to fire budding Assistant GM Dave Dombrowski. Harrelson also canned future HOF manager Tony La Russa long before he morphed into a miserable and senile alcoholic.
New preid3nt and GM will most likely bring new people. Anyone still in the FO is walking dead, I think k.
Yup they’ll let the new office can the management staff.
HALLELUJAH! Some sort of major shift was needed. Now Jerry’s turn.
… about time.
Ken Williams thank God.
KW was upper management, the team was Hahn’s. Stop making this racial. SMH
You are trolling, right?
Oh please…..
The guy stunk up the entire organization. Doesn’t matter what color he is.
This was 10 years overdue.
KW approved all trades and signings. Follow any White Sox reporter. Williams made it clear. It was his team, not Hahn’s.
Whew, now they can trade for Sale.
Williams helped lead the team to a World Series ring in 2005.
Don’t forget that as he exits. Man did some good things.
Mostly luck, they got hot at the right time, I think the other 19ish years of results show that.
2005 my favorite sports memory. Also, luckiest team ever. Absolutely, everything went right that year.
Probably winning the WS was the worst thing for the franchise as these morons kept thinking they could get lucky again. This led to the last 20 years of mediocrity.
I think you’re confusing the Sox with the 2022 Phillies.
In spite of inept tenure, that is a false narrative of ’05. They had best record in AL basically the entire season…..and AL was vastly better at that time than NL where Cards won 1 game more. They were a great team that year. Ozzie lobbied for speed and defense instead of a station to station slugging snooze fest lacking fundamentals.Exit Carlos Lee/welcome Scotty Pods, Uribe strong defensive SS in stead of an offense first amateurish FO way of viewing the position. Ozzie was may more responsible for winning the title. He learned outside the organization with Atlanta & later ’03 WS champ Marlins. Once he was gone, FO did it their way with DHs and no fundamentals that they have put on display far too long.
cwsOverhaul: Exactly how I remember it. They wouldn’t have won it if it wasn’t for Ozzie, who demanded they get the kind of players he needed. Now compare that to Grifol. He’s in way over his head. He needs to spend time managing in the minors and work his way up. Cheers to ’05 and Ozzie!!!!
They had a run differential of 96 (xwl of 91-71 vs 99-63)…again, lucky.
If avenger says that’s the way he remembers it, you know it’s wrong.
From what I watched,the 05 Sox were a solid team. They had a strong and fairly durable rotation and a reliable infield for most of the regular season. Also, it takes more than luck to go 11-1 in the post season.
He did more bad for the Sox than good. That WS title was really his only major accomplishment. Also remember he didn’t do himself any favors by engaging in a feud with frank the tank Thomas back early in his tenure
Lol. I’m very much glad he is gone but “his only accomplishment was winning the World Series”. Really?!! That’s the mountain top! So if someone cures cancer but accomplishes nothing else will he also suck, in your world?
Yeah, Williams got Eaton, Quintana, and Sale World Series rings, too.
Nope, none of them were on that team, sorry.
Never said it was with the White Sox. Eaton, with the Nationals. Quintana with the Cubs. Sale with the Red Sox. All he got back was disappointment.
Quintana was traded to the Cubs after their WS win.
I laughed really hard at that. Nicely done.
18 friggin’ years ago!! WTF? Williams has single handedly destroyed every single aspect of this team since then too. He should have been fired back in ’06 or ’07 after his buddy was stealing international player money from the MLB
Also remember on Williams watch he allowed chris sale to have access to scissors to cut up retro uniforms, which I’m sure happened because Williams pissed sale off
davemlaw;
OZZIE was responsible for the WS win (as well as A.J. Pierzynski deaking an inexperienced home plate umpire into giving him 1st base on a strike out which resulted in the Sox beating the Angels to go to the WS, in what was possibly the worst call in MLB playoff history).
Ozzie constantly fought Williams to bring in guys that could play. William wanted kept giving him big hulking uncoordinated stiffs that could hit the ball real far once in a while, but couldn’t run the bases or play defense.
Whatever WS paraphernalia Williams has at his house is thanks to Ozzie standing up to him.
There’s no way that was a worse call than Deckinger essentially costing the Cardinals the 1985 World Series on a blown safe/out call.
Rudy giuliani led NYC back in 2001
Don’t forget that as he exits. Since we are grading people on their work 20+ years ago.
Williams has been terrible most of his tenure. Don’t forget that.
If not for a fly ball lost in the sun the Indians would have won the pennant in ‘05. The Sox would have dumped K. Williams and gone on to win multiple world series.
Finally!!!!
Next you’re gonna tell me tony la russa was a bad hire….
Theo coming back for a south side revival? Hahahah
I saw a recent photo of Tony. He looked like he died 4 months ago and no one told him.
Considering he’s almost 80 how is Larussa supposed to look? Most ppl don’t live that long let alone 80
LaRussa is 80 years old AND an alcoholic. That can’t be a good look.
getrealgone: That’s exactly how he looked during his nearly two years as Sox manager.
He’s battling cancer. It can be hard on a person.
Liver cancer?
alcohol is a hell of a drug
LaRussa was a COLOSSALLY bad hire, and likely the move that fragmented the locker room and caused more issues. LaRussa was a great manager..10 years ago.. Not when he came back to the Sox.. That is a result of Reinsdorf’s ego being out of control. I seriously doubt Hahn and Williams were clamoring for LaRussa to be back.. more likely they both sounded like a groveling ‘Smithers’ when the ‘Chairman’ came up with that winner…
Great news for White Sox fans!!
Hopefully, the Sox hire another GM able to continue to fleece the Cubs again and again!
It’s sad that this is more important to some sox fans than…actually winning baseball games.
When they show that you can’t win with them, it becomes the first step to winning.
Except the Cubs fleece the Pale Hosers on income, talent, farm system, coaching, attendance, future success…..
Now go get Theo!!!
Nah. They will take the next Tampa Bay Ray shining star. So many teams have done so, they will have to settle for a grounds keeper.
Funny how mouthy sox fans got after they made it to the playoffs and they won the Quintana trade. Then they end up getting smacked in the playoffs and their whole organization is in shambles and about to leave the state lol. White sux fans taking nothing but L’s
That all evened out when Kimbrel tore apart the Sox season in 2021.
White Sux. I see what you did there. Took the word Sox and replaced one of the vowels. How did you learn to be so clever?
And the funniest part is white sux fans are clamoring to get dumpster divin theo as their new president!
I don’t believe it. Am I dreaming?
Give Dan Duquette a shot
I think anyone would be better than what the Sox are reportedly looking at: Chris Getz or Dayton Moore… ugh.. Jerry’s pinching pennies on one of the most important pieces in an org again.. Then will refuse to admit defeat when they stink and keep the stiff around for 10+ years so he can save face…
Duquette made mistakes in Baltimore, but he did a good job overall
I am of tbe opinion that he should get another chance and Chicago might be the place to do it
Who was responsible for hiring LaRussa? They could never get over the hump.
That was Reinsdorf. He sometimes interferes and it almost invariably goes poorly.
I’m concerned that he may not be competent enough to choose wisely when it comes to finding a good replacement.
A well-founded concern, but at least we can hope for now.
Like LaRussa the team has been asleep at a stop light with the motor running.
That’s good. Mean, but good.
Congratulations to White Sox fans. Williams in particular had been riding that 2005 championship for far too long
Williams is a reason why a GM will do almost everything that it takes to win one. They know if they win that one, the will be safe in their role for a while.. Especially if said org is in a Playoff / championship drought.
They’ve had problems and had to walk the plank. It’s baseball, and sometimes the head of Alfredo Garcia is needed to close the book.
oates approves this message (warren, not johnny or john)
The baseball gods heard the prayers of Sox fans!
brooklyn62: Not yet. One more to go.
Who turned out the lights? It got dark pretty quick in here…
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Well, well, well Kenny… now YOU (finally) get to stay out of White Sox business
hahn i sthe main culprit. he bring stupid deal to KW, and his dumb behind approved. Them. Hahn always looks gitty too, which is a joke.
MADskillsU: I know you’re trying to say something. I just can’t figure out what it is.
Baseball been bewwy bewwy good to me?
Mad skills, just breathe. In- out. Now try again
Apparently Williams, not Hahn, made the Burger trade.
Jerry Reinsdorf was one of the hawkish owners, along with Ewing Kaufman and Bud Selig, who instigated the strike in 1994-95, thinking they could bust the MLBPA and institute a salary cap.
They even tried to illegally field replacement teams.
How anyone could root for a team owned by this clown is totally amazing.
He’s been one of the problems with baseball for decades.
Wow he must want to cut more salary
Arte Moreno is a very close 2nd.
Reinsdorf and company whined about the salary of players.. then once the lockout ended, Reinsdorf went and paid the highest contract at the time for Albert Belle (IIRC). Its amazing the Sox won one championship under this guy.
Rick Hahn has been DFAed. Release!!!Ah!! Now DFA Getz + Haber.
I’m not even a Sox fan and I’m happy about this
Wow!
Is it the end times?
Now sell the team Reinsdork
Oh boy, can’t wait for Jerry to just reallocate his loyalties to some other previous early 90’s random White Sox player! Here’s looking at you, “Little Hurt” or “the Deacon.”
While this is long overdue, I have no trust with Jerry making even 0.001% of the decisions moving forward, least of which is the important one to find a competent, analytical-driven GM with a keen eye for talent development.
Honestly, I think that’s asking a lot out of 1 person. What you really need to find is a gm/pobo/whatever title they want that know how to identify people that are good at all of these things to fill out their staff.
They traded Bobby Bonilla and put Fisk in left field! This has been 40 years of agony.
That was the great harrelson who did that to Fisk. Harrelson and Reinsdorf had a drink together one day. Reinsdorf was so impressed by what he heard that he hired that yay-hoo as GM. The first thing harrelson did was take an obvious future HOF catcher and stick him in LF. Fisk was rightfully pissed off and was eventually put back where he belonged – behind the plate.
It’s about time they need new leadership
Absolutely – La Russa as President, Dave Stewart as GM. Uh, wait….
Maybe they surprise and get David Stearns??? Likely going to the Mets but you never know.
David Stearns would’ve stayed in Milwaukee if the alternative was the White Sox.
It’s easier to fire the front office than all the players.
Problem is, it will take a spell to turn screw ups around.
I know from about 33 years of them and counting.
I wore a White Sox cap in High School because you could blackout part of the logo so it looked like “SEX” instead of “SOX”… yes, I know I’m cool like that. Also, congrats Southside fans, this feels LONG overdue.
Thanks. The first step in AA recovery is admitting you have a problem. Baby steps
Pre-prepared statement?
LOL thank you for someone else pointing out how ridiculous that phrase is.
I think maybe Brian May gets a shot here
What about Carlos May?
minus his thumb
How much of this do you think is the Benintendi contract?
Zero. Think Adam Dunn. Etc
Zero. Think Adam Dunn. And a lot more
Hey, we just won the world series!!! Finally Jerry! Thank you. They both sucked. Trade good players and keep bad ones. Bad drafting, player development, etc. under these two idiots. Getz and our recruiting depart ALL need to go. Everyone else is getting better while the Sox are getting worse. With that said, when their lease is up in 2029, will they move to Nashville or stay in Illinois? Now, trade Eloy, Andersen and a few others, and start over – FOR REAL this time. Jerry had to do something because the fan base was done with this nonsense. LOL There IS a God! :
Reinsdorf did this years ago and he’s doing it again, fooling almost no one. “Build me a new stadium on the taxpayer’s dime or I’m taking the team to Fort Lauderdale (or Sarasota, I forget which).” Now he’s doing it again. Maybe, like Fisher, he should be made to spend some of his own billions to put up his own stadium. I can see it now: You get off the train, walk up to the new park, and children scream and run away when they’re confronted by a giant sculpture of Reinsdorf’s mug on the facade of Jerry world.
Like Mojo from x-men?
Probably a necessary move. The team’s performance over the last few years has been pretty awful and Williams/Hahn have to shoulder most of the blame. They make the day-to-day decisions and hire the staff. They failed to do their jobs.
Now if only New York would fire Cashman who is largely responsible for their mess.
This will take the heat off Reinsdorf baying for a new ballpark for the ChiSox.
The South Siders already have a good location next to the expressway and a short walk from the El. Why throw that away for a taxpayer-funded palace that’ll be hard to get to?
It’s definitely not in a good location…
You probably live in another state. Of course it’s in a good location. Easy to get to right next to i90/94. Red line too. Plenty of parking. I park for free nearby whenever I go to a game. Industrial area just west of the viaduct just South of 39th st. Try the scout seats behind home plate.
I grew up about 20 minutes outside of chicago, I’ve attended dozens of white sox games & I went to law school at chicago kent (the gym is right by their park). I’m very familiar with the area. Accessibility is not the only thing that makes something a “good location”.
It is a great time and easy to get to. Some follow in depth analysis today on the score after the Crains business story is that the Reinsdorfs have no intention of moving out of the Chicago area, but if they sell, there’s always the risk the buyer might. Preference is for the city- potentially south loop, lakefront, south side or Lincoln Yards. Problem with the iconic 35th and Shields location is the narrow footprint. Unless they were able to buy out parcels in the neighborhood, they’re hemmed in and can’t do anything comparable to having an entertainment area like Atlanta or Wrigleyville. Even hemmed in on the lower concourse- the narrow footprint is why they can go only go back 38 rows, much less than even Fenway or Wrigley- two of the smaller parks. Any new park location would need to accommodate parking which is a Sox staple as a tailgate destination.
So the Cuban Country Club experiment is over?
When you as an owner decide to hire Tony LaRussa then maybe you should fire yourself.
And the idiotic/cheapskate move to not offer Rodon the QO must’ve been ownership’s call.
The Rodon decision actually one that they were right on. The Giants got lucky playing roulette- getting the one season he remained healthy, as the Yankees are now discovering. Problem was the Keuchel deal and spending on setup relievers
I think you mean dumpster divin!
The point is that the comp pick was there for the taking. Everybody knew Rodon was going to get a short-term offer from somebody. It was dumb to not make the QO on the off chance he might’ve accepted it. One year deals for high risk players aren’t what threaten a team’s fortunes, it’s the multi year mega deals that do that.
Reinsdorf chose being strategically cheap in the very short-term – over being strategically smart about the future.
Rick Hahn was the guy sleeping in the Sox bullpen during games
WOW… about time
Hallelujah!! At least those two won’t be making any more poor and sometimes disastrous decisions. Long time coming. Now. Sell the team Reinsdoofus.
I didn’t think anyone was a worse GM than Al Avila in Detroit, but I think it’s a close call when compared with this clown show in Chicago.
EPPLER IS A WORSE GM!!! SAY IT WITH ME…EPPLER!!!!!!
brooklyn62;
It all starts with the owner. Naturally.
Lots of front office changes coming to MLB this offseason. Ways of administering the sport has changed for multiple reasons – primarily due to the bylaws that pretty much prevent high revenue franchises from buying up name players in free agency and via salary dump trades, to get to the playoffs and subsequently the World Series.
The Braves, Astros, Rays, Orioles, and Dodgers have shown that it’s all about organizations being able to make players under contact better…and making them better doesn’t refer to smashing the juiced ball out of the park or striking out 22 batters a game – it means playing smart baseball and doing what one can to help their team win each day.
Now…
What’s the over/under on the teachers pet – Tim Anderson – staying in MLB with 2 of the teachers gone and the Principal on thin ice?
New job opportunities now available on Monster!
Indeed!
Pinch me. I must be dreaming.
I wish I had more confidence that JR will hire the right guy, namely an external guy or gal who will want a lot of money, a multi-year contract and total authority over baseball operations AND the budget for baseball operations, and who thrives in the 2023 MLB baseball world.
The Yankees should do the same thing and release also the same statement but change the first line to “This is an incredibly EASY decision for me to make”.
Fantastic news for wsox fans. Rick Hahn was a joke.
Not a total joke- tactically made some sound trades and they were always ahead of the game with long term contracts- one of the first clubs to popularize the trend of signing young players to bargain contracts buying out some of their FA. But a sound contract lawyer does not make a good baseball mind. Doing things on the margins by winning some trades doesn’t add up of your hamstrung by ownership or lack a sound player development or advance scouting department.
Meh. Roberts is the only long term contract that might pan out and that’s if he can stay healthy. They screwed this up in glorious fashion.
Maybe the joke part of my statement was a small stretch, their are some things he did that worked out fine. Still think the wsox will be better off.
Good riddance.
Now how do we take the keys away from the 87yr old 15% majority owner who threatens to move my team each time a stadium lease renewal is coming so he can pay $0 out of pocket for anything?
Seriously, the minor league development managers have to go too. MLB team last in bb’s for hitters (0 patience) and worst in pitchers bb’s given up.
It’s a team full of individuals who only look like a team b/c they all have on the same uniform.
Trade everyone! Start over!
SCOTTG3;
You hit it on the head about Reinsdorf only having minority interest in the franchise.
I have no doubt that a coalition of the other owners got together with their patience running out (and possibly put off by the embarrassing planted story of potentially moving the franchise to Nashville as the last straw), and told Reinsdorf that either those 2 inept parasites go or they would vote Reinsdorf out as the controlling owner (which they may well do anyway).
One of the worst excuses for a rebuild as I’ve seen in years – and not easy to do as most rebuilds fail. Only the national baseball media that proves every single year how little they know about the sport not only ate that one up, they actually thought a powerhouse was on the way.
Samuel:
The smart organizations you referred to further up in Atl/Hou/TB/Balt are the ones the dysfunctional WSox need to look to for its interview candidate pool. Only concern with LAD is they have the luxury of huge budget/TV contract when taking risks and great margin for error (as smart as they are) that doesn’t exist in a mid-market/second team in big city environment.
Stearns would also be interesting from his time in Milwaukee, but long shot they pay top dollar to lure him to take on the overhaul. Cohen will probably double any offer since his pure spending spree tactics did not pan out for NYM.
cwsOverhaul;
Yes, there are many potential Baseball Ops people ready to set up a department and run it. The issue is not money. It’s ownership interference.
Cohen intervening first to overpay Scherzer one year and than Verlander the next; only to trade them off approaching the deadline the same year they signed Verlander for some so-so prospects while eating over $100m in salary, is a huge red flag to any qualified qualified Baseball Ops person ready to establish and run his/her own department.
Before hiring Eppler the Mets invited numerous FO candidates to interview. No one came. They knew the owner was the one really running things – while they and anyone they brought into the organization would be glorified grips.
I think Reinsdorf is throwing a tantrum because the Bears MIGHT be getting a new stadium.
Note: The White Sox have a complex ownership structure, where the team has many investors but have been controlled by Jerry Reinsdorf through a general partner corporate entity since 1981.
Reinsdorf remains the principal owner with his 19% share of the White Sox. I believe JR also currently owns 40% of the Bulls as well as being their controlling partner. His son Michael is also a partner with the Bulls.
I found this list of White Sox and Bulls owners from a decade or so ago: trbas.com/media/media/acrobat/2013-07/317714600-27…
Cuttin some jerseys in half to celebrate…
Lmao!
I’ll reserve judgment until I see who replaces them and what their budget will be.
Cards fan- What budget?
That’s part of my point. No budget. No success. Tampa is an outlier but when was their last championship?
The white Sox have spent enough money on payroll to field a good team. The problem is when you don’t spend it wisely. There’s no smart FO people, good coaches, international development, a modern analytics dept. etc.
Colorado also spends money with an org that operates like a dinosaur. Spending doesn’t equal winning when you have inferior data and coaching.
Look at Atlanta’s budget. Yes they make good decisions but they also spend a great deal. It takes both for consistent winning.
They had a higher payroll than the Braves in 2022
I’m sure it’s been said here already
But about bloody time!
I think it was a bad look for Hahn to paint Keynan in a bad light because he told the truth about this pathetic team. Sure, you can say K started it, but no reason a GM should be bringing up a private meeting he had with a player out of spite. Good riddance.
You make a valid point and to an extent, I agree. However, if I have a positive and forthright discussion with someone and just days later that person tells others something else, I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to fire back.
Wow, didn’t see that coming. Wonder what’s in store next for the White Sox?
Probably another canceled Sox fest
/rimshot*
This is a mistake, should have kept Hahn.
Agree- he was effective in the areas he was responsible with- first negotiating and structuring contracts and then winning trades. Problem is he always had Kenny and especially Jerry micromanaging. At least if Ricky Renteria was still around they would be above .500, enough to stay afloat in a mediocre AL central. Totally screwed up the pooch by being forced to take Tony. Ironically- who ever inherits the team is going to end up with some fine prospect capital from the early returns on this years fire sale. Could see Hahn actually succeeding in a non dysfunctional environment that knows a thing or yo about analytics and advance scouting
And in other news, fans of the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Browns are thinking they’re really not the worst franchises in sports.
Cue another Dumb Sports Fan take in 3 … 2 … 1 …
What are you talking about? The Kings are one of the most exciting teams in the NBA.
Let the David Stearns to the White Sox rumors begin.
I thought all of the sucking was LaRussa’s fault?
Hello Theo. This is Mr. Reinsdorf. I have an opportunity available to run my baseball organization. Are you interested?
Theo is holding out for the Guardians to complete the trifecta of curse removals thus cementing his status as a god in Baseball lore
Not sure how this helps when the actual problem will be the one hiring the next front office. These guys are scape goats at this point.
Please please please let the Yankees follow suit by relieving Cashman and Boone next.
I’m not sure why people are celebrating. The issue is the owner and he is hiring the next front office. These guys were scape goats. The real issue remains.
Still, the payroll was $180 million before the deadline trades. There are some clear resource allocation issues. Perhaps Hahn’s flurry of acquisitions over the past month yields a few keepers. An intelligent retool could get them back to WC race in 2 – 3 seasons.
Kenny Williams was hired and promoted by Jerry for a reason. I wondered how long he would last after Jerry’s wife passed. Turns out it wasn’t too long. Kenny will get a nice pension to stay quiet. Why else would he have ever had a GM job?
With the exception of 2021, Williams and Hahn haven’t produced an above .500 team since 2012. Time to go.
Coincidental timing that they get fired shortly after Middleton and Lynn air out the team’s dirty laundry publicly. This is about perception not performance and the perception is this is an organization that is out of control
They have the miserable record that validates the perception things are out of control. A sub .400 record isn’t a defensible performance.
The White Sox are in they’re 8th losing season since Hahn became GM and this isn’t even the worst season he’s overseen. The performance is icing on the cake but if Middleton and Lynn don’t talk about the unprofessional shenanigans happening within the ball club this probably doesn’t happen.
Good point Rsox—-if they don’t rally past the Tigers they will have finished 4th or 5th in the division seven times in eleven years.. Brutal.
Rally pass the Tigers? The Tigers are on the Guardians heels and looking at 2nd, not that that means anything in this division. Just be glad KC is in the division.
Actually it turns out Lynn, Middleton Graveman (and Keuchel before) were big parts of the chemistry problem . Always whining, throwing teammates under the bus, causing a negative clubhouse environment. They sadly had to trade Giolito who was really happy with the clubhouse- he’s the one former guy I could see a new administration pursuing in free agency. Really quite sad how many toxic tools this organization has had: Eaton, Swisher, Laroche. Yikes!
Paying upfront doesn’t seem like a great idea after what the White Sox received. Not much incentive to keep in peak condition and avoid injury when there’s plenty in the bank…
The turn around hopefully isn’t bad. Either way, Robert will be fun to watch.
Williams and Hahn misallocated a decent sized payroll and failed to build a minor league pipeline. They deserved their firing.
Maybe their last ditch attempt at restocking leaves a couple of parting gifts. Detroit has made progress extracting value from Avila’s wreckage this season. Baltimore developed several young players inherited from the previous regime.
Teams are definitely accelerating their rebuilds the past couple seasons.The issue is asset management and taking surplus whenever available – and I say this as a Yankee fan
Mis allocation of resources an issue. The chronic issue throughout Kenny’s tenure has been advance scouting. Competitive against contenders but routinely pantsed by the Twins, Royals and Cleveland- teams familiar with the White Sox non-way and routinely underperforming their Pythagorean value. Always getting bested by some soft tossing leftie veteran or a rookie making their debut. Bad approaches on the mound and at the plate. Always losers when it comes time to execute a game plan
Avila did a lot right. He built the foundation. Keep in mind the minor leagues were bare when DD left. He just was a disaster when it came to signing FA’s. Its not the players HARRIS brought in getting the results. Its the players and coaching he inherited from Avila.
Looks like whoever is in charge of drafting/signing major free agents should be fired. They got an excellent core from those trades and never built much around it.
Never built around the core and never did much game in game out with the core. These issues predate sleepy drunk Tony, though his insistence on winging it made things worse. Go back to Ricky and Ventura- it boils down to complacency and lacking any clue as to advance scouting of opponents. Abysmal record within their own division
Wow, accountability. That’s new.
Hopefully the Cardinals follow suit!
Cards have had one bad year. For them to follow suit, you have 18 more years of suffering to wait.
Well Benetti and partner (not Steve Stone tonight) are soldiering though this release. Tough season for those guys, keeping it going game after game. Fortunately, Benetti is brilliant with an endless supply of esoteric facts to fill the abysmal game call.
At least their city connect jerseys are real knockouts!
You do have a point there. On the field performance- not so much
Really happy for you all, sincerely.
It was the owner who chose Tony LaRussa. Look in the mirror.
I don’t know why every sports article is sympathetic to Williams when the wins haven’t been much to show for in a 2nd or 3rd major market team. They stood pat after 2005, firing guillen was a huge loss. Guess the rookies can sleep in the pen til the manager is gone, the old adage you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make ‘em drink
The market may be big but their revenues aren’t. Cubs dominate Chitown market like the Giants dominate the Bay Area.
The front office hardly stood pat immediately following their 2005 championship. They actually added impactful players like DH Jim Thome and SP Javier Vasquez, the latter replacing aging Orlando ‘El Duque’ Hernandez.
As for Ozzie Guillen, he basically ‘fired’ himself 6 years later at the tail end of the 2011 season when Kenny Williams traded him to the Marlins for a couple of minor league players.
Thome was fun to watch for hitting home runs. Not much else helped to repeat . 2005 was a fluke, they wrote the articles as if the accomplishments were cashmsn like.
Dumpster Divin’ Jerry!
How does Brian cashman keep getting a pass Yankees spend 100-150 million a more a year then the Sox and we both have one WS the past 20 years
Could say same about the Dodgers
Well this beats the alternative of it NOT happening, although it’s just the first page in a new chapter of the book “how to grossly mismanage an MLB franchise”. The timing is somewhere between odd and dubious, being post trade deadline and before September call ups and roster moves. Which then predicates that that they move internal people at least unofficially into the roles for the remainder of the season, giving them the inside track to be the permanent replacements going forward (which I don’t think any Sox fans want). Chris Getz would just be further sustained badness.
Finally, someone listening to the intelligent users on MLBTR. Now, if we can only dump Cashman from the Yankees.
It will be interesting to see exactly what Reinsdorf envisions going forward.
Does he see this shakeup as a step towards insant gratification in terms of wins and losses?
Or is he looking at building an entirely new culture and approach from the top down?
The Chisox farm system is near the very bottom of most ranking services.
They have 13 players on the 40 man that will be at least 30 yrs old next season, six of which will either be free agents or facing option decisions.
Several of their core players are either defensively limited or have chronic health issues…or both.
While the division is presently weak, it does have two teams that are younger, better, fairly set for the long term, and ‘should’ be trending up.
Tough position to be in for a new front office.
As a fan of a fellow Central team, not happy about this!
I said before the season that the White Sox were staring at a major rebuild. They weren’t competitive last year and they had many players on short term deals. Then there were bad trades and bad signings. Getting rid of these guys should have happened then rather than now. Good riddance.
Congrats to the many White Sox fans here the last 14 years that have been hoping for this moment
To quote the great philosopher Newman:
“What took you so long?”
Some of this is on Reinsdorf. TLR, imvho, derailed the team, and they never recovered.
JoeBrady;
TLR had nothing at all to do with derailing the team.
That was a screwball rebuild. Just as the youngsters were starting to learn to play at the ML level, they maxed out their payroll on expensive veteran free agents, then traded what was left of their farm system for more expensive veterans that were over the hill. Whereby the moronic, baseball-challenged national sports media thought the Sox would waltz to multiple World Series. Instead the players got fat, lazy, injured, and mad when La Russa tried to instill any discipline in a team that gives up little league HR’s each year throwing the ball around, and runs into outs on the bases, So they got mad at him, and the FO for not bringing in more players at the trading deadline when they had noting to trade or any budget left.
Bring Ozzie back. Good clubhouse culture guy. A winner. Fun to compete against.
Maybe the Cardinals owners will get a clue and follow their lead?
Something has to be done about the front office and the management staff.
I’m such a fan of the White Sox, hopefully this will be the beginning of a renaissance.
BigB;
Have patience. This thing doesn’t turn on a dime.
Even if Reinsdorf stays there, I doubt he’ll have the authority and power he had in the past. He’s really a minority owner that was voted by the other owners as being the managing owner. If he stays – not a certainty – he’ll be put on a short leash by the other owners.
Apparently Reinsdorf has stated that he wants the President position filled by the end of the season. That would lead me to think he’s going to hire someone that has been around the game and done the job before. Hopefully they will hire a GM and change the culture by hiring a new manager. There is a core in place with Cease, Vaughn, Robert, Kopech, Crochet. The other thing they have to do is scrap all their minor league people because the culture starts there and seeing MiLB teams 20 games under .500 is unacceptable.
Bring back Ozzie and small ball to the south side! High OBP and reliable defense trumps home runs.
Peter Siedler….upon elimination, your turn
Kenny Williams was there too long and should’ve been fired after he became president of operations where switched from Connie’s Pizza to Beggar’s pizza to the pizza inside of the stadium.
That first paragraph is incorrect. Williams was one of several Vice Presidents, not the Team President. The White Sox don’t even have a Team President, just a bunch of VPs.
Wrong,
Kenny Williams was listed as the Team President on the White Sox web site of years until yesterday.
Then why do all the other articles online call him the former Executive Vice President? You can’t be both the President and a VP. Corporate structure doesn’t work that way. Even if it did, why would everyone else be referring to him by his (former) lesser title?
Hire David Stearns before the Mets do.
Probably the best news to come out of the White Sox, now I just hope Jerry Reinsdorf hires the right replacements. Pedro Grifol is probably gone as soon as a new POBO gets hired, they’ll want to bring in their own staff.
Problem as a White Sox fan: Who trusts Reinsdorf in anything baseball related? He is the one who pushed to hire TLR and ultimately controls the tight purse. That alone spoils the thoughts of a majority of Sox fans thinking that Reinsdorf will ever get anything right, unless he sells the team.
Don’t get me wrong, the Sox needed to clear house, but until Reinsdorf sells the team or gives full control over to a guy like Theo Epstein, nothing will truly change in the positive direction.
Everything you say is true, it’s going to sound mean, but whatever, he’s running out of time, that hourglass is almost out. We’ll know sooner rather than later who will own the team.
According to some speculation on current ownership structures, Reinsdorf owns about 20% of the team. Will be interesting to see the ownership structures moving forward, and who ultimately becomes principal owner.
Is he the principle owner of the team? Does 20% mean the other 80% is sliced up in individuals hence why he has so much say? Now I’m curious.
Reinsdorf is current principal owner (though he has a minority stake ownership). Speculation is that he owns 19% (per Forbes) of the team. The remainder is sliced elsewhere. Since it is a private entity, the true percentages and who has slices in the team are not easily known (at least to an outsider like myself).
How much sway Reinsdorf truly has in the team when reporting to other owner’s is unknown, but his name and face is out front for all to see (as principal owner); hence why so much of our anger is thrown at him.
I wonder if his children inherit the team, if he doesn’t sell, would they be interested in running the team and would they run it the same or differently. Appreciate the information on the team though, now I really want him to sell, but who knows if his family would let him and prefer to inherit the team.
Hopefully the Yankees see this and do a shakeup of their own.
Lots of FO shake-up’s coming this year. Too many top baseball ops people have screwed up their organizations for too long….and they’re going in circles trying to right the wrong.
The best thing that could happen for the White Sox would be for Reinsdorf to sell the team to someone who would solely focus on baseball.
Minasian and Nevin are next!
Does anyone here remember the old, I believe Showtime, tv show about the White Sox? It was kind of like hard knocks but for baseball. Anyone who YouTubes that show will have a BOUNTY of video documentation of the incompetence of Kenny Williams. Long overdue
There should be classes on how poorly to run an organization the White Sox way, how are these first round picks, Carson Fulmer, Zack Collins, I’ve never heard of them developing players, total disaster, sell the team
Ahh where to begin… So the ‘Chairman’ gets rid of Williams and Hahn, cause, he cannot fire himself (well he should but wont) As Im sure that both Hahn and KW were just beating Reinsdorf’s door down to stab Renteria in the back and replace him with a well- past-his-prime manager in LaRussa, alienating the clubhouse and destroying any chemistry in that locker room and helping run the Sox slim chances of their window to win.
THEN the genius owner that he is, starts hemming and hawing about possibly moving the team in 6 years basically if baby does not get what he wants.. like he does not already have an insanely sweet deal now…My guess is his whiny demands will (and should) go unheard and call this goofs bluff.
Williams had ONE good season in about 12-13 years of being GM, Never mind Hahn’s mostly inept and abysmal FA signing record, lets see his poor trades,
Lets review the trade that really started the rebuild:
-The Shields for Johnson and Tatis trade… Nuff said..
I mean take a look at those rebuild trades now:
-The Sale trade: guys gone, or just completely under performing and looking like busts every day.
-The Eaton trade: While Eaton was on a team who won a WS, he was not great, BUT Where are those guys now and what was gotten for them? TBD
-Dunning for Lynn… UGH…
-and one of the weirdest.. Fan favorite Burger for a minor leaguer fresh off of TJS (TBD, but does not look very good right now, hopefully it pans out)
I mean just a complete clown show. I think what did KW and Hahn in though was the obliviousness of how bad the locker room was for the past two years, after Reinsdorf power move…Grifol may not be as bad as many think, but he definitely is not a good manager..
Now they are talking Getz or Moore as the next guys?! Ugh, I mean really, cannot find ONE other competent management type out there? Keep recycling bottom dollar, even for the most important position in the org? Yeah, OK…
As for a new manager? No one wants this position, not when the know the owner will get anxious and cut them loose to bring back a guy no longer able to manage a team competently.
The only way this gets resolved is if Reinsdorf sells the team or steps down and let a competent person take over.
Actually I just read that Williams may have actually done the Burger trade… According to an article posted for CSNChicago….Really shows how screwy this org was….
nrd,
I’m not saying they did a good job on everything but some of the examples you gave as bad trades are just wrong. Shields for Tatis, yes obviously. Dunning for Lynn, was a calculated trade that was a win for both teams in their situations. The Sale Trade, They still have Moncada and Kopech who looked like the were going to be good…top prospects in baseball. Guess what, sometimes prospects don’t work out as expected. And they have at least been major leaguers.
And if you don’t think the Eaton trade was good, then I don’t know what else to say. 5 Years of Giolito, and Lopez and Dunning turned into Lynn..
I think they did well getting Quero and Bush in the Goilito trade to LA. Word is that Kenny made the Burger trade, which I was furious about. They need more guys with that personality and grit on the team, not less.
I truly believe that if Hahn were given free reign without interference by Reinsdorf and KW that he would have done a lot better with the team, including not hiring Larussa, that I believe started the downward spiral. Reisdorf needs to look in the mirror and fire himself…please sell the team!
Sale for Kopech and Moncada? I get that Sale had to go as he was Mr Scissors instead of being an adult. Sale won a WS with the Red Sox. When you trade a pitcher like Sale you BETTER hit on at least one of those prospects you get, Hahn failed on all 4 (and yeah I get at least one was a ‘throw in’).
Dunning for Lynn was a bad trade, it was then, and is now. Lynn for some other guy? Sure.. but the Rangers did their homework. Maybe if Lynn was 5 years younger (ie more in his prime) it would have been good, but giving up a pitcher with a lot of potential for a guy with not a lot left in the tank and only one year left on his contract made little sense (never mind the pressure then to extend Lynn which I think was more due to the trade than performance). As for Eaton, the guy said a 13 yr old was a ‘leader in the clubhouse’. Quero and Bush? Again TBD, but given Hahn’s track record Im not holding my breath. Hey, like I noted, JR was horrible, but you cannot fire the owner (well maybe the Sox ownership team could try). Now he wants to get someone like Getz to be GM, which is just stupid silly…. There are rumors about Mike Rizzo possibly being a candidate for Sox GM but Im guessing, like other high profile rumors, someone is just using the White Sox to scare another team into signing them for more. I doubt anyone worth their salt will like the idea of Reinsdorf making moves over the GM, unless its a bottom dollar signing like a Getz or Moore…So yeah, Reinsdorf needs to sell now, it the perfect time actually.. since the chairman also is whining about moving if baby does not get what he wants…
Ya think?
Williams’ Sox win the WS in 2004, and since then they’ve made the postseason 3 times in 18 years, exiting ignominiously each time, never a threat to return to the big stage.
Long overdue.
2004?
Hopefully they hire a trans person for the position to help promote diversity and pave the way for further non-binary individuals to find employment within baseball.