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Rick Hahn

Post-Winter Meetings Notes: Sale, Sox, Blackmon, Rays, Mets, Phils, Giants, Ross

By Jeff Todd | December 10, 2016 at 12:23am CDT

Baseball’s Winter Meetings always provides fascinating theater, and this year was no different. There’s quite a lot of information to digest with the meetings wrapped up — and also some interesting reading for those who are curious about how it all goes down. Writing for ESPN.com, Eno Sarris provides a fascinating look at some underappreciated elements of baseball decisionmaking, ranging from the mandates of owners to the frequent lack of understanding that the general public has as to what alternatives organizations realistically have when they decide upon their moves. The increasing complexities of baseball dealing are also covered by ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield, who discusses the impact of the largely ubiquitous utilization of advanced analysis in the game. With virtually all of the thirty MLB organizations employing fleets of sophisticated staffers, he argues, it’s harder to extract value from trades — which may help to explain the risks taken in some of the Winter Meetings’ biggest deals.

With the Winter Meetings in the books, here are some notes on the work that was completed and that remains to be done:

  • On Wednesday, the White Sox shipped ace lefty Chris Sale to the Red Sox in exchange for a heralded foursome of prospects. That swap, and its build-up, dominated the headlines at the Winter Meetings. Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski discussed the process that led to the move in an excellent interview with Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. He not only provided an interesting account of the information gathering and processing that goes on at the Winter Meetings, as teams jockey for position and look to arrange fits on trades and signings, but went into the details on the pursuit of Sale. The sides built off of their prior “preliminary conversations,” and honed in on an agreement late Tuesday night as the sides began to line up on the complementary pieces that would go to Chicago along with the two headlining prospects (Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech). Momentum seemingly began to build as early as Friday, before the meetings kicked off, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com explains. It was at that point that White Sox GM Rick Hahn notified Dombrowski that he’d be willing to consider a different sort of return — presumably, top minor leaguers rather than young MLB assets — than had been discussed over the summer. The Nationals and Astros also dangled significant pieces; Hahn notes that “there were similar-type players being offered from other clubs,” leading to “a level of excitement in that room as we debated which was the best path for us.”
  • In the aftermath of the Sale trade, as well as the ensuing swap that sent Adam Eaton to D.C., the White Sox are prepared to part with other notable veterans if they can generate sufficient interest, as Hayes further reports. That could potentially include first baseman Jose Abreu — a former teammate of Moncada’s in Cuba — though it’s fair to wonder whether his market will develop with so much power still available in free agency. It’s also reasonable to expect that the South Siders are willing to listen on Jose Quintana, though there’s no real pressure to move his lengthy and affordable contract. It does stand to reason, though, that shorter-term assets (including Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera, and David Robertson) will be shopped more heavily.
  • Before pulling the trigger on Eaton, the Nationals at least checked in with the Rockies on center fielder Charlie Blackmon, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). While that obviously won’t be a match at this point, and the Cardinals no longer appear to be a possible suitor after signing Dexter Fowler, it remains to be seen whether Colorado will look hard at a deal involving one of its best players. The team made a notable free-agent splash by adding Ian Desmond, with reports suggesting that he’ll spend time at first base, but it still seems to make sense for the organization to consider addressing other needs — most notably, in the pitching staff — by exploring deals for Blackmon or one of its other left-handed-hitting outfielders. (Last we heard, a trade remains a real possibility; while the team is said to be holding some extension talks with Carlos Gonzalez, those reportedly haven’t progressed, so he too remains a plausible candidate.)
  • For the Rays, there are still a lot of interesting opportunities remaining even after the team took an interesting gamble on injured catcher Wilson Ramos, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The team’s still-loaded rotation remains an area to watch.  “It’s hard to anticipate timing, it’s hard to really know where all this is going to end up,” said senior VP Chaim Bloom, “but we obviously have a number of talented pitchers in our rotation, and I think we had a lot of conversation on pretty much all of them.” Whatever a trade of a starter might yield remains unknown, but Topkin says that Tampa Bay is looking to add some pop at some point. That could involve waiting to see what “leftovers” remain with plenty of sluggers still available; Topkin even mentions, at least hypothetically, the possibility of a move on a player such as Jose Bautista. Ultimately, said Bloom, there’s a better sense internally as to where things could be headed. “There’s still a lot of dominoes to fall, potentially, with us and certainly around the industry, but the conversation this week was really helpful,” he said. “We got, I think, a much better idea of what may be available to us.”
  • The Mets are still working to tweak their roster after Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker decided to return, as Marc Carig of Newsday reports. It seems that the focus remains on finding a taker for outfielder Jay Bruce to clean up the team’s rotation and shed some salary, but Carig suggests that progress has been slower than hoped on that front and GM Sandy Alderson notes that many free-agent outfielders remain unaccounted for. The Mets “laid some groundwork” at the meetings, says Alderson, though it seems that the organization will take its time in making further moves. Carig further reports on possible trade assets that could conceivably be used to find relief pitching. That includes outfielder Brandon Nimmo as well as catchers Kevin Plawecki and Tomas Nido, all of whom were discussed to some extent in recent days.
  • The Winter Meetings weren’t quite as busy for the Phillies, but as Ryan Lawrence of the Philly Voice notes, there’s still plenty time for some moves. GM Matt Klentak noted both that the flurry of moves creates “a ripple effect” and also that there’s plenty of information gathering which can “help you make decisions down the road.” In Philadelphia’s case, there’s “not a lot cooking” at the moment, per Klentak, but with “a lot of dialogue on a lot of different fronts” there’s always the potential for something to come together. Klentak notes that he expects at least one or two of the team’s 40-man spots to turn over between now and the start of Spring Training.
  • Meanwhile, the Giants may largely be done with their winter work, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. That being said, San Francisco is interested in adding some pop to its bench mix. The club has inquired on free-agent slugger Mark Reynolds and other “similar players,” per the report.
  • The Cubs took care of their bullpen during the Winter Meetings, but are still eyeing free-agent starter Tyson Ross, according to Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com. At this point, it’s not even clear precisely when Ross will sign, but it’s interesting to note that the defending World Series champs seem to have more than a passing interest in the veteran righty, who is working back from thoracic outlet surgery. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein spoke generally of the idea of signing injured starters, noting that there’s demand for “really talented pitchers” even if they have recently been hurt. “We’ll stay engaged on some of those guys,” he said, “but they’ll have to be just the right talent.”
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Boston Red Sox Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox Colorado Rockies Houston Astros New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies San Francisco Giants Tampa Bay Rays Washington Nationals Brandon Nimmo Charlie Blackmon Chris Sale David Robertson Jay Bruce Jose Abreu Jose Bautista Jose Quintana Kevin Plawecki Marc Topkin Mark Reynolds Matt Klentak Melky Cabrera Michael Kopech Neil Walker Rick Hahn Sandy Alderson Theo Epstein Todd Frazier Tyson Ross Wilson Ramos Yoan Moncada Yoenis Cespedes

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White Sox GM Rick Hahn Discusses Trading Adam Eaton

By Steve Adams | December 7, 2016 at 7:35pm CDT

After a whirlwind stretch of about 27 hours in which he traded franchise cornerstone Chris Sale and one of the game’s best all-around outfielders in Adam Eaton, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn expressed both the difficult and emotional nature of the decisions as well as the optimism he had about his organization’s future at a press conference at Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings. Having traded Sale for prospects Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz yesterday, Hahn acquired right-handers Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning in this afternoon’s Eaton trade.

Rick Hahn

“There’s going to be some difficult elements of this along the way, as we talked about yesterday,” said Hahn of the decision embark on a rebuild. “I did not enjoy my phone call with Adam any more than I enjoyed my phone call with Chris yesterday. But everyone in that room, in that suite upstairs, when we went through the process of evaluating whether this was the right thing to do, was unanimously on board that this will help further our process.”

Though the front office was seemingly all on board, Hahn didn’t characterize that as an easy consensus to reach. Trading a player with five years of remaining club control was understandably characterized as a difficult decision to reach and one that at times was the source of some debate.

“We certainly expect to be in a position to contend for championships within the next five years,” the GM stated, “so we had to have our own debate. ’Are we better off doing this now, perhaps diversify a bit and bring in some other high-ceiling talent? Or do you stick with Adam yourself?’ I do think he had perhaps a little bit more appeal than maybe some free agent options, given the price points, or perhaps than some other players on the market because of the length of their control relative to Adam. That also meant that he came with a higher asking price.”

In the case of Eaton, that was three right-handed pitchers that Hahn termed “potential front-end-of-the-rotation fixtures.” The White Sox entered negotiations with high expectations and didn’t merely sell to the highest bidder, Hahn explained, and that’ll be the manner in which he continues to operate as he fields interest in other players on the roster. Names like Todd Frazier and Melky Cabrera represent short-term assets (free agents next winter) that could potentially be explored in deals, while others such as David Robertson (two years of control) Jose Abreu (three years) and Jose Quintana (four years) could merit larger commitments due to the fact that each can be a long-term (and reasonably priced) solution for an interested party.

Unsurprisingly, Hahn didn’t make mention of any specific players he’s already discussed or plans to market to other clubs, but he made no secret of the fact that the Sox hope to again find themselves in a position to receive a trade offer that they feel too strong to rebuff.

“There may well be nothing else while we’re [at the Winter Meetings,” Hahn explained. “There may not be anything else until after the holidays, or through the trade deadline or until next offseason. We’re taking a longer-term view, and we’re going to do this deliberately and with reason and logic, and react accordingly to the market. Eaton came together because Washington was fairly aggressive, as were a few other suitors that accelerated the time frame. We are open and eager for that to happen again, but if it doesn’t, we’ll be patient and move when the time is right.”

Though five of the players that they’ve acquired since Tuesday morning are pitchers, the White Sox weren’t specifically focusing on high-end pitching prospects when negotiating with other clubs. The Sox pursued the best prospects possible, regardless of position, according to Hahn. The end goal, he further explained, is to develop enough of a base of talent that the Sox don’t need to be so reliant on a top-heavy roster. In recent years, the White Sox haven’t had the “one-through-25 depth or even the one-through-40 depth” that a team needs in order to play at a championship level, Hahn opined.

Fostering that level of depth obviously isn’t a short-term endeavor, but that also doesn’t mean that the White Sox won’t reap any benefits in 2017. While Dunning — whom Hahn noted was high on the team’s draft board in 2016 — will begin the season in Class-A, both Giolito and Lopez are expected to open the season in the Sox’ Triple-A rotation and will get the opportunity to pitch in the Majors if they prove ready. “The good ones have a way of forcing the issue,” said Hahn, noting that both Giolito and Lopez “conceivably will contribute to the 2017 White Sox.”

And, depending on how the remainder of Chicago’s trading efforts work out, there could be further ripple effects on the Opening Day roster. The White Sox now look at Cabrera, Charlie Tilson and Avisail Garcia as their starting outfield alignment, according to the GM. Further subtractions throughout the roster, though, could lead the team to “augment” the roster as Spring Training approaches. If the Sox don’t have the requisite upper-level depth to fill a void or if the team doesn’t wish to rush a prospect to the Majors, it seems reasonable to expect the Sox to pursue a veteran option that could serve as a bridge to younger talent.

Over the past few years, Hahn has been used to speaking at press conferences in which he’s announcing a newly acquired addition to his Major League roster with an eye toward contending, making the past few days somewhat uncharted territory for the South Side GM.

“The weird part for me is that we walk around here, you have a lot of people congratulating you — kindly, with well-intentioned congratulations — whether it’s scouts, or executives from other clubs,” Hahn explained. “It’s a little awkward, because we traded Chris Sale. That’s not something you feel great about. That’s not a feather in your cap, so to speak, but this is where we are.”

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Chicago White Sox Adam Eaton Avisail Garcia Charlie Tilson Chris Sale Lucas Giolito Reynaldo Lopez Rick Hahn

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AL Central News & Rumors: Ventura, Napoli, Tribe, Royals

By Mark Polishuk | August 7, 2016 at 9:26pm CDT

Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…

  • During an appearance on WSCR Radio’s “Inside The Clubhouse” show (hat tip to CBS Chicago’s Bruce Levine), White Sox GM Rick Hahn said that discussions with manager Robin Ventura and the coaching staff about their futures with the team will wait until the end of the season.  While the Sox have had another underachieving season, the lack of talk isn’t necessarily a sign that Ventura and company could be in trouble, as “we had the same conversations a couple of years back, when he was in the last year of his deal that time,” Hahn said.  “Even as a player, [Ventura] played out the last year of his contract, and focused on the end of that particular season. He let the contractual stuff go until the end of the season, and that is our plan at this point.”  Ventura quietly signed a two-year extension during the 2013-14 offseason, prior to his last season under his previous contract as Chicago’s skipper.
  • Could the qualifying offer keep Mike Napoli in an Indians uniform?  Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer floats the idea that the Tribe could extend the one-year QO (rumored to be worth $16.7MM) to Napoli as an attempt at keeping the slugger in the fold without making too lengthy a commitment to a player with a checkered injury history and who is entering his age-35 season.  Napoli has enjoyed an outstanding season (.253/.339/.515 with 28 homers in 442 PA) and could certainly be in line for a multi-year deal this winter.  If Napoli feels the draft pick compensation attached to the qualifying offer could dampen his market, however, he could also accept the QO and remain on a contender he enjoys playing for, while still taking home a nice payday.  It’s certainly one of the more interesting possible QO scenarios in play this winter, assuming of course that the qualifying offer still exists in its current form if the new collective bargaining agreement is finalized before the offseason begins.
  • The Royals have disappointed this season, and rival executives tell Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star that the Royals could face a tough time reloading for another quick return to prominence.  A lack of quality pitching in the system is one issue, not to mention rule changes to the draft and international spending that have made it harder for smaller-market teams like K.C. to stockpile talent.  Dodd’s piece is well worth a full read for a look at what plagued the Royals this season and the challenges they’ll face in the future.
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Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Kansas City Royals Mike Napoli Rick Hahn Robin Ventura

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Rick Hahn Q&A

By brettballantini | March 14, 2016 at 5:56pm CDT

After a disappointing 2014 season, White Sox GM Rick Hahn contemplated a complete team teardown. But once owner Jerry Reinsdorf opened his checkbook, Hahn “won” the offseason with a series of splashy moves — which ultimately added only three wins in the standings.

This past offseason, Hahn again underwent some of the same soul-searching over the direction of the White Sox, debating everything from a complete rebuild to chasing some of the winter’s nine-figure free agents. Determining that the status quo wouldn’t get the White Sox into October and a teardown would set the franchise back, Hahn got to work. This time, however, the GM did so with a sneaky trade chased by a series of under-market signings (as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes examined in his recent review of their offseason).

But even with the AL Central fully up for grabs, it will take more than a few extra wins to get the White Sox to their first postseason since 2008 — and to that end, the convivial Hahn turns stern, ensuring that no Pale Hoser’s place in the lineup is guaranteed: “There are no scholarships.”

With Cactus League games underway, Hahn takes time out to talk exclusively with MLBTR about his second consecutive busy offseason.

Read more

—

After 2014, you “won” the offseason with some pretty pricey deals/trades, signing Adam LaRoche, David Robertson and Melky Cabrera and dealing for Jeff Samardzija. The holes to fill arguably were as big after 2015, but expenditures were much more modest. What changed?

We certainly were “in” on several of the higher profile free agents this offseason, but ultimately we were unable to come to terms on a deal with which both sides were comfortable. It can be frustrating — especially from a fan’s point of view. However, there are several factors that go into these decisions – some of which are not economic-based.

For example, whenever I see a guy choose to remain with an organization with whom he enjoyed success and with whom he is comfortable, I have to remind myself that we were the beneficiaries of such decision-making back in 2006, when Paul Konerko chose to re-sign with us over other suitors. Frankly, it’s more fun to be on that side of the choice.

Did the offseason unfold pretty much as expected — striking hard with prospects to grab a super need in third baseman Todd Frazier, then filling in at a buyer’s market with Jimmy Rollins, Mat Latos and Austin Jackson?

Given the need – arguably one that has existed for the organization going back to Joe Crede or, perhaps, even [manager] Robin [Ventura]’s playing days – the talent, and the impact he could have in our clubhouse, Todd was at the top of our target list. Converting on him was essential to executing our offseason plan.

Some markets moved more quickly — like the catchers’ market — than others, like outfielders, and we had to respond to the pace accordingly. A couple of times we tried to speed things up. But in reality, the goal had to be to get the right mix by Opening Day, not by some artificial deadline, such as the end of the winter meetings or [January’s fan convention] SoxFest.

In the case of Jimmy and Austin, at least, players chose the White Sox over as good or better playing opportunities and/or salary. Does it ever tire, getting guys who are psyched to be White Sox?

[Laughing] I do like the idea of players electing to join us over other opportunities. We do our best to learn as much as we can about a player’s makeup before acquiring him, and some of our guys have certainly backed up their words about wanting to contribute to winning in Chicago being the most important factor in their decision-making.

You have a super-plum prospect in Tim Anderson. What’s the best-case scenario for his arrival date?

Given that he was coming out of a smaller program and had only really been playing baseball full-time for about two years, our original development plan for Tim contemplated full-season stops at every level. Based on the original plan, that would mean Timmy would spend essentially the entire 2016 season at [AAA] Charlotte. That said, the good ones have a way of forcing the issue or speeding up the timeline, so we’re going to remain flexible.

Is there anything the White Sox are doing differently with Tim, in contrast with Gordon Beckham — likewise a first-rounder shortstop who sped his way through the Sox system — eight years ago?

With regards to Beckham, one of the larger issues for him was that he never failed prior to getting to Chicago.

Obviously, you don’t want a player to struggle at any point in their career, but there is something to be said for them learning how to dig themselves out of adversity.  Those lessons are much easier to learn somewhere in the minors and away from the scrutiny of the bright lights of the majors. Since struggles are inevitable in the majors for every player, there is a fair amount of benefit for them having gone through it in the minors, which prepares them to be able to adapt and rebound once it happens in Chicago.

The toughest call of the offseason had to be cutting ties with catcher Tyler Flowers [who had strong pitch-framing metrics]. Cutting him even briefly raised the ire of irascible-mode Chris Sale. On paper, it seems for roughly the same dough, your catching has gotten older and, at least defensively, worse. For a relatively conservative and loyal organization, the move surprised. Is your new catching platoon’s upside that high?

We see a fair amount of upside in the combination of Alex Avila and Dioner Navarro behind the plate. Obviously, this club struggled to score runs in 2015, and we weren’t comfortable just bringing back the same unit and hoping it would be better this time around.

From a defensive standpoint, both Alex and Dioner have received a great deal of praise from the pitchers who have thrown to them. While they may not post some of the framing numbers that we have seen in the past, considering the entirety of their offensive and defensive skills – which includes throwing out runners, pitch-blocking, and game-calling in addition to framing – we feel that it was overall a change that needed to be made.

Shortstop Alexei Ramirez seemed an easier call, at least in declining his $10 million option. How close did you come to bringing him back at lower AAV, or was a change of scenery the best for both sides?

As with the Flowers decision, this was another area that we felt it was time to try something different. Alexei was a stalwart for us for many years; however, we weren’t just going to bring back the same squad and expect things to be different.

No way around Avisail Garcia’s struggles last season, and you’ve often reminded us he’s just 24 years old. That said, what do you need to see from him this season — stats be damned — to feel good about committing to him in the future?

Avi has a world of talent and as you noted, is still only 24 years old. This is an important year for him, and we’re looking for improvement in terms of his approach. He has the aptitude to execute the plan that [White Sox hitting coach] Todd Steverson has put in place for him, which fundamentally is about him doing more damage on his pitches and laying off those that aren’t likely to lead to good results. He has been working diligently on some mechanical adjustments that we think will make this approach easier for him to execute. Thus far, with the usual “it’s only spring” caveats [10 hits, two homers, 11 RBI in his first 23 Cactus League at-bats] – he has delivered.

You have come across as doubleplus positive about Tyler Saladino, dating back even to his injury stints in the minors, and he was prepared to shoulder the starting shortstop role before you signed Rollins. In the case of both Tyler, who perhaps had cause to place a chip on his shoulder about entering 2016 as a starter, and Avisail, who had no cause for chip, what do you say to them now that their playing time almost certainly will be being squeezed by Rollins and Jackson?

We’ve been clear both internally and publicly that playing time will be earned here, so there really is no limit on the amount of time that either of those players could play in 2016 if they are producing.  Robin knows that the lineup card is entirely his, and he should play whomever he feels gives us the best chance to win on a given night regardless of contract status, seniority or pedigree. There are no scholarships.

The White Sox, to their credit, simply do not rebuild. In my memory there has never been a teardown. Presumably it goes against the competitive instincts of you, Ken Williams, and all the way up to Jerry Reinsdorf. Is it a particular point of pride, entering every season with a true shot at a title?

Certainly it our preference to compete for the next immediately-available championship. However, we do not intend to delude ourselves.  Any time you have a disappointing season, you have to look at all of your options, and this offseason we certainly considered going the “full rebuild” route. In the end, we simply felt we were closer to winning a championship by adding to the core we had already on hand than taking it down to the brass tacks and trying to reassemble a new core in the future. If for some reason we fail to meet our expectations again this season, it will be on the table once again next offseason.

There seems to be a lot of ninnied handwringing about the so-called “window of opportunity,” a.k.a. without Yoenis Cespedes you’re wasting Chris Sale’s prime. While not ignoring that one day Sale might be soft-tossing like Mark Buehrle, if you’re going for it every year, is the “window of opportunity” a false premise?

I actually do believe in success cycles, or windows of opportunity.  However, there is more than one way to put yourself in a position to take advantage of an opportunity to win.

When you sign a guy like Latos, there is always an element that claims adding “him” will be the ruin of the club. Obviously there is due diligence, I believe to the degree you won’t even get on the phone or sit down with someone who would “ruin” the club. Has it ever happened where you sat with someone and walked away saying, “no way, not if my job depended on it?”

There are certainly risks in terms of clubhouse mix or chemistry that we would not take. However, if we based those decisions strictly on reputation or hearsay, as opposed to trying to get to know the player and his motivations directly, we likely would have missed out on a number of players who played large roles in our success over the years. A.J. Pierzynski and Bobby Jenks come to mind, to name a few.

How important is it to see a guy like Adam Eaton excitedly tweet positive messages after you sign Jackson, who is likely to push Eaton to a corner outfield spot?

We certainly have made an effort over the years to target team guys who prioritize winning. The fact is that I would expect every guy on the club to say that same thing. When you see recent comments like those made by Eaton, or Rollins and Jackson about their decisions to sign with us, it reinforces that our scouts are doing a great job evaluating character as part of their reports.

Fans can tend to be irrationally possessive of draft picks, certainly in reference to losing one to sign a free agent. Is this a silly worry, in that there literally is no free agent you would ever consider talking to who’s not worth losing a pick over?

Fundamentally, we are willing to sacrifice draft picks in order to make what we believe are significant improvements to the current club. While that did not happen this past offseason, we were in talks throughout the offseason that could have led to such. Plus, we did last offseason with Robertson and Melky.

Is there a deal you most regret not making?

The twisted part of this job is that you probably spend more time lamenting the deals that did not go the way you had hoped versus relishing in the ones that worked out. When things go well, it’s easier for me to see the scout, coach or analyst who made the recommendation or the positive contribution to helping the transaction work out than it is for me to see my role. When it craters, I feel the responsibility for the poor decision gone awry.

This year shapes up to be a tight Central Division race. Team you most want to beat: Royals, Tigers, Twins, Indians — or Cubs?

It’s all about winning the division. While we certainly want to win every night and there is heightened fan and media attention surrounding the crosstown series, the fact is beating the clubs in our division gets us much closer to our goal than taking games from a NL club.

In this day and age, do the White Sox have anything near a “number” that ends up being assigned to a player? We fans have WAR now, in spite of whatever imperfections and controversies; do the White Sox have their own secret sauce that breaks things down similarly, beyond the 20-80 scale or eye test?

We do not look strictly at one all-encompassing number. We look at a bunch of different metrics that we trust and combine it with the subjective evaluation.

Best movie shot at [Hahn’s high school] New Trier: Home Alone, Ferris Buehler, Uncle Buck, or Sixteen Candles?

I’ve got some built-in biases here. First of all, I currently live in the hometown of Joel (Tom Cruise) from Risky Business. Second, while not filmed at New Trier, The Breakfast Club was loosely based upon New Trier’s detention system, and I, myself, served time in a breakfast club or two during my high school career — although I only incurred a weekday before-school penalty or two along the way and never the full-day, weekend sanction showed in the movie.

In the end, I have to go with Ferris Buehler given how much of the city is covered, but those other two are close behind for me.

So, then: How freaking cool is it to be a major league GM?

This is something I truly to hope to do a better job of appreciating this season. It’s a pretty fantastic opportunity – especially being able to do it in my hometown – but frankly I need to do a better job enjoying the victories along the way.

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Chicago White Sox Interviews MLBTR Originals Newsstand Rick Hahn

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White Sox Notes: Jackson, Alexei, Latos

By Jeff Todd | March 6, 2016 at 10:24pm CDT

The White Sox may finally have wrapped up an interesting offseason with today’s announcement of the signing of outfielder Austin Jackson to a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll join a series of other new faces on the MLB roster in Chicago, none of whom — including the trade acquisitions — are guaranteed or controlled for more than two years. The overall financial commitment is quite minimal, and the South Siders still look to have plenty of long-term flexibility.

Here’s the latest on a few of those additions, and one notable departure:

  • Jackson will indeed be Chicago’s primary center fielder, GM Rick Hahn told reporters including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin (Twitter link). That means that Adam Eaton, fresh off of a quality campaign in the first year of his extension, will line up primarily in the corner outfield. Clearly, the team’s overall glovework on the grass should be much improved, as the team’s preexisting alignment likely would’ve featured Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia on both corners.
  • As something of an added bonus, the Sox kept Jackson from the division-rival Indians, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (Twitter links). Cleveland felt it would have needed to go north of $5MM to add Jackson, who seemed to prefer to play in Chicago.
  • Padres shortstop Alexei Ramirez asked to go on a road trip to play the White Sox, his longtime club, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. Ramirez called it “really emotional” to suit up for the only MLB organization he’d ever played for previously, saying that he put in “eight years of defending, 100 percent energy, eight years of being the first to show up and work hard every day” in Chicago. Ramirez added that San Diego’s $4MM contract was the sole firm offer he received this winter.
  • Newly-signed White Sox righty Mat Latos says that he’s eager not just to show his form on the mound, but also to rebuild his image, as Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reports. “Maybe I needed a wake-up call,” said the 28-year-old. “I’m very direct, and I’ve just got to pick and choose my battles and learn to just hold onto some things. If I had some issues with things that went on with Cincinnati, I needed to keep them to myself. That was just a slip-up on my part. That was me dummying up. Just a bad lapse of judgment.” In an email, GM Rick Hahn suggested that the organization wasn’t scared off by a player’s reputation, preferring instead to sit down with each individual and make an assessment. In the case of Latos, it isn’t hard to see how the organization might’ve believed he would be motivated to make good on a $3MM investment.
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AL Notes: Vogt, Fister, White Sox, Moustakas, Plouffe, Royals

By Jeff Todd | January 30, 2016 at 12:40am CDT

Athletics catcher Stephen Vogt will likey miss four to six weeks after elbow surgery, MLB.com’s Jan Lee tweets. He is still expected to be good to go for the start of the season, though he’ll be delayed in getting going this spring.

Here are a few more notes from around the American League:

  • Doug Fister’s MRI with the Astros did not gum up the deal, but nevertheless showed some cause for concern, Houston GM Jeff Luhnow said today on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter links). “There is some risk, but we’re confident he’s going to be healthy this year,” said Luhnow.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn made clear today that the team feels urgency to win, as Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com reports. Hahn acknowledged frustration that “we haven’t been able to convert on any [free agent] targets,” as CSNChicago.com’s Dan Hayes reports, but told fans that “there still is the possibility we are going to have changes before camp or Opening Day.”
  • Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas says that his representatives have talked to the club about a two-year contract arrangement, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports on Twitter. “I think it’s extremely important ,” he said. “We are blessed with some very unique, special talent on this roster right now.”
  • Coming into the winter, Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe seemed a plausible trade piece, but we never heard much buzz on that front. Minnesota GM Terry Ryan tells Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (Twitter link) that the club did not consider scenarios for a deal — let alone make Plouffe available to other clubs.
  • The Royals’ many successes have led many to point to their outstanding pen as a model of sorts, and ESPN.com’s Jayoson Stark (Insider link) explains that it has helped drive the idea of relying heavily on a relief corps. But the rise of the importance of the relief pitcher has other, deeper causes, Stark argues.
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White Sox Won’t Dismantle At Deadline

By Zachary Links and Mark Polishuk | July 5, 2015 at 6:45pm CDT

With a few weeks to go until the trade deadline, little is certain about what the White Sox will do.  Jeff Samardzija has a litany of possible suitors, but he and other trade chips could wind up staying put depending on how the Sox fare in the coming days.  No matter what happens, however, White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams told Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports that the team won’t be holding a fire sale.

“It’s important that we not lose sight of what our organization goal was, and that was to give us the best three-year window. And we’re not going to abandon that completely with only three months to play,” Williams said.  “I think [Rick Hahn’s] done one hell of a job. Everyone wants to put the blame on [manager] Robin [Ventura], too, but all he can do is put the players in position to succeed. They’re the ones who have to look in the mirror and execute. If we do anything, it will be consistent with trying to maximize this three-year plan or window that we set out originally.”

After today’s loss to the Orioles, Chicago owns a 36-43 record and sits last in the AL Central, 10 games back of the first-place Royals and 5.5 games behind the last wild card spot.  It’s not an ideal spot by any stretch, yet given the crowded American League standings, the White Sox are just be a hot week or two away from being right back in the hunt.

While it may be a bit too early to start selling yet, Williams said he’s open to at least hearing any trade proposal.  Teams can even pitch trades for ace Chris Sale, but it’s extremely unlikely that anything will happen on that front.

“We’ve always had that mind-set that we will listen to anyone who wants to make an offer for our players,” Williams said. “How else do you know what the value is? Something may bowl you over. But we can’t envision anything happening along those lines.”

While Sale is locked up on a team-friendly deal that could run through the 2019 season, Samardzija is a different story, as he’s set to hit free agency this winter.  Nightengale mentions that “every club with an urgent pitching need” has expressed an interest in Samardzija, and that the Blue Jays in particular have “strongly pursued” the righty.

If Samardzija signed an extension to remain on the south side, that would obviously change things.  “We just have to get some sort of indication it’s possible or not to sign him. We have to also see if it’s realistic given our resources and the other obligations we have,” Williams said.

That said, a midseason deal seems very unlikely with Samardzija so close to the open market.  While he stressed that “by no means does it take the White Sox off my list” if he hits free agency, Samardzija seemed eager to take control over his playing future.

“I worked hard to get to this spot in free agency.  I just want to sign with a team that is competing every September with a chance to be playing in October,” Samardzija said.  “Look, I don’t hold bad blood or grudges against anybody. I understand how the business side works. Front offices have to do what they have to do. But I also need to protect myself and make sure I’m in a situation where I can win for a long time.”

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