White Sox: Rick Hahn Acknowledges Team’s Mediocrity
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn finally admits what most fans have known for a long time, the team is mediocre and its time for changes. The White Sox will also be without Alex Avila for another four weeks and Austin Jackson will be moved slowly. Carlos Rodon is scheduled for bullpen session on Tuesday.
It finally happened. Rick Hahn finally acknowledging what baseball fans have known for quite some time, the White Sox are mediocre. Yes, you read that correctly. The White Sox are mired in mediocrity according to Hahn.
The White Sox general manager described the recent play of this team to reporters on Thursday as mediocre. Just before the White Sox were scheduled to take on the Detroit Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field, Hahn spoke about the state of the team. After a 1-5 road trip to begin the second half, the White Sox are near the brink of falling out of contention.
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With two weeks remaining before the trading deadline, the White Sox are looking more like sellers than buyers. Hahn is aware of this and stated the White Sox won’t rule out the idea of a complete teardown. It’s amazing it took this long for the White Sox to even realize this.
According to Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com, Hahn and the White Sox have ruled out short-term additions to the team, but they are open minded on other possibilities. The White Sox have been known to make short-term additions that didn’t ultimately pan out in the past, its a relief to see Hahn and the rest of the front office are looking to move away from that.
"We’re mired in mediocrity and that’s not the goal, that’s not acceptable, that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish for long term"
The White Sox have already started to field calls from other teams regarding their star players. With starting pitching in dire need for some contenders, the White Sox reportedly received a king’s ransom for Chris Sale according to Ken Rosenthal. The White Sox simply refused, but there are other reports stating the team is open to being sellers.
Another source says the #WhiteSox were offered a "king's ransom" for Sale in the last 48 hours and responded with a flat "no."
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 21, 2016
If the White Sox are truly committed to the future, they will sell at the trading deadline. White Sox fans have had enough with the half-measured efforts at contending from the front office. The decision to rebuild should have continued after the 2014 season. Instead, the White Sox acquired expensive free agents during the wrong offseason, failed to acquire expensive free agents the following offseason and are now suffering the consequences.
In addition to the disheartening news of the White Sox sudden realization of their own mediocrity, Hahn also announced catcher Alex Avila and outfielder Austin Jackson are far from returning from their injuries. Avila aggravated his hamstring on Tuesday according Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. Hahn stated Avila could return in four weeks from his hamstring injury. The White Sox general manager also noted Carlos Rodon would throw a bullpen session on Tuesday in preparation for his return from a wrist injury.
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Jackson however, recently had a MRI on his injured knee and Hahn stated it showed modest improvement. Hahn mentioned Jackson’s return from injury will be slow. With both Avila and Jackson not returning soon, the White Sox will continue to suffer from their lack of depth in the organization.