White Sox: Hahn Says There’s Alignment in Front Office
By Matt Manetti
White Sox GM Rick Hahn joined Carmen & Jurko to discuss the state of the franchise and the upcoming offseason. He reiterated that everyone in the front office is on the same page.
Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told Carmen & Jurko ‘Everyone is on the same page’ during an interview Thursday. Hahn joined the show to discuss the future of the organization, the upcoming offseason and the farm system.
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To no one’s surprise, he spent most of the interview discussing the reported rift between himself and Ken Williams. But he stood his ground and assured the duo there was in alignment within the front office. He also said any report to the contrary in his opinion had been overblown and wasn’t accurate.
"You don’t want everyone in the front office to necessarily have the exact same opinion on everything. The debate and different approaches have served us well over [an] extensive part of that period.– White Sox GM Rick Hahn"
I would definitely question how the different approaches have helped this team over an extended period of time. This front office has issues. While you wouldn’t expect Hahn to come out and say there was turmoil, it seems silly for him to just brush it off. And while it’s true, everyone shouldn’t have the same opinion, but when it comes to issues, like what to do at the trade deadline, the GM and vice president need to agree on a course of action.
The fact is this front office hasn’t been on the same page. And it showed at the trade deadline. They clearly had no idea if they wanted to be buyers or sells. The biggest move they pulled off was trading Zach Duke to the Cardinals. They had all the pieces a n opposing team would potentially want and all they did was trade a reliever.
It will be interesting to see exactly what this team has planned for the offseason. In the segment, Hahn didn’t give specifics but did mention a short-term plan and a longer-term rebuild. However, he declined to exactly what the plan would be.
"Bear with us and once we start making the moves we’ll explain them and how they line up with precisely what we’re trying to accomplish.– White Sox GM Rick Hahn"
I think this front office is smart enough to know fans aren’t going to be patient with this team. Another losing season could be disastrous for them. So it’s important they get it right. And that means improving this team, so they can compete for years to come. Later in the interview Hahn talked about being transparent and part of being transparent was admitting to fans this may take longer than one off-season.
While this team has some pieces in place, they are probably a little ways away from being a serious contender for the World Series. And that’s okay. All Sox fans want to see is some progress being made. If this organization can show they are improving from year to year, fans will be more likely to give them a chance. What is frustrating is seeing this team play bad baseball year in and year out. Even worse, it always seemed like nothing was being done to fix it.
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All eyes will be on Hahn and Williams during the off-season. Until the team comes out and enlightens fans on what this plan is, there will continue to be speculation. I am pretty confident in Hahn. He seems like a great baseball mind and he is well respected around the league. My only concern is Hahn is not the one running this team. My fear is Williams is running this team through Hahn. If that’s the case this team will never improve and will forever be mired in mediocrity.