The White Sox look poised to compete in the future. And that’s all thanks to the phenomenal job Rick Hahn did during the winter meetings. He made some of the best moves of this offseason.
The Chicago White Sox were a team in turmoil heading into this offseason. Robin Ventura “resigned” as manager and Chris Sale was a trade candidate. Furthermore, fans were clamoring for the general manager to do something. And do something big. Rick Hahn answered in a huge way.
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Not only does a team who lacked direction now have one; rebuilding, but they are setup for success for the future. With two trades, the farm system is suddenly loaded with talent. If they are able to develop this talent, they will be a dangerous team in a few seasons.
It’s not easy for an organization to admit defeat and start from scratch. To Hahn’s credit he saw the need to rebuild. Ken Williams reportedly stopped his attempt to start at the trade deadline. But he stayed the course and now the White Sox look poised to succeed.
A rival executive told Bustler Olney the White Sox were kicking butt at the winter meetings. We don’t often hear executives talking about this team in that context. It took a lot of guts for Hahn to trade two of their best players. Sale and Adam Eaton were definitely great players for this team but now, this organization has a lot more talent to continue building around.
Not only did he do well at the winter meetings but he also signed Derek Holland to step in for the departed Sale. Holland’s had some good seasons under his belt, but has struggled the past two seasons. Under the direction of Don Cooper, fans hope Holland can return to form. 2011 was his best season when he went 16-5 with a 3.95 ERA. While that may be a stretch, he will give this pitching staff a veteran presence.
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As we move closer to spring training, we’ll most likely see some more moves. We don’t know what Hahn has up his sleeve but we shouldn’t rule out more big moves. The market for David Robertson could heat up and we shouldn’t dismiss a potential trade of Jose Quintana. The White Sox also have some other holes to fill in the outfield and at catcher. It’ll be interesting to see what other moves this team makes, but so far, Hahn has done a great job of improving this team.