The Chicago White Sox are in a bad spot. Yeah, their owner is one of the worst in Major League Baseball, Tony La Russa did a terrible job as the manager, and the players haven't played to thier full potential. None of that absolves Rick Hahn of his work being criticized either.
The White Sox GM has made lots of mistakes that have been a big part of this team's failure. He is handcuffed in a lot of ways but he doesn't do much to make it better.
One of his big mistakes was making Yasmani Grandal the highest-paid player in the history of the franchise. Grandal was MVP-level good for the second half of 2021 but that is about it. It is some of the worst money ever spent by this organization and that is saying something.
You might remember that James McCann's tenure with the White Sox came to an end because of this deal. Instead of trying to keep them both, they let McCann walk in free agency to the New York Mets. Now, it all looks like a mistake.
The Chicago White Sox keep seeing mistakes come to the forefront.
McCann has been horrible with the Mets for the most part. However, he hasn't been worse than Grandal was with the White Sox and he is 33 million dollars cheaper. At least McCann might have played better if he continued on with the White Sox where he was clearly comfortable.
Free-agent catcher Omar Narvaez is close to a deal with the New York Mets, according to sources familiar with the situation.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) December 16, 2022
Now that the New York Mets have signed Omar Narvaez to a one-year contract, it is clear that they are done with McCann as they now have a few other (better) options in guys like Narvaez, Tomas Nido, and Francisco Alvarez.
Of course, people are wondering if McCann would ever consider a return to the White Sox. He has two years left on his deal so it would have to be via a trade.
That would be the most "White Sox thing" of all time. They let him go in favor of Grandal which was clearly a mistake and they also failed with Zack Collins. Nothing seems to be working for them when it comes to catchers.
If McCann made his return to the South Side, Rick Hahn would look even worse than he already does. It would have been much cheaper to keep McCann with similar (if not better) results but they chose to go the other way. One day, this team will spend good money on smart decisions. Maybe.