Ranking whose fault it is that the Chicago White Sox are bad
The Chicago White Sox have no clue what they are doing. They have been below average for a couple of years now and it was supposed to be their contention window.
There are plenty of reasons that they have failed to meet expectations. Most of it is bad decision making and it is going to take a long time to get it right.
So whose fault is it? Well, there are plenty of names in the blame pool. A lot of people are involved with this team that didn't do what they needed to do to turn it into a winner.
These are the four most responsible parties for the White Sox being a bad baseball team in the year 2023 ranked from 4 to 1:
4. The managers
The Chicago White Sox have not had manager success in a long time.
The Chicago White Sox have been a poorly managed team for the last three years. Yes, even in 2021 when Tony La Russa was first managing this team.
They were elite in the first half of the season but a ton of things went wrong once the Yermin Mercedes drama started with TLR. Things have not been the same since.
He was a bad hire at the time of the hiring and having him for 2021 and 2022 ruined any momentum that this team had while rebuilding.
What we learned in 2023 is that it wasn't all Tony's fault. He deserves blame too but it went beyond the manager. The fact that Pedro Grifol is failing just as bad tells you everything you need to know.
Tony and Pedro were/are horrific managers for this White Sox team but they were/are far from the worst problem.
3. Rick Hahn
Rick Hahn is firmly one of the worst general managers in MLB.
Rick Hahn had us all fooled when he was first starting the rebuild for the Chicago White Sox. They made what looked like some really smart moves that were going to pan out for a while.
Although he probably doesn’t deserve as much blame as he gets considering the owner hired a bad manager under his nose, he doesn’t do a good job in spite of that.
There are other GMs out there with much worse owners than Rick Hahn deals with and they do a lot more winning. He has also made some incredibly boneheaded moves as the GM over the last couple of seasons.
Hahn’s biggest flaw is that he thinks that the observers aren’t smart. He downplays everything and acts like everything is going to be alright. In reality, this thing is a mess so it would be nice to hear him admit it more often.
Hahn should not be allowed to oversee this upcoming trade deadline but it is obvious that he is going to be the guy doing that.
2. Kenny Williams
Kenny Williams has needed to be fired by the White Sox for a long time.
Kenny Williams deserves just as much, if not more, blame than Rick Hahn. He oversees Hahn’s work and it has been nothing short of a disaster. Williams should have been let go a long time ago.
He gets a pass a lot of the time because of the fact that he is their World Series-winning manager. Well, although that team is legendary in town now, Williams didn’t go into that season thinking that the World Series was possible.
That team got hot at the right time and took it all the way. He shouldn’t be rewarded for that almost two decades later. That is why this White Sox team continues to fail though. The same people that are bad at their jobs have no accountability so they just keep going as is.
Williams is the second biggest problem. Rick Hahn and the managers continue to employ/manage underachieving players and nothing is done about it. Williams should be held accountable as well.
All of these guys are truly awful at their jobs but it all falls under the person who is most to blame.
1. Jerry Reinsdorf
Jerry Reinsdorf is someone that the Chicago White Sox don't need.
Jerry Reinsdorf is the real problem with the Chicago White Sox. They have a lot of issues but he is the baseline problem and nothing can get fixed as long as he is there.
Everything is allowed to run the way it does because he does nothing to change. It is a shame to see what this team could have been compared to what it actually has become.
Remember the first home playoff game in 2021? That could have been every game for the White Sox if Jerry was a smart baseball owner. Instead, everything else but winning and fan excitement matters.
Reinsdorf is also the one that hired Tony La Russa, his old buddy, under Rick Hahn’s nose. That ended anything good that was being built on the south side. It is a shame to think about.
All of these guys need to go. The Chicago White Sox need a complete house cleaning. That can only happen if ownership changes but everyone, and that means everyone, with a position of power needs to go.
Next. The 15 worst contracts in Chicago White Sox history. dark