I think it’s safe to say that the Chicago White Sox rebuild is officially a failure. It has resulted in no playoff series wins despite the front office giving fans fantasies of championship parades down Michigan Avenue. This season is shaping up to be worse than it was last year for the White Sox. The man who is ultimately responsible for this disaster is General Manager Rick Hahn and the front office. I believe the White Sox need to blow up the whole front office operation and start again.
A Very Tumultuous and Nightmarish Start to 2023
Despite being considered a team to have a bounce-back season, the White Sox have somehow become worse than last year. The only thing that is keeping the White Sox from being in last place is an equally woeful Kansas City Royals team. So far this season, they’ve already had a ten-game losing streak, benched Luis Robert Jr. for failing to hustle, pitching has been awful, and the team looks lost offensively. This has all happened and were not even through the first half of the season. I don’t think first-time dugout skipper Pedro Grifol saw this coming upon accepting the managerial job.
The Money Was Poorly Spent
Rick Hahn once proclaimed that “the money will be spent.” True to his word, the White Sox spent the money. They entered this season with the tenth-largest payroll. However, the money appears to have not been spent very well. The only free agents who’ve yielded a positive return were Jose Abreu, David Robertson, Zach Duke, James McCann, and Kendall Graveman. Graveman is the only player still on the team. Everybody else didn’t live up to the expectations the Sox had for them. Even one signing in Adam LaRoche performed very poorly and eventually had an overdramatic retirement. His most recent signings in Andrew Benintendi and Mike Clevinger aren’t showing any promise of a positive return.
Mixed Results on the Trade Market
Rick Hahn and the Sox front office have had mixed results when making trades. The only consistently impactful player he has acquired is Dylan Cease. Out of all the trades, only Cease, Eloy Jimenez, Lucas Giolito, Yoan Moncada, Reynaldo Lopez, Michael Kopech, and Lance Lynn are still on the roster. Jimenez, Kopech, and Moncada have struggled to stay on the field and have sometimes been inconsistent. Lynn has also struggled with injury and so far, he’s forgotten how to pitch this season. Giolito has also struggled with consistency as well. Lopez didn’t become the starting pitcher the Sox initially expected to get. However, he’s become a decent reliever.
Failing to Hire the Right Manager Three Times
The other major thing that Hahn has gotten wrong is manager hires. It took four years and a lost playoff series to conclude that Rick Renteria wasn’t the one. Although they were rebuilding, he should have known that after Chicago lost 309 games in four seasons. Renteria was never the right manager to steer the Sox through their rebuild.
The hiring of Tony LaRussa was widely believed to be a Jerry Reinsdorf decision. While the White Sox won the AL Central in 2021, they once again bowed out early in the postseason. The following season, the White Sox were lackluster out of the gate and proceeded to underperform as a team. At times last season, it looked like the team was lifeless.
This season, Hahn’s hiring of Pedro Grifol has not shown any promise. The team has somehow played worse than they did last season. The Sox have already had a ten-game losing streak, shown questionable effort, made questionable in-game decisions, and have hit and pitched poorly. Grifol so far has looked as if being a Major League Baseball manager is too big of a job for him. I wouldn’t be shocked if Grifol’s tenure is a one-and-done.
Rick Hahn Has Got to Go
There is no way that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf will be able to sell a rebuild led by Rick Hahn to White Sox fans again. Typically, whenever a rebuild doesn’t yield positive results, that general manager is fired. However, it’s well documented that Reinsdorf is loyal to the people he hires to a fault. The front office has talked about earning the trust of the fans back. Right now, the trust between the fans and the team is continuing to break even more. Unless the entire baseball operation is cleaned out, I would expect to see many empty seats at 35th Street and Shields. Don’t be shocked if those few Sox fans in attendance chant “Fire Hahn” at some point this season.
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