Thursday, January 16, 2025

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Hahn Takes The Blame, But It’s Hard To Have Sympathy For Him

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This season was supposed to be earning back the trust of White Sox fans.

Trust that was lost from just two playoff appearances since 2008, whiffing on free-agent signings, and watching the Pirates spend $100 million on a player before the White Sox did. Trust that was lost from having a “seat at the table for Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.” Trust that was lost from hiring Tony La Russa, winning just 81 games in 2022 despite having a roster seemingly loaded with talent in a weak AL Central.

Trust that was lost by putting faith in the front office to be able to rebuild the roster only to watch the majority of the prospects that Rick Hahn hitched his wagon to turn out to be bust.

The White Sox hired an entirely new coaching staff and signed Andrew Benintendi to the richest contract in franchise history, and they still have managed to get off to a 7-19 start of the 2023 season.

Rick Hahn’s goal for 2023 was to earn back trust. Instead, fans distrust the organization more than ever. Chalk that up as yet another thing Hahn has failed miserably at during his tenure with the White Sox.

A poll asked White Sox fans if the team has hit rock bottom yet. Seventy-four percent believe things can still get worse in this sample size of fans.

Rick Hahn and the other lackeys in the front office have been given more job security despite a decade of poor performance than almost every average American would if have.

Because of this it is hard to feel sympathy for Rick Hahn when he stands in front of the media and talks about how hard all these losses are for him. There is no doubt in my mind that he cares. He wants to win just as much as anybody as frustration mounts across the city.

“They’re not alone. We’re upset,” Hahn said. “We’re feeling every emotion in the book, ranging from rage to disappointment, and we’ve done perhaps the exact opposite of what we set out to do in terms of regaining our fan’s confidence and trust in what we’re about here.”

Remember, this is the same guy that tried to sell fans on Romy Gonzalez during the offseason. People tell you who they are. Believe them. Hahn is not to be trusted even when he is saying the “right things’.

He has proven time and time again he is an incompetent MLB general manager. The White Sox are slashing .184/.245/.301 and averaging under three runs a game in their last 17 games. They have been swept in back-to-back series and outscored 29-5 in their last three games entering Friday.

Rick Hahn made sure to let the media know he was responsible as he met the media on Friday afternoon.

“Put it on me. That’s the job. It’s the absolute gig,” Hahn said amid his usual lawyer talk. “Let’s make this real clear–it sure as heck isn’t on Pedro and his coaching staff.

“They are doing everything in their power to prepare, focus on what’s controllable, what’s fixable, addressing the problems as they arise. And they are doing a really doing everything in their power to get this thing right. It’s absolutely not on the manager and the coaches.”

Hahn is correct. It is not on first-year manager Pedro Grifol. Tony La Russa was used as a scapegoat to cover the organization’s many flaws. But if it’s not the manager, it’s the players. And since you can’t fire the players, the only solution is cutting ties with the man that put those players on the roster.

Everyone knows it. The fans know it. Deep down, Kenny Willams and Rick Hahn realize it too.This team must be torn down to the studs and retooled once again. But the only way you can do that is if you have the right people in place to identify the correct talent to bring in. It’s time to fire Rick Hahn.

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