Rick Hahn’s decision on Eloy Jimenez

Welcome friends….this is your bestest buddy BeefLoaf.  If you are reading this blog post, you are interested in the 108 take on the Eloy non-promotion.  Before we begin, if you would like to read some really basebally takes on the decision and the weighting of various issues related to the decision, there aren’t two better pieces than the ones linked below.  Both of them dudes are sharp and provide you with two solidly different takes on the situation….

……alright, now enough of that….let’s begin…..

I’m mad as fuck that Eloy Jimenez isn’t playing baseball in Chicago RIGHT. DAMN. NOW!!  Let me be clear, I understand the implications and factors and as a 108er, this is a damn no-brainer.  I’m not going to give you the 7 is bigger than 6 bullshit, only a guy who is a lifetime Cubs homer would treat White Sox fans with such disdain and disrespect writing for a dying newspaper.  I also think that most folks who have been beating the drum of waiting till April 2019 for Eloy’s arrival are either A) folks that depend very much on the White Sox for their income / content / reputation (ie, tv personalities, content providers with close ties to the team, other people that require access to White Sox management and or personnel) or B) Folks that are trying to sound smart in mixed company.  Lucky for you, we don’t carry nobody’s fucking water.  Fans go to the ballpark for an entertainment product, the people voting with their wallets and sitting in the ballpark on a nightly basis materially want to see Eloy at 35th and Shields.  Truthfully, I don’t care what others think, the way I think about it is this, having Eloy here, right now, will improve the entertainment product and the team for me and other fans, much more than EV of ~$7M of excess value in the 2025 season (I’m picking a number out of the air more or less, but given the high price of stars who were super two eligible in their final arbitration year, I’m in the ballpark).  It just does.  We just don’t know much other than, this is starting to look like a real team, right now and the addition of Eloy will improve this situation even more.  Just imagine if the White Sox were willing to make decisions that improved their on-field entertainment products, then Don Cooper wouldn’t have to whine and cry in the public about nobody showing up to the ballpark.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

If it sounds like I am a bit salty, I am.  The fan base as a whole has been in a bad place for awhile, but we are coming out of it and are currently in our “getting back into exercising and eating vegetables cycle”.  We had those bad years dating all the way back to 2008 with the last division title.  We drank too much, we ate too much fried foods and we lived a goddamn sedentary lifestyle and let’s be honest, we were in bad health, much like our White Sox, but now, we’ve started living healthier, we just still look like the folks that used to “Sweat To the Oldies” with Richard Simmons,

doing the right thing, but still puffy and bloated looking.  Winning should be the thing that puts us over the top!  But enough about us fans, we’ve been creating our own fucking fun, #108ing our damn asses off as this team starts to bubble up in to relevancy……there are others tho’….

One group that is under represented and under serviced in the lexicon of White Sox twitter are the folks that actually earn their living at the ballpark.  I’m talking about the vendors, security, mc’s, pride crew and office employees.  Those folks have been dealing with the same conditions I mentioned above as our team and fan base, but their direct income is depending on this.  They aren’t like me or you, they have to put on a happy face when they go to the ballpark and work hard serving the patrons.  In general these people fight back the bullshit product on the field and the bullshit conditions by management and put on a brave face and do a great job….however, I’d be lying if I told you we haven’t heard various folks around the ballpark that know what we do, say something along the lines of “another bad year, thanks for what you are doing, it makes it go by a little easier“.  Believe you me, this is cool that they tell us this, but it is also NOT COOL that they have to….it’s time for management to change all of this…..it’s time for the staff to be able to trust management…..TRUST.

Back to “carrying water” which we don’t do here, we’ll never do here….we’ve been supportive, but highly critical of Rick Hahn (check out our twitter, check out the #SundaySoak).  In our minds, there are still large questions about his competencies as GM of the team.  He took the helm prior to the 2013 season and this team has been a steaming pile since he took over.  With risk of upsetting the “Hahn bots” ($1, SoxMachine fam), why are we giving this guy the benefit of the doubt?  Is it his various degrees (*Bruce Weber voice* who cares?), is it that he’s not Kenny Williams (we all aren’t that dumb are we?)…nope…wait for it….it’s because we trust him for telling us the truth.  That’s right, Hahn’s whole deal is that he’s upfront with the fan base, even explaining in full detail the rebuild and process ahead.  He’s affable and friendly, he even did that live podcast at Reggie’s with Chuck Garfien and crew.  Hahn is the guy that will just tell it like it is…don’t worry that things haven’t turned out in his tenure as GM, he’s honest to us fans and treats us well and we believe he’ll do the right thing by us……then this steaming turd.

This has been getting destroyed all over the twitters

Let us not forget that Hahn was fine with Dayan Viciedo manning the outfield during his watch….remember when the 2016 White Sox had those injuries and were trying to turn it around, he was happy to trot JB Shuck out to centerfield….oh and right fucking now they employ Avi Garcia everyday in rightfield, so clearly, defense is a top priority for Rick Hahn.  Gimme a fucking break!!!  It’s odd that Hahn would be willing to so brazenly light on fire the only thing that he really had going for him with the fan base, his honesty.  He was so quick to just burn that bridge.  Things happen for a reason, they always do….I think I have a beat on this.

One thing that smacked me in the head like a hangover after a night of #108ing is that once Eloy is in Chicago, you have your 3 blue chip prospects from trades in the majors (Eloy, Moncada and Kopech), it is time to start building a winning core, it is time to start spending money to fix your deficiencies or to build up depth where it is needed.  It is time to compete.  Just envision if Eloy arrived on August 7th or something and had a .950 OPS to close the year in Chicago.  Hahn can no longer hide behind “the rebuild” to make curious roster decisions, because slowly but surely people are going to stop defending him, you can’t rebuild forever and once the clock is solidly running on what is expected to be your 3 best home grown (sort of) players you need to start spending money.  MAYBE, Hahn isn’t sure what to do with Avi Garcia.  MAYBE, Hahn isn’t sure who should get playing time next year between Palka, Davidson and Nicky Steaks.  MAYBE, Hahn doesn’t know for sure if Moncada is a second basemen or not.  Those are the “easy” tough decisions, his toughest tough decisions are like Memphis Raines tryna lock down his “Eleanor”.

1. MAYBE, He’s scared af about trading some prospects because he’s already known for the worst prospect trade of this decade…..

2. MAYBE, He’s unsure what free agents he really wants to buy, because recent history of free agents hasn’t been that kind to him……

I get it, we all have our fears, we all have those obstacles that have been tough to conquer.  The only difference is, I’m sure we didn’t tell a bold face lie to the people that have been supporting us just to avoid it.  MAYBE, we are willing to give Rick Hahn one mulligan.  Be better next time Rick, those of us that have stood with you through all this shit expect better.