Will The White Sox Fire Rick Hahn?

I was careful not to title this post “Should the White Sox fire Rick Hahn?” I did that for a few reasons, including how well Nick Schaefer put together the case for firing him on the Au Jus. Overall, I think the number of Hahnbots has gone from the amount of people who say they saw Nirvana at Martyrs to the number of people who actually did.

That said, I’ll lay out a few of the basics. In the first run, the Jeff Samardzija and James Shields trades, Austin Jackson being the biggest signing going into 2016. In the rebuild, very little development of any players in the org (which does roll up to him), using many top draft picks for positionless hitters. In the competitive window, failing to land big free agent targets, routinely silent at the trade deadlines, and overspending on a bullpen that doesn’t produce. And generally not making the playoffs throughout his entire tenure. These are just the broad strokes. Watch the video for a lot more.

But will he be fired for this? Let’s dig into this.

The Money Will Be Spent

We all remember Hahn saying “the money will be spent” and I think that has fallen flat for a lot of folks. However, he was able to push Jerry to a payroll of about $193M in 2022 and $181M in 2023. Was it spent well? I don’t think so, but that is not the point. He went to Jerry, he got the money, and he hasn’t produced. If you’re a person that says “Jerry’s cheap” in every White Sox discussion, then you must think he’s absolutely pissed about spending $370M in 2 years for likely 0 playoff games.

Kenny Williams Speaks

We have heard so little from Kenny Williams in the past few years that I started casing his residence here to see if I could steal some lobsters from the freezer during his absolute absence from the team. So when he shows up to talk, I’ll give it a listen. Here’s the full article, but this is the meat of it:

“When you do not accomplish the goal at hand, and you’ve been given the opportunities we’ve been fortunate to be given to try to rebuild this thing, to tear it down and rebuild it — and we were on the right track and right now the train is off the rails a little bit — it would be naïve of me to think if things don’t correct themselves that we wouldn’t be looked at as well. As it should be.”

I haven’t fired a lot of people, but this is the kind of shit you say right before you fire them. And if there is one guy they’ve put out there to do the dirty work, it’s Kenny. Remember when Kenny had to whack the entire LaRoche family despite not being the Manager or GM?

This Season Is Looking Grim

The White Sox are off to a horrible 7-18 start with the Rays coming to town. And yes, it is only 25 games, but luckily MLB.com was nice enough to write an article last October showing how few teams that suck in the first 25 actually make it to the playoffs. The list is Wild Card era (1995-present) minus 2020. No team in that period has been as bad as the Sox and made the playoffs.

Division winners
9-16: 2015 Rangers (finished 88-74)
9-16: 2006 Twins (finished 96-66)
10-15: 2006 Padres (finished 88-74)
10-15: 2005 Yankees (finished 95-67)

Wild Card winners
8-17: 2001 Athletics (finished 102-60)
10-15: 2014 Pirates (finished 88-74)
10-15: 2009 Rockies (finished 92-70)
10-15: 2007 Rockies (finished 90-73)

I’ll be in the stands dreaming of the 2001 A’s, but in reality something’s gotta give. You can’t fire your coaches, they just got here! There are very few players left to cut and none that would send a shock to the team. If someone has got to go, it seems there is only one option.

But Will They Do It?

The easy thing to say is that Jerry is too loyal to do that. However, you have to ask who he is loyal to? Jerry brought in his friend to manage and they went to the playoffs in 2021. They failed to do so in 2022 and they parted ways with him. While I agree with that move, I’m sure Jerry didn’t love it. And now with the team spiraling under Rick’s guy, it might just be time for Jerry to let Rick know how dissatisfied he is with his choices.

See you at the park this weekend!

-Chorizy-E

FromThe108 Giveaway Central