Comment on this storyComment
As his team stumbled through another disappointing season in a shockingly disheartening decade, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf gutted his front office on Tuesday. The White Sox, who start the day 49-76 and are irrelevant in one of baseball’s weakest divisions, announced the firing of executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn, both of whom have been with the franchise for more than two decades were active.
“This is an incredibly difficult decision for me because they are both talented individuals with long-term relationships in the White Sox,” said Reinsdorf said in a statement. “Ken is like a son to me and I will always consider him a member of my family. I want to personally thank Ken and Rick for everything they did for the Chicago White Sox, winning the 2005 World Series and reaching the postseason multiple times during their tenure.”
Williams, a former White Sox player, joined the Chicago front office in 1992 as a scout. He was in his 11th season in his current role, after a dozen as general manager; Throughout his tenure, he was one of baseball’s most prominent black executives. Hahn, who joined the White Sox in 2000, was promoted to general manager in 2012; Only New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman, St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak and Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo have been with their teams longer than he has.
Wander Franco has been placed on leave due to MLB investigation
But since the 2005 title that ended an 88-year losing streak, the franchise has only made three playoff appearances. Two of these have taken place over the past four seasons, which have produced promising young players including Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada, Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jiménez, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet. But the White Sox missed what once seemed like a wide open window, winning the struggling American League Central just once since 2009 and not progressing past the divisional series since their 2005 championship.
This season was particularly disappointing because it was supposed to be a fresh start. After playing through two difficult seasons under already-established Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, the White Sox hired Pedro Grifol from the Kansas City Royals and spoke about the need to improve their clubhouse culture in order to help a talented group thrive to help. That wasn’t the case, then Williams and Hahn dropped the roster during a sell-off at the close of trading.
“Ultimately, the well-known cliché that professional sports are results-oriented is correct,” Reinsdorf said in his statement. “While we celebrated success as an organization and entered the competitive window of this rebuild with optimism, this year has proven to be very disappointing for all of us in many ways. This has led me to the conclusion that the best decision for the future of the organization is to change the leadership of our baseball division.”
Decisions like signing La Russa, who hadn’t made it in a decade, didn’t sit well with a young squad. Decisions like signing La Russa despite knowing he’d recently been arrested for drunk driving and pitcher Mike Clevinger’s prosecution this offseason despite Hahn admitting “maturity issues” prompted questions about off-field standards . And that year, several eliminated players raised concerns about the organization’s culture. Former substitute Keynan Middleton, for example, told ESPN after Chicago traded him to the Yankees that the White Sox had “no rules” and “no consequences.”
Clubhouse concerns like these usually fall to the manager, but Grifol was not involved in Tuesday’s cleanup. Reinsdorf, 87, said he plans to have a new head of baseball operations shortly. His statement said the White Sox hope to have a “decision maker to lead the baseball operations department” by the end of the season.
Source : www.washingtonpost.com