The End of the Big Lie

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

The Big Lie is Over

              Seven years ago, on December 6^th, 2016, the White Sox traded the best pitcher who ever put a White Sox uniform on. This trade symbolized the end of an era of White Sox baseball. Rick Hahn stood up at the podium and began laying out his plans for the future of this organization. A team that had, as he put it, been in an endless loop of perpetual mediocrity had seen enough; it was time to push this organization into the 21^st century!

At that time, fans were all in. They understood that the operational baseline for which the organization had operated in the 1990’s and 2000’s would not produce the results this fanbase deserved. Not only were the White Sox going to invest in player development and prospects, but they were also going to analytically move the White Sox into the modern era of baseball. Rick Hahn was saying all the right things, and all of his trades after the Sale move were lauded as big wins for the White Sox. For the first time since the early 1990’s, the White Sox had a top 5 farm system. Additionally, they had acquired the number 1 prospect in baseball; at least, accordingly to publicly available prospect data (more on that later). “Pray for the league” fans said over and over.

              Fast forward a little over two years, it’s now February of 2019 and Kenny Williams has just put his shades down to hide his shock. The White Sox spent much of the 2+ year period between 2016 and 2018 talking about their unprecedented financial flexibility, and here was their chance to show the world this organization means business. Yet, as Sox fans we really should have known better. After the White Sox misread the market on Machado – misreading the market should be put on Rick Hahn’s tombstone – they came out to the fanbase and proclaimed not to worry, THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT! Afterall, they offered Manny the best package, he just didn’t want to prove it! If you want to play for this elite organization, you’ve gotta be willing to prove it!

              Like any person in an abusive relationship, Sox fans ignored all the signs of danger. When a red flag went up telling us nothing had truly changed about the organization (such as the Machado situation), we looked on the field and fell in love with the narrative of tools of Moncada, Robert, Eloy and Kopech. The propaganda machine was on overdrive, and the organization had pulled the wool over my eyes for the last time. Just like all competitive rebuilding teams with aspirations for a World Series title do, the White Sox brought in a manager who required a nap-time clause be written into his contract to accommodate the fact that Connie Mack was calling him old. LaRussa had no interest in developing players or learning the modern game. He’d been out of the game so long, the last time he was involved the White Sox were actually competitive. Yet again though, the Hahn bots were setting the narrative that this was all Jerry’s fault. It’s always Jerry’s fault.

              What’s the truth though? Rick Hahn is a lawyer who had an edge writing contracts and exploiting eager young players who feared failure and wanted to make sure their family was set for life. Hahn’s entire tenure and reputation still revolves around the idea that he got young players to sign team friendly deals; completely forgetting the fact that Hahn had to trade those deals just to try and compete again. Hahn wasn’t even capable of building around 3 players producing 15+ WAR for about 21 million a year, yet we thought he could tear an organization down and rebuild it from the ground up. What Hahn really did was buy Reinsdorf three years of spending zero dollars on the team. During their rebuild, they hoarded international money instead of spending it on top talent, they lacked any minor league unison in messaging and development between levels, and players who came here couldn’t help but notice the lack of technologically driven developmental tools. In fact, by the time the White Sox purchased and began utilizing things like Rapsodo machines at the major league level, other advanced organizations had already moved on to more advanced and effective tools of evaluation. The White Sox had spent five years building the body of a Ferrari and then placing it on an engine from a Civic, because for them presentation was and will always be more important than production.

              The big lie bought the organization a decade; a decade of savings for Jerry and “benefit of the doubt” for Hahn. While LaRussa certainly put a damper on the organization, he’s not the reason this team has become the worst team in baseball during the peak of their contention window. Rick Hahn was quoted earlier this season talking about how writers and the likes surround themselves with the worst fans – negative fans, as Rick called ‘em. The audacity of Rick and Kenny to call out this fanbase is truly unbelievable. The White Sox exist in the countries third largest TV market but they’re one of three teams in MLB history not to give out a 9 figure contract; joining the likes of the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland A’s. It can’t be ignored that the Sox payroll is certainly competitive, but if you buy 10,000 rings from the dollar store, they’re not going to turn into a singular $10,000 diamond. That said, Rick Hahn going to the outlet store and buys only the items that aren’t truly on sale. During the past few years, Rick Hahn has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on complete trash, topping it off with Andrew Benetendi who truly symbolizes the Hahn tenure as a baseball evaluator better than any other signing. Rick fell in love with Benetendi 8 years ago, and he was kicking himself for missing out on him from the draft. Despite the fact that Benetendi has regressed horribly since his age 23 season, never again eclipsing 3 WAR in a season, Hahn like his predecessor always gets his guy. It’s as if Hahn never changes his mind on a player despite endless amounts of data refuting his initial evaluation.

              At the end of it all, the White Sox fan and leadership relationship has never been more severed; never more broken. The trust that Hahn had unwarrantedly been granted by the fanbase was pissed down the drain alongside every other narrative and story this organization has sold since Reinsdorf took over. This time though? It has been even more obnoxious, more absurd and more offensive. At this point, Hahn has insinuated the fans are unreasonable; “no one takes this harder than me” Rick reiterates over and over again. While I am sure there is some truth to that, is this any different than Politicians standing in front of the country and saying “if only someone in power could do something about these issues?” No, because Rick Hahn made his bed and then blamed all the fans for how messy it is; for how uncomfortable, and cold it feels. White Sox fans are loyal to a fault, and they deserve so much better than the three stooges who stand up in front of them once or twice a year and blame them for the negative attitude around the team and the organization.

While people think the big lie is a lack of money spent, the lack of farm system development, or a lack of accountability… while those may all be true, that’s not the big lie. The big lie this organization has sold the fanbase is that they care as much as we do. Kenny is “in a bad place” right now he’ll tell you, and Rick has to watch games on a treadmill. The failure is killing them just like it’s killing us. If only they knew someone who could do something to stop this, they would! They promise!

While I’ll never stop being a White Sox fan; it’s engrained in my DNA… it runs through my veins. I’ve never watched less than I am today. I’ve never bought fewer tickets than I have this year and last. I’ve begun to prioritize other things in my life, because frankly why should I prioritize something so heavily that has never prioritized me? Baseball has been in my blood since I was a little kid and my love for the game has evolved along with each step of my life. For the first time ever, as a White Sox fan, this team has hampered that love. If Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams truly are in a bad place, and truly feel the same as the fans, then they should step down from their positions and end the big lie. Until then, Sox fans will be left longing for the days of perpetual mediocrity that Hahn promised to get us out of. To be fair though, that was one promise Rick Hahn did keep but sadly it was because they’re now just perpetually bad.

[Highland]

Excellent analysis. And right now the organization is at a real crisis point. It isn't because "fair-weather" fans are pissed. It is because long-time and loyal fans are pissed. I don't think the FO understands this one bit. They feel too entitled.

[Texsox]

7 minutes ago, Highland said:

Excellent analysis. And right now the organization is at a real crisis point. It isn't because "fair-weather" fans are pissed. It is because long-time and loyal fans are pissed. I don't think the FO understands this one bit. They feel too entitled.

I believe apathetic is closer to the truth than pissed and harder to overcome going forward. 

[wegner]

20 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

The Big Lie is Over

              Seven years ago, on December 6^th, 2016, the White Sox traded the best pitcher who ever put a White Sox uniform on. This trade symbolized the end of an era of White Sox baseball. Rick Hahn stood up at the podium and began laying out his plans for the future of this organization. A team that had, as he put it, been in an endless loop of perpetual mediocrity had seen enough; it was time to push this organization into the 21^st century!

At that time, fans were all in. They understood that the operational baseline for which the organization had operated in the 1990’s and 2000’s would not produce the results this fanbase deserved. Not only were the White Sox going to invest in player development and prospects, but they were also going to analytically move the White Sox into the modern era of baseball. Rick Hahn was saying all the right things, and all of his trades after the Sale move were lauded as big wins for the White Sox. For the first time since the early 1990’s, the White Sox had a top 5 farm system. Additionally, they had acquired the number 1 prospect in baseball; at least, accordingly to publicly available prospect data (more on that later). “Pray for the league” fans said over and over.

              Fast forward a little over two years, it’s now February of 2019 and Kenny Williams has just put his shades down to hide his shock. The White Sox spent much of the 2+ year period between 2016 and 2018 talking about their unprecedented financial flexibility, and here was their chance to show the world this organization means business. Yet, as Sox fans we really should have known better. After the White Sox misread the market on Machado – misreading the market should be put on Rick Hahn’s tombstone – they came out to the fanbase and proclaimed not to worry, THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT! Afterall, they offered Manny the best package, he just didn’t want to prove it! If you want to play for this elite organization, you’ve gotta be willing to prove it!

              Like any person in an abusive relationship, Sox fans ignored all the signs of danger. When a red flag went up telling us nothing had truly changed about the organization (such as the Machado situation), we looked on the field and fell in love with the narrative of tools of Moncada, Robert, Eloy and Kopech. The propaganda machine was on overdrive, and the organization had pulled the wool over my eyes for the last time. Just like all competitive rebuilding teams with aspirations for a World Series title do, the White Sox brought in a manager who required a nap-time clause be written into his contract to accommodate the fact that Connie Mack was calling him old. LaRussa had no interest in developing players or learning the modern game. He’d been out of the game so long, the last time he was involved the White Sox were actually competitive. Yet again though, the Hahn bots were setting the narrative that this was all Jerry’s fault. It’s always Jerry’s fault.

              What’s the truth though? Rick Hahn is a lawyer who had an edge writing contracts and exploiting eager young players who feared failure and wanted to make sure their family was set for life. Hahn’s entire tenure and reputation still revolves around the idea that he got young players to sign team friendly deals; completely forgetting the fact that Hahn had to trade those deals just to try and compete again. Hahn wasn’t even capable of building around 3 players producing 15+ WAR for about 21 million a year, yet we thought he could tear an organization down and rebuild it from the ground up. What Hahn really did was buy Reinsdorf three years of spending zero dollars on the team. During their rebuild, they hoarded international money instead of spending it on top talent, they lacked any minor league unison in messaging and development between levels, and players who came here couldn’t help but notice the lack of technologically driven developmental tools. In fact, by the time the White Sox purchased and began utilizing things like Rapsodo machines at the major league level, other advanced organizations had already moved on to more advanced and effective tools of evaluation. The White Sox had spent five years building the body of a Ferrari and then placing it on an engine from a Civic, because for them presentation was and will always be more important than production.

              The big lie bought the organization a decade; a decade of savings for Jerry and “benefit of the doubt” for Hahn. While LaRussa certainly put a damper on the organization, he’s not the reason this team has become the worst team in baseball during the peak of their contention window. Rick Hahn was quoted earlier this season talking about how writers and the likes surround themselves with the worst fans – negative fans, as Rick called ‘em. The audacity of Rick and Kenny to call out this fanbase is truly unbelievable. The White Sox exist in the countries third largest TV market but they’re one of three teams in MLB history not to give out a 9 figure contract; joining the likes of the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland A’s. It can’t be ignored that the Sox payroll is certainly competitive, but if you buy 10,000 rings from the dollar store, they’re not going to turn into a singular $10,000 diamond. That said, Rick Hahn going to the outlet store and buys only the items that aren’t truly on sale. During the past few years, Rick Hahn has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on complete trash, topping it off with Andrew Benetendi who truly symbolizes the Hahn tenure as a baseball evaluator better than any other signing. Rick fell in love with Benetendi 8 years ago, and he was kicking himself for missing out on him from the draft. Despite the fact that Benetendi has regressed horribly since his age 23 season, never again eclipsing 3 WAR in a season, Hahn like his predecessor always gets his guy. It’s as if Hahn never changes his mind on a player despite endless amounts of data refuting his initial evaluation.

              At the end of it all, the White Sox fan and leadership relationship has never been more severed; never more broken. The trust that Hahn had unwarrantedly been granted by the fanbase was pissed down the drain alongside every other narrative and story this organization has sold since Reinsdorf took over. This time though? It has been even more obnoxious, more absurd and more offensive. At this point, Hahn has insinuated the fans are unreasonable; “no one takes this harder than me” Rick reiterates over and over again. While I am sure there is some truth to that, is this any different than Politicians standing in front of the country and saying “if only someone in power could do something about these issues?” No, because Rick Hahn made his bed and then blamed all the fans for how messy it is; for how uncomfortable, and cold it feels. White Sox fans are loyal to a fault, and they deserve so much better than the three stooges who stand up in front of them once or twice a year and blame them for the negative attitude around the team and the organization.

While people think the big lie is a lack of money spent, the lack of farm system development, or a lack of accountability… while those may all be true, that’s not the big lie. The big lie this organization has sold the fanbase is that they care as much as we do. Kenny is “in a bad place” right now he’ll tell you, and Rick has to watch games on a treadmill. The failure is killing them just like it’s killing us. If only they knew someone who could do something to stop this, they would! They promise!

While I’ll never stop being a White Sox fan; it’s engrained in my DNA… it runs through my veins. I’ve never watched less than I am today. I’ve never bought fewer tickets than I have this year and last. I’ve begun to prioritize other things in my life, because frankly why should I prioritize something so heavily that has never prioritized me? Baseball has been in my blood since I was a little kid and my love for the game has evolved along with each step of my life. For the first time ever, as a White Sox fan, this team has hampered that love. If Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams truly are in a bad place, and truly feel the same as the fans, then they should step down from their positions and end the big lie. Until then, Sox fans will be left longing for the days of perpetual mediocrity that Hahn promised to get us out of. To be fair though, that was one promise Rick Hahn did keep but sadly it was because they’re now just perpetually bad.

Thank you, ray. It is always great to read your takes. Knowledgable and Passionate....2 traits in a Sox fan that this front office obviously hates.  

[caulfield12]

Is Hahn's job safe?

"This is a results-based business and the fact of the matter is that in the 10 full seasons since Rick Hahn was promoted to GM, the White Sox have made the postseason just twice, and one of the two was the 60-game pandemic season in 2020. Hahn guided the ChiSox through their firesale a few years ago (Chris Sale, José Quintana, etc.) and the result is this. It's not great.

Another postseason-less season could lead to a front office change on the South Side, particularly if the White Sox finish well below .500. If they fall a game or two short of the postseason, then maybe Hahn is safe. But things are approaching the point where someone will be scapegoated, and it's unlikely to be first year manager Pedro Grifol. It seems then that Hahn could be jeopardy if the ChiSox continue this slow start and again finish well short of expectations."

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/three-reasons-why-white-sox-have-been-one-of-mlbs-worst-teams-and-two-big-questions-about-chicagos-future/

Edited April 27, 2023 by caulfield12

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

13 minutes ago, wegner said:

Thank you, ray. It is always great to read your takes. Knowledgable and Passionate....2 traits in a Sox fan that this front office obviously hates.  

It's been tough! 

I watch more baseball played by other teams these days. Feel like raising my kid a Sox fan could constitute child abuse.

I don't come here much because while I agree with the negativity 100%, I hate to be surrounded by it. It's why I watch less too. I'm fine being bad, we've been bad before and I find the joy in things still. This team though... this leadership. It's just different. Stoney telling fans to relax for years and then telling Lance Lynn to eat more salads this year. Jeeezus

[Tony]

Very well put Ray

[wegner]

10 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It's been tough! 

I watch more baseball played by other teams these days. Feel like raising my kid a Sox fan could constitute child abuse.

I don't come here much because while I agree with the negativity 100%, I hate to be surrounded by it. It's why I watch less too. I'm fine being bad, we've been bad before and I find the joy in things still. This team though... this leadership. It's just different. Stoney telling fans to relax for years and then telling Lance Lynn to eat more salads this year. Jeeezus

I come here often for the comic relief...there are many posters here with a great sense of humor.  But as this season drones on, it will be harder and harder to really care at all. Growing up close enough to the ballpark to hear the fireworks when they hit a home run, it is just in my blood so in many ways I am a captive audience.  But I watch very little of the games these days because they are so boring....and they won't stop with that cursed Jingle ?

[nitetrain8601]

I don't think I've ever turned on a GM quicker. Even with GarPax, they built good will with the work they did earlier in their careers and took the Bulls out of some very dark days. You could also see that they were decent amateur evaluators. 

Hahn supposedly is great at contracts and all I've seen him do is pay for players that there really is no competition for, and blow cash that way. The Machado thing was the biggest eye opener. Had a legit stud, HOF player willing to come here, and he says stupid crap like "He's going to have to prove it". 

All of his moves outside of Quintana's trade, have been disastrous. Resigning Leury to a contract extension, wasting so much money on a bad bullpen, the Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso crap, and blaming media for interviewing the wrong fans. The only people who are going to ball games are people who have been gifted seats, already had a planned outing there, or simply those who have nothing to do.

Shame on Jerry for letting this continue. He won't fire them, especially midseason, so what's his end game here? He's already stated he wants his family to sell the Sox when he's gone. So why not just sell them now?

No one, not your die hards, not your negative fans, nor the most positive fans are rooting for the White Sox. And that's the problem. They've created such disdain that we're all apathetic to it all. There is nothing to root for, not until there's an entire overhaul of the FO. I don't even want Suzy who's been in the ticketing department for 15 years to still be there (Sorry Suzy), for fear of the remnants of bad ashes to be on her. This whole thing is rotten to the core. Unfortunately, the White Sox have made themselves so irrelevant, they won't be called out by the national media, which is seemingly the only time JR actually does things.

[JoshPR]

That was a good write up. Just shows how Reinsdorf has cared diddley squat about the fans and team. Shows the incompetence and shows how much an ass kisser Hahn and Kenny are

[JoshPR]

7 minutes ago, nitetrain8601 said:

I don't think I've ever turned on a GM quicker. Even with GarPax, they built good will with the work they did earlier in their careers and took the Bulls out of some very dark days. You could also see that they were decent amateur evaluators. 

Hahn supposedly is great at contracts and all I've seen him do is pay for players that there really is no competition for, and blow cash that way. The Machado thing was the biggest eye opener. Had a legit stud, HOF player willing to come here, and he says stupid crap like "He's going to have to prove it". 

All of his moves outside of Quintana's trade, have been disastrous. Resigning Leury to a contract extension, wasting so much money on a bad bullpen, the Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso crap, and blaming media for interviewing the wrong fans. The only people who are going to ball games are people who have been gifted seats, already had a planned outing there, or simply those who have nothing to do.

Shame on Jerry for letting this continue. He won't fire them, especially midseason, so what's his end game here? He's already stated he wants his family to sell the Sox when he's gone. So why not just sell them now?

No one, not your die hards, not your negative fans, nor the most positive fans are rooting for the White Sox. And that's the problem. They've created such disdain that we're all apathetic to it all. There is nothing to root for, not until there's an entire overhaul of the FO. I don't even want Suzy who's been in the ticketing department for 15 years to still be there (Sorry Suzy), for fear of the remnants of bad ashes to be on her. This whole thing is rotten to the core. Unfortunately, the White Sox have made themselves so irrelevant, they won't be called out by the national media, which is seemingly the only time JR actually does things.

I can't stand the site of Hahn . his face says so much on how much a Fucking Cock he is

[4uckOffCommieScum]

Well Chris Sale obviously wasn’t the best pitcher to ever put on a Sox uniform so you lost me from the start 

[2Deep]

1 hour ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

The Big Lie is Over

              Seven years ago, on December 6^th, 2016, the White Sox traded the best pitcher who ever put a White Sox uniform on. This trade symbolized the end of an era of White Sox baseball. Rick Hahn stood up at the podium and began laying out his plans for the future of this organization. A team that had, as he put it, been in an endless loop of perpetual mediocrity had seen enough; it was time to push this organization into the 21^st century!

At that time, fans were all in. They understood that the operational baseline for which the organization had operated in the 1990’s and 2000’s would not produce the results this fanbase deserved. Not only were the White Sox going to invest in player development and prospects, but they were also going to analytically move the White Sox into the modern era of baseball. Rick Hahn was saying all the right things, and all of his trades after the Sale move were lauded as big wins for the White Sox. For the first time since the early 1990’s, the White Sox had a top 5 farm system. Additionally, they had acquired the number 1 prospect in baseball; at least, accordingly to publicly available prospect data (more on that later). “Pray for the league” fans said over and over.

              Fast forward a little over two years, it’s now February of 2019 and Kenny Williams has just put his shades down to hide his shock. The White Sox spent much of the 2+ year period between 2016 and 2018 talking about their unprecedented financial flexibility, and here was their chance to show the world this organization means business. Yet, as Sox fans we really should have known better. After the White Sox misread the market on Machado – misreading the market should be put on Rick Hahn’s tombstone – they came out to the fanbase and proclaimed not to worry, THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT! Afterall, they offered Manny the best package, he just didn’t want to prove it! If you want to play for this elite organization, you’ve gotta be willing to prove it!

              Like any person in an abusive relationship, Sox fans ignored all the signs of danger. When a red flag went up telling us nothing had truly changed about the organization (such as the Machado situation), we looked on the field and fell in love with the narrative of tools of Moncada, Robert, Eloy and Kopech. The propaganda machine was on overdrive, and the organization had pulled the wool over my eyes for the last time. Just like all competitive rebuilding teams with aspirations for a World Series title do, the White Sox brought in a manager who required a nap-time clause be written into his contract to accommodate the fact that Connie Mack was calling him old. LaRussa had no interest in developing players or learning the modern game. He’d been out of the game so long, the last time he was involved the White Sox were actually competitive. Yet again though, the Hahn bots were setting the narrative that this was all Jerry’s fault. It’s always Jerry’s fault.

              What’s the truth though? Rick Hahn is a lawyer who had an edge writing contracts and exploiting eager young players who feared failure and wanted to make sure their family was set for life. Hahn’s entire tenure and reputation still revolves around the idea that he got young players to sign team friendly deals; completely forgetting the fact that Hahn had to trade those deals just to try and compete again. Hahn wasn’t even capable of building around 3 players producing 15+ WAR for about 21 million a year, yet we thought he could tear an organization down and rebuild it from the ground up. What Hahn really did was buy Reinsdorf three years of spending zero dollars on the team. During their rebuild, they hoarded international money instead of spending it on top talent, they lacked any minor league unison in messaging and development between levels, and players who came here couldn’t help but notice the lack of technologically driven developmental tools. In fact, by the time the White Sox purchased and began utilizing things like Rapsodo machines at the major league level, other advanced organizations had already moved on to more advanced and effective tools of evaluation. The White Sox had spent five years building the body of a Ferrari and then placing it on an engine from a Civic, because for them presentation was and will always be more important than production.

              The big lie bought the organization a decade; a decade of savings for Jerry and “benefit of the doubt” for Hahn. While LaRussa certainly put a damper on the organization, he’s not the reason this team has become the worst team in baseball during the peak of their contention window. Rick Hahn was quoted earlier this season talking about how writers and the likes surround themselves with the worst fans – negative fans, as Rick called ‘em. The audacity of Rick and Kenny to call out this fanbase is truly unbelievable. The White Sox exist in the countries third largest TV market but they’re one of three teams in MLB history not to give out a 9 figure contract; joining the likes of the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland A’s. It can’t be ignored that the Sox payroll is certainly competitive, but if you buy 10,000 rings from the dollar store, they’re not going to turn into a singular $10,000 diamond. That said, Rick Hahn going to the outlet store and buys only the items that aren’t truly on sale. During the past few years, Rick Hahn has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on complete trash, topping it off with Andrew Benetendi who truly symbolizes the Hahn tenure as a baseball evaluator better than any other signing. Rick fell in love with Benetendi 8 years ago, and he was kicking himself for missing out on him from the draft. Despite the fact that Benetendi has regressed horribly since his age 23 season, never again eclipsing 3 WAR in a season, Hahn like his predecessor always gets his guy. It’s as if Hahn never changes his mind on a player despite endless amounts of data refuting his initial evaluation.

              At the end of it all, the White Sox fan and leadership relationship has never been more severed; never more broken. The trust that Hahn had unwarrantedly been granted by the fanbase was pissed down the drain alongside every other narrative and story this organization has sold since Reinsdorf took over. This time though? It has been even more obnoxious, more absurd and more offensive. At this point, Hahn has insinuated the fans are unreasonable; “no one takes this harder than me” Rick reiterates over and over again. While I am sure there is some truth to that, is this any different than Politicians standing in front of the country and saying “if only someone in power could do something about these issues?” No, because Rick Hahn made his bed and then blamed all the fans for how messy it is; for how uncomfortable, and cold it feels. White Sox fans are loyal to a fault, and they deserve so much better than the three stooges who stand up in front of them once or twice a year and blame them for the negative attitude around the team and the organization.

While people think the big lie is a lack of money spent, the lack of farm system development, or a lack of accountability… while those may all be true, that’s not the big lie. The big lie this organization has sold the fanbase is that they care as much as we do. Kenny is “in a bad place” right now he’ll tell you, and Rick has to watch games on a treadmill. The failure is killing them just like it’s killing us. If only they knew someone who could do something to stop this, they would! They promise!

While I’ll never stop being a White Sox fan; it’s engrained in my DNA… it runs through my veins. I’ve never watched less than I am today. I’ve never bought fewer tickets than I have this year and last. I’ve begun to prioritize other things in my life, because frankly why should I prioritize something so heavily that has never prioritized me? Baseball has been in my blood since I was a little kid and my love for the game has evolved along with each step of my life. For the first time ever, as a White Sox fan, this team has hampered that love. If Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams truly are in a bad place, and truly feel the same as the fans, then they should step down from their positions and end the big lie. Until then, Sox fans will be left longing for the days of perpetual mediocrity that Hahn promised to get us out of. To be fair though, that was one promise Rick Hahn did keep but sadly it was because they’re now just perpetually bad.

Thank you Ray!

You described how I feel every day as a White Sox fan.

[Dick Allen]

I agree with about 99% of this. Especially at the end. If your job is making you physically ill, and not pleasant to be around, every career counselor would tell you to find another position.

We need a rogue beat writer today to ask Hahn how much of this failure he pins on himself, and don't let him get away with a non answer.

[Dick Allen]

33 minutes ago, nitetrain8601 said:

I don't think I've ever turned on a GM quicker. Even with GarPax, they built good will with the work they did earlier in their careers and took the Bulls out of some very dark days. You could also see that they were decent amateur evaluators. 

Hahn supposedly is great at contracts and all I've seen him do is pay for players that there really is no competition for, and blow cash that way. The Machado thing was the biggest eye opener. Had a legit stud, HOF player willing to come here, and he says stupid crap like "He's going to have to prove it". 

All of his moves outside of Quintana's trade, have been disastrous. Resigning Leury to a contract extension, wasting so much money on a bad bullpen, the Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso crap, and blaming media for interviewing the wrong fans. The only people who are going to ball games are people who have been gifted seats, already had a planned outing there, or simply those who have nothing to do.

Shame on Jerry for letting this continue. He won't fire them, especially midseason, so what's his end game here? He's already stated he wants his family to sell the Sox when he's gone. So why not just sell them now?

No one, not your die hards, not your negative fans, nor the most positive fans are rooting for the White Sox. And that's the problem. They've created such disdain that we're all apathetic to it all. There is nothing to root for, not until there's an entire overhaul of the FO. I don't even want Suzy who's been in the ticketing department for 15 years to still be there (Sorry Suzy), for fear of the remnants of bad ashes to be on her. This whole thing is rotten to the core. Unfortunately, the White Sox have made themselves so irrelevant, they won't be called out by the national media, which is seemingly the only time JR actually does things.

Not only did he not land Machado, he blew 8 figures on his worthless friends. He spend $15 million on Leury Garcia. I know one thing, if Rick was ever homeless, Leury's family would take care of him.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Dick Allen

[2Deep]

7 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I agree with about 99% of this. Especially at the end. If your job is making you physically ill, and not pleasant to be around, every career counselor would tell you to find another position.

We need a rogue beat writer today to ask Hahn how much of this failure he pins on himself, and don't let him get away with a non answer.

None of them have the balls to ask real questions 

[Bob Sacamano]

8 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Not only did he not land Machado, he blew 8 figures on his worthless friends. He spend $15 million on Leury Garcia. I know one thing, if Rick was ever homeless, Leury's family would take care of him.

Looking back on it, it's insane their plan was for the guys they traded for and drafted and signed from Cuba to just all be stars. Instead of spending on other star players while that core was cheap. No reason they shouldn't have landed Machado or the even better fit Harper.

[JoshPR]

35 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Looking back on it, it's insane their plan was for the guys they traded for and drafted and signed from Cuba to just all be stars. Instead of spending on other star players while that core was cheap. No reason they shouldn't have landed Machado or the even better fit Harper.

Cause the machado thing was just a smoke screen, to say hey we tried and got a seat at the table but ol jerry was never gonna fork out that much dough. That's why they didn't even try Harper. Hahn thinks he can fool everybody he things fans are stupid. That's what I can't stand about that mother fucker.

[The Kids Can Play]

Excellent post and you really nailed it! We all as Sox fans feel the same pain as you described.

I know it would never happen, but it's sad and tragic that Jerry isn't forced to read all these comments, or required to sit at a town hall meeting and let angry loyal and hurt Sox fans vent to him.

[Snopek]

36 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Looking back on it, it's insane their plan was for the guys they traded for and drafted and signed from Cuba to just all be stars. Instead of spending on other star players while that core was cheap. No reason they shouldn't have landed Machado or the even better fit Harper.

It's insane, but consistent with their approach to everything. Just be stars. Just stay healthy. Just put DH's in the outfield and see what happens. Basically put in minimal effort then hope everything magically falls into place. All of their "plans" come off as some wack fan fiction nonsense.

[almagest]

I'm at the point where I can't even watch games. I'll check in if they get a couple base runners and that's about it. I mostly watch other teams to get my baseball fix. The last time this happened was the early stages of the rebuild, but at that point there was at least hope.

[ron883]

Ray ray heard Berto's call and is trying to steal his thunder on soxtalk

[South Side Fireworks Man]

When the White Sox didn't make Bryce Harper their number one FA priority and instead tried to influence Machado by signing Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso, the rebuild was doomed to fail.  

Hahn put together a very flawed young core, then failed to augment that core with elite FA talent, instead spending the money on mediocre middle relievers and overrated utility players.

[4uckOffCommieScum]

Signing Alonso and Jay was a greater indication of incompetence than failing to sign Machado imo. I prefer the Rays approach of putting together the strongest forty man possible rather than paying for a single superstar player. Considering the construction of the team, targeting Machado over Harper was stupid as well

[Lip Man 1]

3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Is Hahn's job safe?

"This is a results-based business and the fact of the matter is that in the 10 full seasons since Rick Hahn was promoted to GM, the White Sox have made the postseason just twice, and one of the two was the 60-game pandemic season in 2020. Hahn guided the ChiSox through their firesale a few years ago (Chris Sale, José Quintana, etc.) and the result is this. It's not great.

Another postseason-less season could lead to a front office change on the South Side, particularly if the White Sox finish well below .500. If they fall a game or two short of the postseason, then maybe Hahn is safe. But things are approaching the point where someone will be scapegoated, and it's unlikely to be first year manager Pedro Grifol. It seems then that Hahn could be jeopardy if the ChiSox continue this slow start and again finish well short of expectations."

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/three-reasons-why-white-sox-have-been-one-of-mlbs-worst-teams-and-two-big-questions-about-chicagos-future/

The writer doesn't know JR very well does he?