Rick Hahn addresses The Weekend

[South Side Hit Men]

Not sure if there is anything else, but these are the 12 plus minutes aired at the 4:20 PM segment on 670. If I come across any additional statements, I will add to this thread.

Here are Rick Hahn's comments this afternoon:

Preamble

After we spoke at the deadline, I actually didn't anticipate speaking again so soon, but obviously over the past 48 hours there have been a few things that require direct responses.

Cleveland

First lets talk about the incident over the weekend in Cleveland.. Obviously unfortunate, you never want to see anything like that unfold on a baseball field. We were fortunate nobody was injured on either side, and obviously understand the Commissioner's Office role in doling out discipline. At this time we will support the process and let it unfold before seeing what is meted out. I will say, which coincidently goes into the second topic of  leadership and clubhouse culture. You did see a team on Saturday and Sunday rally around each other. You saw examples of leadership such as that from Andrew Vaughn in particular on the field. Michael Kopech playing peacemaker in that melee, and a team that faced adversity as a unit and had delivered two victories that hopefully is something to build upon.

Team Culture

Obviously late last night, early this morning, there were reports from a former player criticizing some elements of our culture. I will get at that in a moment, those specific comments, but first I think it's important to note that for the past month you've heard fairly directly from both Pedro and me and others, that we realize we have, we had a bit of a culture problem in this clubhouse. That we didn't have a group that was pulling in the same direction, that was necessarily supporting each other or going about their business the way we wanted this team to go about it.

It was something we were upfront about for the last several weeks, something we feel we've been in the process of addressing, both at the trade deadline as well as since. and it's something we expect we will continue to improve over the coming weeks. As I mentioned at the deadline, it was something that was a priority. In Cleveland, there was already a team meeting where many people spoke on the topic in the club, or on the club, to each other about who we want to be going forward and how we are going to go about being that on and off the field. So again, I understand why this report is out there, but frankly a lot of this stuff is old news in terms of some of the potential issues in that clubhouse and something that we already started the effort to address.

Middleton

Frankly the first rule of the clubhouse is what goes on in the clubhouse is supposed to stay there. I'm a big believer in that tenant. However, when an individual player casts aspersions and puts his name on it, I feel a responsibility to respond. Quite frankly, it's a little bit ironic that Keynan is the one saying this because my last conversation with him face to face was a week ago in this clubhouse, where he sought me out to apologize for his own professional behavior. Unprofessional behavior that Pedro had called him out on and had an individual meeting with him about and Keynan wanted to apologize for. I told him at the time, I figured that was a one off and something that anyone needed to get into any greater detail of, and he shared that he understood there was a trade deadline coming up and that if we moved him he would be very interested in returning to us as a free agent. So, for a number of reasons, the sanctity of the clubhouse, his own personal experience here as well as what he expressed to me as his future desires, I was surprised to see the report this morning. 

As for the content of the report, unfortunately I mentioned to you a few weeks ago that there's probably going to be some palace intrigue around here and you had to be careful about sourcing and what kind of information was out there, and who was saying what and not getting both sides. As for the specifics he laid out there, I'll go one by one by them and explain why each of them are off. 

1. Sleeping Players: At no time over the course of the year has there been a reliever sleeping in the bullpen, during a game. That's just wrong. We do have a player, a position player, who has fairly serious sleep issues. and as part of our sports performance program of trying to address that issue, he has been given permission and in fact encouraged to sleep in the clubhouse at times. Earlier in the season, a couple of our veteran players approached me complaining about such behavior. To their credit, they thought they were trying to help the environment, and when I explained to them the background of the player and why we were doing that, they relented and understood. Perhaps that's something that got lost in translation in Keynan's report, but at no point have we had a player sleeping in the bullpen.
2. Missing Practice: Young player missed infield practice and there were no repercussions. We did have a young player miss infield practice and for the next three days he was out there doing infield practice as extra work, as a means of breaking through and holding him accountable for missing the practice and showing the importance of being there.
3. Meeting where only pitchers spoke: The meeting in Toronto where only pitchers spoke, that's not true. Andrew Benintendi spoke during that meeting, it was again something that was supposed to stay in the clubhouse, but once you open the door and subject us to criticism, we're going to be a little more candid about it.

So again, no one in this organization for the last several weeks has run from these, the fact that we had cultural issues and that we needed to improve the leadership in that room. We're going to continue to strive to get better in that area, but one thing we're not going to do is stand idly by while false reports are put out there about the character of the men that remain in that room.

Bruce Levine: Rick, is it fair to ask if you were addressing issues in May, June, and July, and before the trading deadline, the cultural issues on your ballclub? Is it fair to ask? 

You can ask me anything you want, you know that. It was absolutely a subject of frequent conversation between Pedro and players , between myself and players, Kenny had various conversations with various players. We knew where we were headed. Look, as I mentioned at some point in one of our recent scrums, you learn a lot about people's character during times of adversity, and unfortunately we got off to a retched start, and the way the room responded was not the way we had hoped. We realized we had some issues that needed to be addressed. Again, we started that process over the last several weeks and it's an area we expect to continue to improve on. 

Follow up question from someone about Kenyan's statement there no rules, no accountability, would you (Rick) dispute this? 100%

Even if you have articulated before, whatever was said, can you do it now? What is the culture?

People who are, again, the people who have been here around the room regularly has heard this repeatedly. The kind of culture we want to create is one that not only has accountability but has people all pulling the same direction. People that are willing to understand we have players from different backgrounds, we have players with different needs, we have players with different strengths and some weaknesses, and that we are all trying to pull the same direction and getting the best out of them all in terms of winning ballgames. Anyone who tries to sort (?) that effort, or makes it more about me than the team, meaning more about the individual as opposed to the team, doesn't fit for what we are trying to do. And those are the type of players we prioritize in the draft, that's what we preach in player development, and that's what is going to be a focus going forward and continue to be a focus on player acquisition going forward. 

So where are the White Sox on that? We are a work in progress. We've had a problem, we addressed a good portion of it, and we got to continue to do it.

Where have you gone wrong, then, in trying to create a cohesive roster and clubhouse? Again, I think partial, part of the element in this is the adversity. I mean, when we were rolling in 2021, we had some issues. We had some clubhouse issues, we had some disputes along the way in '21, but things were going so well, we were able to overcome them. When we, my mistake is if we are going to put one or any on me if you like, is that I perhaps overestimated the strength in that room to deal with adversity. Again, we got off to a retched start and things snowballed from there. I thought we had the strength and the presence to pull ourselves out from under it and keep, you know, instead of throwing stones like pull together and bond over the adversity, us against the world kind of thing, and it didn't happen. 

Has that been, I'm being melodramatic, a great disappointment for you, the disappointment in your career? Look, I've made no secret about the level of disappointment , not just for myself but throughout this organization about this past season. You know I think somebody asked me about, Vinnie asked me about this about a month ago in terms of ranking the disappointments I rather just wait until the end of the year. You know, again we had two nice wins over the weekend and we are going to try to beat the Yankees tonight. I've got 26 guys and a bunch of coaches in there that hopefully their focus is strictly on beating the Yankees. I don't want to be out here talking about, you know future developments or disappointment or macro themes when frankly let'em win a ballgame. Let'em put on a good show and win a ballgame tonight.

There were reports that Grandal slapped Tim Anderson? Yeah, I heard Grandal denied that happening, and he told you it didn't happen. Right? Yeah. That's accurate. You're not suggesting he lied to you, I hope?

How concerned are you right now about (The Score cut it off - so not sure if this was a general question, or specific toward Tim) mental illness? Um, sigh, I worry about all of them. Look, that's a serious topic for anybody, any player who is dealing with being under the spotlight or dealing with underachievement or dealing with disappointment, that's a serious consideration for anyone. You see it leaguewide, I think this, I mean obviously this is the first year the league was permitting IL placement for mental health concerns which shows the progress we've made as a league to understanding the importance of helping players through issues like that. So it's real for everyone out there, it's not easy when there's a third deck out there, and you got everyone on twitter, or whatever that cesspool is called now, obviously giving you feedback instantaneously on your performance. It's not am easy way to live your life, so I'm glad that mental health is something that the league now acknowledges, that we're concerned about it in that room, and that you as a report acknowledge is a legitimate concern for people.

How is the evolution of the culture of guys that were impacted by multiple managerial changes in your regime? Um, well look, let's talk strictly about Pedro's regime, cause that's the most important one right now, that's the one that has the most impact on where we are and we're moving forward. I do think it takes a little bit of time for any manager, whether it's their first job, or new to the organization, to implement the culture that they want. I know early on, especially being a very veteran club, a club that had some success together, that Pedro early on wanted to observe and get to know and sort of understand what the culture was before he started putting his thumbprints all over it. Again, toward the end of Spring and early in the season, we started having conversations about areas where we needed to get better and that again over the last several weeks and months have been a part of the effort he has undertaken to get us better.

[caulfield12]

Hahn is never going to get it.

You talk about the culture of keeping things in the clubhouse and then proceed to air out dirty laundry with Middleton.

The #1 enemy of the White a Sox is not social media cesspools...it's the cesspool they allowed to thrive under the last three coaches without addressing it until it was far too late.

It's also the job of the manager and GM to pull his team out of wretched starts instead of watching them snowball.

[Lip Man 1]

Thank you for doing this!

[Chick Mercedes]

 

first I think it's important to note that for the past month you've heard fairly directly from both Pedro and me and others, that we realize we have, we had a bit of a culture problem in this clubhouse. That we didn't have a group that was pulling in the same direction, that was necessarily supporting each other or going about their business the way we wanted this team to go about it.

It was something we were upfront about for the last several weeks, something we feel we've been in the process of addressing, both at the trade deadline as well as since. and it's something we expect we will continue to improve over the coming weeks. As I mentioned at the deadline, it was something that was a priority.

 

umm, wut

[Texsox]

If the team was even close to being successful all of his statements could be accepted on face value. But this is such a s%*# show it's much easier to believe it's lies and half truths.

[South Side Hit Men]

@Chick Mercedes

I believe Hahn mentioned this once at the Fourth of July 'scrum", where most people were celebrating family and other things rather than pay attention to Sox baseball. And Pedro said he was holding players accountable a few times over the past month, that there would be changes and so forth just before the deadline.

[South Side Hit Men]

1 minute ago, Texsox said:

If the team was even close to being successful all of his statements could be accepted on face value. But this is such a s%*# show it's much easier to believe it's lies and half truths.

I documented it not to give credence to it, but rather to refute future untrue statements and gaslighting that will occur over the next several months and into Spring Training in the event the three amigos (KW, RH and PG) remain in place, which is likely unless Jerry takes a dirt nap in the bullpen.

[Lip Man 1]

For what its worth I just heard back from a longtime source who has had connections with the White Sox for decades in a professional position. They know what has been going on:

"Really is a mess.

 

The powers that be continue to put a spin on it that they have been aware of the issues. That may be true but they continue to do nothing about it.

 

The incompetency is unreal, yet they continue to have jobs.

 

Really sad and I feel for a handful of people who are still there and have to deal with it. Front office morale is brutal. They continue to nickel and dime people and I know of a good number of very loyal fans that are done with their season tickets. Truly a shame." 

 

 

[flavum]

Next I would like him to address The Weeknd. 

[2Deep]

27 minutes ago, Texsox said:

If the team was even close to being successful all of his statements could be accepted on face value. But this is such a s%*# show it's much easier to believe it's lies and half truths.

100%

[nrockway]

I stopped reading when Hahn referred to Middleton as "a former player." What a punk thing to say, it sounds like Human Resources prepares everything he says to the media. He sounds like he's a spurned ex-girlfriend or something. At least call him an idiot and refer to him by name. Anyone with two brain cells know how bad the culture is within this organization is, Middleton didn't need to say anything and the only other person to blame above Hahn can't be fired.

 

OK I finished reading (I wonder which player was given permission to nap ?) and I frankly wonder how Hahn can keep his job after the season. He actually responded in line to pretty much each critique which I find hysterical. Even if they are "reasonable" explanations, the fact that pretty much every former employee of the White Sox has made it known that there are workplace issues relative to other organizations, it's telling. It's obvious when you "read into" their body language and how they communicate on the field. It's obvious when everyone on the team underperforms relative to their average level. There are so many issues with this team that can't be reasonably explained through quantifiable means which to me suggests there's a serious problem with the qualifiable things like 'culture' or 'chemistry.' Even TA said in an interview recently that, basically, he missed La Russa and there's a major issues with inconsistency in the organization. The s%*# flows from the top down and it's not going to stop with Reinsdorf but it could stop with Hahn and Williams. Reinsdorf employees famously have a lot of job security, but I'd be skeptical about Hahn lasting after this season. Gar and Paxson got shitcanned from the Bulls finally and they were more effective than Hahn and Williams. 

[caulfield12]

26 minutes ago, flavum said:

Next I would like him to address The Weeknd. 

What about Jennie Kim?

[South Side Hit Men]

6 minutes ago, nrockway said:

I stopped reading when Hahn referred to Middleton as "a former player." What a punk thing to say, it sounds like Human Resources prepares everything he says to the media. He sounds like he's a spurned ex-girlfriend or something. At least call him an idiot and refer to him by name. Anyone with two brain cells know how bad the culture is within this organization is, Middleton didn't need to say anything and the only other person to blame above Hahn can't be fired.

OK I finished reading (I wonder which player was given permission to nap ?) and I frankly wonder how Hahn can keep his job after the season. He actually responded in line to pretty much each critique which I find hysterical. Even if they are "reasonable" explanations, the fact that pretty much every former employee of the White Sox has made it known that there are workplace issues relative to other organizations, it's telling. It's obvious when you "read into" their body language and how they communicate on the field. It's obvious when everyone on the team underperforms relative to their average level. There are so many issues with this team that can't be reasonably explained through quantifiable means which to me suggests there's a serious problem with the qualifiable things like 'culture' or 'chemistry.' Even TA said in an interview recently that, basically, he missed La Russa and there's a major issues with inconsistency in the organization. The s%*# flows from the top down and it's not going to stop with Reinsdorf but it could stop with Hahn and Williams. Reinsdorf employees famously have a lot of job security, but I'd be skeptical about Hahn lasting after this season. Gar and Paxson got shitcanned from the Bulls finally and they were more effective than Hahn and Williams. 

100%

I burst out laughing when he said this:

When we, my mistake is if we are going to put one or any on me if you like, is that I perhaps overestimated the strength in that room to deal with adversity.

[JoeC]

 

Hopefully this works....

Edited August 8, 2023 by JoeC

[Balta1701]

48 minutes ago, Texsox said:

If the team was even close to being successful all of his statements could be accepted on face value. But this is such a s%*# show it's much easier to believe it's lies and half truths.

If they were winning and then in an offseason multiple recent players called out their culture unprompted, in ways that could hurt their careers - I’d worry something much worse was going on than just laziness.

[Colome's Hat]

1 hour ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Sleeping Players: At no time over the course of the year has there been a reliever sleeping in the bullpen, during a game. That's just wrong. We do have a player, a position player, who has fairly serious sleep issues. and as part of our sports performance program of trying to address that issue, he has been given permission and in fact encouraged to sleep in the clubhouse at times. Earlier in the season, a couple of our veteran players approached me complaining about such behavior. To their credit, they thought they were trying to help the environment, and when I explained to them the background of the player and why we were doing that, they relented and understood. Perhaps that's something that got lost in translation in Keynan's report, but at no point have we had a player sleeping in the bullpen.

Who are these people telling him to sleep in the clubhouse?  I have sleep issues.  I feel bad for whomever has it on the team as it's quite debilitating.  But as someone who is in sleep therapy at the moment, the explicitly tell you not to nap during the day.

[TheBooneLoganEra]

42 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

 

Really sad and I feel for a handful of people who are still there and have to deal with it. Front office morale is brutal. They continue to nickel and dime people and I know of a good number of very loyal fans that are done with their season tickets. Truly a shame." 

 

 

I too have heard the front office morale is terrible. Sucks because there are decent, smart hard working folks there who have to suffer through this. 

So really Rick just straight up lied. To imply that he knew for 100 % certainty that nobody slept in the bullpen is treating fans like fools. To suggest that the general manager had a better idea than a relief pitcher is insulting the intelligence of those listening. Middleton had zero to gain with this, Hahn has everything to lose. 10 years pal. 10 years to instill a culture and its still a work in progress. He'd be better off not talking from here on out.

Pedro was worse. To imply that he waited through a horrid start to try to instill some order and think that that's okay tells you there has been no sense of urgency in this organization. Today's press conference did more harm than good.

[wrathofhahn]

Hahn didn't move guys to improve the clubhouse he moved guys who had value on shortterm deals to receive prospects. Tim Anderson and Grandal are still here for FFS.

Flat out lie and furthermore prior to the deadline Hahn and Grifol was not talking about improving the clubhouse culture. Hahn also talked about what stays in clubhouse should stay in clubhouse. Whose interest does that silence serve? The simple answer is his own ass.

We knew the performance of this team and certain players have been bad but noone knew the clubhouse was as bad as it is.

Edited August 8, 2023 by wrathofhahn

[GreenSox]

My goodness, this is 10 years worth of gibberish in one interview.

This really struck me:  "it [team culture] was something we were upfront about for the last several weeks, something we feel we've been in the process of addressing, both at the trade deadline as well as since

Everyone that was traded, except for Burger and Graveman, were on expiring contracts.  But the reason that they were traded was because of their effects on culture?   The expiring contracts were coincidental?
So Burger was bad for culture?  That's too ridiculous to be believed.
Okay, maybe Graveman fits that bill (although I haven't seen anything that suggests he's a problem).

And notice who he didn't blame:  Grifol and the coaches.  Or himself.  Is it fair to point out that Lynn, Kelly, Middleton, and Graveman, the apparent alleged bad-culture dudes,  were signed by Hahn?

Edited August 8, 2023 by GreenSox

[wrathofhahn]

4 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

My goodness, this is 10 years worth of gibberish in one interview.

This really struck me:  "it [team culture] was something we were upfront about for the last several weeks, something we feel we've been in the process of addressing, both at the trade deadline as well as since

Everyone that was traded, except for Burger and Graveman, were on expiring contracts.  But the reason that they were traded was because of their effects on culture?   The expiring contracts were coincidental?
So Burger was bad for culture?  That's too ridiculous to be believed.
Okay, maybe Graveman fits that bill (although I haven't seen anything that suggests he's a problem).

And notice who he didn't blame:  Grifol and the coaches.  Or himself.  Is it fair to point out that Lynn, Kelly, Middleton, and Graveman, the apparent alleged bad-culture dudes,  were signed by Hahn?

Thought the same thing more importantly Tim Anderson and Grandal are still here

Complete BS

Edited August 8, 2023 by wrathofhahn

[CWSpalehoseCWS]

This is great.

I don't believe a word Hahn says. Don't forget this guy is a lawyer first and foremost.
 

I'd love to hear someone followup on the accountability question and ask Hahn to DEFINE what accountability means. They clearly don't have an understanding of how when you suck at your job, you deserve to get fired.

 

[Balta1701]

10 minutes ago, CWSpalehoseCWS said:

This is great.

I don't believe a word Hahn says. Don't forget this guy is a lawyer first and foremost.
 

I'd love to hear someone followup on the accountability question and ask Hahn to DEFINE what accountability means. They clearly don't have an understanding of how when you suck at your job, you deserve to get fired.

 

When journalists have to rely on access for their careers, you just aren’t going to get the kind of pushback on bland stuff like this that you might otherwise want.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Now I'm curious who the player is who was sleeping in the clubhouse. I don't think Moncadas hangovers count as a disorder.

[Colome's Hat]

1 minute ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Now I'm curious who the player is who was sleeping in the clubhouse. I don't think Moncadas hangovers count as a disorder.

Probably a younger guy.

[pcq]

Only cure is stuffing Rick's pre-worn shorts down his salty throat.