Rick Hahn 2021 End of Season Press Conference

[Dick Allen]

1 minute ago, South Side Hit Men said:

There would be more a lot more value to the Sox if they had a manager willing  to align how they were pitching to hitters and shifting more than 27th or 30th in MLB. The Sox shifted from just below league average to the bottom under TLR.

The stats proved they were effective the limited number of times Tony and Dave Duncan’s son employed it. They are near league average in attempts vs. LHB. The problem is their complete lack of shifting against RHB.

The second unasked analytics question is why beyond the fact Jerry has a soft spot in his heart for Scabs did the Sox keep GIDP Menechino. Successful clubs, i.e. clubs which have advanced in the playoffs over the past 16 seasons, teach their hitters to lift the baseball?

In an era when ground balls are converted to outs at a higher rate than ever before, in large part due to the fact the most teams are not like the Sox and actually increase shifting, the Sox once again go backwards or are left in the dust by teams with modern successful baseball philosophy.

Crazy how criticism works. Back in the day, Greg Walker was ripped for supposedly having a “lift and pull” philosophy. Of course, that wasn’t true either.

[Kyyle23]

7 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

There would be more a lot more value to the Sox if they had a manager willing  to align how they were pitching to hitters and shifting more than 27th or 30th in MLB. The Sox shifted from just below league average to the bottom under TLR.

The stats proved they were effective the limited number of times Tony and Dave Duncan’s son employed it. They are near league average in attempts vs. LHB. The problem is their complete lack of shifting against RHB.

The second unasked analytics question is why beyond the fact Jerry has a soft spot in his heart for Scabs did the Sox keep GIDP Menechino. Successful clubs, i.e. clubs which have advanced in the playoffs over the past 16 seasons, teach their hitters to lift the baseball?

In an era when ground balls are converted to outs at a higher rate than ever before, in large part due to the fact the most teams are not like the Sox and actually increase shifting, the Sox once again go backwards or are left in the dust by teams with modern successful baseball philosophy.

This is so tiresome man, nobody makes themself more upset at made up scenarios than you 

[caulfield12]

2 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

This is so tiresome man, nobody makes themself more upset at made up scenarios than you 

But he is successful, at least, in making Thad Bosley look like a moderate…and Two-Gun Pete.

He’s even honing in on Greg775’s near monopoly on complaints relating to concession, souvenir and parking prices, albeit more from a political/historical perspective.

[South Side Hit Men]

4 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

This is so tiresome man, nobody makes themself more upset at made up scenarios than you 

The only "made up scenarios" involving White Sox baseball is Rick Hahn's absolute bullshit regarding "multi-championship windows" with their budget and the horseshit acquisitions he has made the past few seasons.

[South Side Hit Men]

Tony listens to nobody and runs the front office.

The Sox are bringing every single one of Tony's Cronies back. Tony coupled with "data" from Dave Duncan's son will continue to handicap the Sox.

[Kyyle23]

10 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

The only "made up scenarios" involving White Sox baseball is Rick Hahn's absolute bullshit regarding "multi-championship windows" with their budget and the horseshit acquisitions he has made the past few seasons.

Right right right let's talk about Dave Duncan ruining your life some more from his position as a consultant.  They are planning the destruction of this organization we are all just watching it happen.  Please stop clutching your pearls or they will make marks in your palms.

[insert non sequitor YouTube video]

[Chicago White Sox]

13 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

The only "made up scenarios" involving White Sox baseball is Rick Hahn's absolute bullshit regarding "multi-championship windows" with their budget and the horseshit acquisitions he has made the past few seasons.

He acquired two All-Stars last offseason and you could argue a third with Rodon.  Grandal was a great addition no matter how much you hate him and he was on the money with trying to get Wheeler (and made the largest offer).  What moves are you upset about?  I get Keuchel sucked this year and may be cooked, but he did give us a sub 2.00 ERA last year.  And sure, go ahead and rip the Kimbrel move, but it was an aggressive go it for now trade deadline deal.  He’s had some misses, but greatly overstating how bad he’s been the last couple years.

[Chicago White Sox]

10 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Tony listens to nobody and runs the front office.

The Sox are bringing every single one of Tony's Cronies back. Tony coupled with "data" from Dave Duncan's son will continue to handicap the Sox.

What cronies are they bringing back?

[Jerksticks]

1 hour ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Tony listens to nobody and runs the front office.

The Sox are bringing every single one of Tony's Cronies back. Tony coupled with "data" from Dave Duncan's son will continue to handicap the Sox.

Cmon you gotta be tired of typing this stuff.  You just gotta be

[South Side Hit Men]

3 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

What cronies are they bringing back?

His entire coaching staff is returning.

13 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

He acquired two All-Stars last offseason and you could argue a third with Rodon.  Grandal was a great addition no matter how much you hate him and he was on the money with trying to get Wheeler (and made the largest offer).  What moves are you upset about?  I get Keuchel sucked this year and may be cooked, but he did give us a sub 2.00 ERA last year.  And sure, go ahead and rip the Kimbrel move, but it was an aggressive go it for now trade deadline deal.  He’s had some misses, but greatly overstating how bad he’s been the last couple years.

It's about the entire two years, not just the three "All Star" deadline failures. Keuchel, Adam Eaton, Parrot, Mazara, Cesar, Kimbrel, and dumping two cost controlled players in the process. It's not a big surprise as Hahn's acquisitions primarily sucked the first four years he was "trying" (2013-2016). Coupled with the dinosaur manager Jerry saddled him with, the Sox are at a severe disadvantage against the handful of AL Clubs actually trying to field a competitive team.

And for the thousandth time, I don't "hate" or even dislike Grandal as a player or person, it's just that his contract is a poor fit within the heavy DH roster, and his glaring defensive and game calling weaknesses will continue to hurt the White Sox. Giolito, Rodon, Kimbrel cannot throw their best pitchers because Grandal is unable to handle balls in the dirt. In his prime, the Dodgers benched him for all but one of the 2017 World Series Games, and for good reason. He can hit, but is is a net negative managing a game, especially important games like playoff games. The Sox have gone 1-5 with Grandal catching, McCann managed and caught the one outstanding pitching performance over the two seasons. When the games count, Grandal carries a .605 career OPS.

Successful MLB team Managers and GMs focus on winning:

Quote

“Early on, there was some trial and error with some things. There were too many ground balls getting through. So we got together and we started to discuss how we could fix this. It's a credit to [general manager] Alex [Anthopoulos’s] team up there. The adjustments they made on the fly. I mean, after the first four or five weeks of the season, [the infield defense] has been airtight.”

The White Sox focus on petty beanball wars, hitting Ohtani, crying about Dusty after being completely pwned by him, just as they were in the regular or "resting" season.

Winning:

 

Losing, let's bring back Menechino, Boston, Shelley Duncan.

 

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

But he is successful, at least, in making Thad Bosley look like a moderate…and Two-Gun Pete.

He’s even honing in on Greg775’s near monopoly on complaints relating to concession, souvenir and parking prices, albeit more from a political/historical perspective.

You have jinxed two separate franchises with your so called fandom. Any connection with Peng Shaui or Zhang Gaoli during your time in China?

Edited November 6, 2021 by South Side Hit Men

[caulfield12]

29 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

You have jinxed two separate franchises with your so called fandom. Any connection with Peng Shaui or Zhang Gaoli during your time in China?

Ummm...other than coaching tennis and seeing her at the WTA Wuhan Open in 2014, not really.

Since the White Sox are already jinxed, the Padres (who actually won a playoff series last year) play in a division with two 105+ win teams and the Cardinals somehow won 17 in a row, and the Royals are the quintessential small market team (but made it to two consecutive WS and won one with other going to Bumgarner's heroics), not sure exactly who I jinxed.

Maybe if I liked the Brewers, Mariners, Rays, Indians, Rays, Mets, Angels, Rangers, Phillies, etc.

Edited November 6, 2021 by caulfield12

[Whisox05]

 

[Chicago White Sox]

18 minutes ago, aeichhor said:

 

Should in theory be a good listen.  Hopefully they get pretty pointed on whether this health driven or money driven, although is unlikely to reveal too much.

[hi8is]

41 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Should in theory be a good listen.  Hopefully they get pretty pointed on whether this health driven or money driven, although is unlikely to reveal too much.

I just like listening to him speak… his voice is so soothing and is more effective than high blood pressure medication.

[South Side Hit Men]

Hahn joining 1000AM in a few minutes. Will they ask any pointed questions, and will he answer any questions.

They asked for fan questions on twitter, this was the best one so far, would love to see it on zoom.

EDIT: It was an absolutely worthless segment.

Edited November 8, 2021 by South Side Hit Men

[hi8is]

Wonderful… just turned it on to hear “thanks for your time hope there’s no labor stoppage.”

Cool - I figured out on Twitch you can rewind.

Edited November 8, 2021 by hi8is

[hi8is]

General Intro:
- Bullpen will be a priority.
- No way to look at last season other than a disappointment. 
- Reinforcing pitching as a whole, better controlling the running game, improving on defense are things they identified as far back as the summer.
- Signing a TOR isn’t out of the possibility, it’s the “Holy Grail” - we’d be foolish not to at least check it out.
- “We’re still evaluating all of our options with Craig Kimbrel.” 

About TLR:
- Most surprising thing is that “he walked in the door without wresting on his past accomplishments and was starting at zero to earn trust and respect.”
- Didn’t mandate his way, sought to earn staff trust in a similar way.

Rodon:
- I’d caution against saying he’s moving on. I’ve already talked with Boras and Rodon. We know we won’t have him back for 1 at 18. It made a little more sense to shoot for a longer deal with him or someone else. His days as a White Sox might not be over. “We saw what he can do when he’s 100% healthy”

Second Base / Right Field:
- I think we’re probably closer to having internal answers in Right Field with Vaughn and Sheets.
- At second we have Mendick and Romey who are options that are less established and seem more as super utility types.
- We’re going to vet the market for both positions via free agents and trades.

Kopech:
- Will be treated as a every 5 days kind of guy but to stretch him out and rest him in the summer we may have to skip a start and have him throw an inning or two out of the pen instead.

Shifting: 
- We’re going to have to be better defensively instead. Don’t look just at the shift, look at outs converted via the shift or not. We we’re 9th in the league with that statistic. Still we need to look at ways to improve defense and align pitch selection for the effectiveness of defensive alignment.

DH:
- Wait to see how offseason plays out. If we go to sign a RF then it will be the kids Vaughn and Sheets. If we sign a true DH we’ll be looking at that pair in right.

CBA:
- I think for the next month we’re continuing on as business is normal and will hope that the league and player association will continue working together positively as they have since the mid 90’s.

Braves:
- Leading up to the deadline I talked with Alex and to his credit he believed in the underlying talent of that staff and they decided to add to it and got hot at the right time. They exemplified it’s important to get hot at the right time, to get into the playoffs, and for the front office to feed the talent on the field with supplements when it is possible.

Edited November 8, 2021 by hi8is

[35thstreetswarm]

Well, they’re sure setting him up with what sound like softballs planted by a cheap owner (“everybody knows you can’t just buy everybody to fill your holes, so are you just going with in-house options at 2b and RF?”) but his answers didn’t really follow that theme, or sound like somebody trying to lower expectations. Everything was highly general as expected but it sounded like they’re planning to be active. In particular, I don’t think we’re going to see an “in-house” 2b.

Edited November 8, 2021 by 35thstreetswarm

[TheTruth05]

3 minutes ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

Well, they’re sure setting him up with what sound like softballs planted by a cheap owner (“everybody knows you can’t just buy everybody to fill your holes, so are you just going with in-house options at 2b and RF?”) but his answers didn’t really follow that theme, or sound like somebody trying to lower expectations. Everything was highly general as expected but it sounded like they’re planning to be active. In particular, I don’t think we’re going to see an “in-house” 2b.

I know it's Hahn but he didn't sound very interested in finding a RFer. You're right that he sounded more likely to go external for 2B not RF.

[hi8is]

They didn’t ask any pressing follow up questions.

[SonofaRoache]

Ah so we still believe Vaughn is a RF and not a DH. Best quote was him saying last year was a for sure disappointment. Get mad and get better. 

[Balta1701]

19 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Shifting: 
- We’re going to have to be better defensively instead. Don’t look just at the shift, look at outs converted via the shift or not. We we’re 9th in the league with that statistic. Still we need to look at ways to improve defense and align pitch selection for the effectiveness of defensive alignment.
 

Can anyone translate this part?

[hi8is]

1 minute ago, Balta1701 said:

Can anyone translate this part?

There was a metric he referenced which I forget what it was called. It weighs shifts / traditional alignment to result of where the ball was hit and determines how effective the alignment was.

[hi8is]

“I heard Jerry will go into the luxury tax for the right guy.”

”We’ve heard they might even be moving Grandal.”

Sounds to me like Kap is just spewing anything that comes to mind and playing the radio host get more listeners hat.