Shane Riordan's interview with Rick Hahn

[southsider2k5 12,379]

1 minute ago, Kyyle23 said:

Wait so in New York and Boston and LA the general managers are asked the toughest questions like the ones you want to hear and offer unfettered access?

i think it operates the same everywhere you are just pissed about it here.  

Wait, so you really think that all media markets are like they are in Chicago and give all softball questions and wait around patiently for access?

[southsider2k5 12,379]

4 minutes ago, Quin said:

No, that's the entire point.

The NBA salary structures are a Byzantine maze that necessitate teams hiring capologists to help facilitate transactions.

The Sox also have the seventh highest payroll in baseball, so they're spending money, they're just spending it real fucking poorly. A better question would be "why did you spend money on Leury and Harrison when you could have just signed Escobar and played Mendick on the MLB roster from the start?" Right now on RealGM you have Bulls fans upset that Dallas Keuchel's DFA might hurt the Bulls free agency dreams but they don't correlate.

There is no overlap between the Bulls and White Sox.

None.

I don't know how people think there is, but no.

[Kyyle23 4,739]

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

Wait, so you really think that all media markets are like they are in Chicago and give all softball questions and wait around patiently for access?

Yea I do.  Maybe not patiently but they aren't getting any more information out of the GM than we get.  I understand you believe they are all cowards because you would be the bravest in the room, but I just don't think it works like that 

[southsider2k5 12,379]

Just now, Kyyle23 said:

Yea I do.  Maybe not patiently but they aren't getting any more information out of the GM than we get.  I understand you believe they are all cowards because you would be the bravest in the room, but I just don't think it works like that 

There is 100% a difference between the quality of questions that get asked in various media markets.  That isn't to say that they all get answered, because that is absurd, but there are markets where sports media is will to ask.

[Look at Ray Ray Run 7,331]

35 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Yea I do.  Maybe not patiently but they aren't getting any more information out of the GM than we get.  I understand you believe they are all cowards because you would be the bravest in the room, but I just don't think it works like that 

What question that I proposed would get access pulled? 

[Kyyle23 4,739]

1 minute ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

What question that I proposed would get access pulled? 

What you are asking and how it's received and responded to don't generally line up for us, the fans.  If you start prying into the hiring practice of Tony (which is totally fucked up) and Rick starts getting defensive, who knows where it leads 

[Highland 142]

In reality, the White Sox have been an organization that has provided little access to the press. Jerry Reinsdorf stopped giving interviews a long time ago, and when he did, he put tough restrictions on them. From the start, he has felt that the media didn't treat him fairly.  Tough questions can be asked, but they won't be answered. Ask too many, and you will be a reporter with next to no access.

Instead, JR tries to control information through his TV and radio people. He never releases any statements himself in any form. As a result, during the 80s and 90s, the Tribune saturated the market with Cub propaganda, and it was like Chicago didn't have another baseball team. All we heard was that Wrigley Field was a shrine, and what great fans the Cubs had. The Cub fan base grew; the Sox fan base shrunk. Nothing has really changed.

[pcq 1,204]

50 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

There is 100% a difference between the quality of questions that get asked in various media markets.  That isn't to say that they all get answered, because that is absurd, but there are markets where sports media is will to ask.

In some markets coach says getchermouthshut!!

[shipps 504]

The first thing I thought with this interview is I bet Hahn never does another one for Shane again. 

I dont think Hahn would have appreciated, had he known, that this interview would basically be played non stop on every show for the benefit of the Score station. Doesnt Hahn refuse to go on the Score because he hates them so much? Maybe he just doesnt go on often or what but that was my understanding. 

[bmags 9,277]

9 minutes ago, shipps said:

The first thing I thought with this interview is I bet Hahn never does another one for Shane again. 

I dont think Hahn would have appreciated, had he known, that this interview would basically be played non stop on every show for the benefit of the Score station. Doesnt Hahn refuse to go on the Score because he hates them so much? Maybe he just doesnt go on often or what but that was my understanding. 

Hahn didn't realize when he did an interview with a Score producer that the score would talk about it?

Hahn is trying his hahnwashing tour, where he gets to try and separate himself and act like his hands were tied from doing what the fans want. 

[shipps 504]

3 minutes ago, bmags said:

Hahn didn't realize when he did an interview with a Score producer that the score would talk about it?

Hahn is trying his hahnwashing tour, where he gets to try and separate himself and act like his hands were tied from doing what the fans want. 

I am probably off base on that but I didn't think he would have anticipated the actual audio being played over and over again on the Score for an entire day. Especially if he intentionally avoids the Score at all costs any other time. Maybe he just likes Shane THAT much.  

[South Side Hit Men 2,662]

The Chicago sports lapdog media is at least inconsequential when it comes to sports, beyond the billions citizens are robbed for stadiums and the various professional and Big Ten child / young adult rape scandals over the past decade plus.

Chicago media by and large is even more hands off when it comes to covering politicians or corporations.

[bmags 9,277]

10 minutes ago, shipps said:

I am probably off base on that but I didn't think he would have anticipated the actual audio being played over and over again on the Score for an entire day. Especially if he intentionally avoids the Score at all costs any other time. Maybe he just likes Shane THAT much.  

I would be surprised if he didn't, his doing interviews is news in general and it plays as a clip every time he does his media availability. This definitely more newsworthy in that it brought back older stories and the TLR thing i guess.

[Tnetennba 3,987]

2 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

I mean if you really need this, here is a start

-I would have loved to hear a question asked about the Tony LaRussa hiring process

-The backslide in health the last few years

-Wes Helms/Omar Vizquel and that whole thing has never been answered for publicly.

-How much influence Tony has on acquisitions

-What is the status of Tony's future with this organization after two underperforming seasons in our "window" that Rick used to talk about

 

I would love answers to these questions, but I don't think a local sports journalist would have the courage to ask these and not have the interview abruptly end.  These are more exposé questions asked in a longer form interview after Hahn has left the job IMO.  Not saying its good or bad, right or wrong either way.  

2 hours ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

Why haven't you made any moves to improve the current team?

Was it this medical staff that advised you not to offer Carlos Rodon the QO?

Why do you continue to misevaluate the free agent market?

Why didn't you add an impact LHH?

Why didn't you upgrade RF?

Why didn't you upgrade the starting rotation?

Why didn't you upgrade the defense?

Why didn't you add more team depth?

Why did you put so much money in the bullpen?

These are much more in line with what I think a local journalist could ask and not get completely shut down.  All fair and poignant but not at all pushing too far.

[Jerksticks 994]

3 hours ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

Why haven't you made any moves to improve the current team?

Was it this medical staff that advised you not to offer Carlos Rodon the QO?

Why do you continue to misevaluate the free agent market?

Why didn't you add an impact LHH?

Why didn't you upgrade RF?

Why didn't you upgrade the starting rotation?

Why didn't you upgrade the defense?

Why didn't you add more team depth?

Why did you put so much money in the bullpen?

Cmon

[caulfield12 4,461]

8 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

Cmon

It would be more interesting to interview KW to see if he’s aligning with Hahn, TLR or now trying to separate from both.

It’s quite obvious Hahn and LaRussa are going after each other in ways both subtle and not so subtle.

 

Would frankly love to see Hahn asked how he would manage a pen and lineup as decimated by injuries and non performance as the Sox active roster the last 4-6 weeks.

Other than less Leury and sticking with more of a set lineup, no obvious answers stand out.  Two or three weeks ago, Burger and Pollock seemed critical and Harrison was on his way to a DFA.  Now he and Sheets have taken on added importance, but the team overall is just kind of floundering along without completely sinking into the depths.

[caulfield12 4,461]

15 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

Cmon

Still sticking with 109 wins?

[Jerksticks 994]

28 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Still sticking with 109 wins?

Not over til it’s over!
 

Crazy how bad this team is.  On paper you see a potential all star at almost every position and almost every pitching slot.  Yet here we are.  Somehow way worse than teams who don’t have even half the good players we are supposed to have.  

This is quite the mess to clean up

[almagest 654]

4 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

Not over til it’s over!
 

Crazy how bad this team is.  On paper you see a potential all star at almost every position and almost every pitching slot.  Yet here we are.  Somehow way worse than teams who don’t have even half the good players we are supposed to have.  

This is quite the mess to clean up

I dunno... I think they got really lucky with scrubs filling in last year and being productive, otherwise they'd probably have been .500 last year. Just too many key and repeat injuries to maintain any kind of consistency.

[ron883 4,844]

If only Chicago media had the guts to write something like this about Jerry/TLR

[oldsox 464]

18 hours ago, SonofaRoache said:

Why do we continue to overpay for the bullpen while neglecting the outfield and 2B. 

Why are we never in on any big trades or able to reel in the big young fish types similar to the Chicago Bulls? 

How do we plan on getting back into championship contention? 

Why are fans talked down to for being rightfully upset right now? 

Why does it take forever to make intelligent changes to the lineup and roster? 

Why is the hitting coach still here?

Why is the training staff still here?

Why is our farm system dead last?

Hahn, why haven't you addressed the fans and avoid tough questions?

What happens if this team misses the post season? 

And of course many others. 

 

Seriously, these questions are important to us, but they are very argumentative and will never get answered if presented that way.  The questions offered above by another poster were thought provoking and very answerable.

[Chicago White Sox 9,365]

I pray that SoxFest is back next year, because we’ll have a chance to finally ask some tough questions.   I called out Ozzie years ago about the Mark Kotsay / rotating DH concept he so desperately wanted and would love to put Hahn on the spot in regard to many subjects.  Just give us fans a chance if the media is afraid to ask legit questions.

[caulfield12 4,461]

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I pray that SoxFest is back next year, because we’ll have a chance to finally ask some tough questions.   I called out Ozzie years ago about the Mark Kotsay / rotating DH concept he so desperately wanted and would love to put Hahn on the spot in regard to many subjects.  Just give us fans a chance if the media is afraid to ask legit questions.

They're really going to dodge SoxFest if the second half and Fire Tony! chants get even uglier than in recent games...where they're quite audible during broadcasts.

It will be more moderated and tightly -controlled than "friendly network" Trump or Biden interviews even...

Edited July 1 by caulfield12

[Highland 142]

You know things are not going well when organization in-fighting makes into the media.  Makes me wonder how powerful LaRussa is if Hahn is saying is frustrated by LaRussa's in-game decisions. It would be informative if there was a political-type leak from someone in the organization. While fans are calling for LaRussa's head, maybe Hahn is the one who ends up going.

[greg775 1,798]

18 hours ago, Jerksticks said:

On paper you see a potential all star at almost every position and almost every pitching slot.

I like your posts but disagree with this one. I look at the lineup daily and actually laugh. And I look at the relievers the Sox use nightly and laugh as well. I don't see these potential all stars at all. I see a lot of horrific ballplayers (to go with some good ones) all with limitations offensively or defensiely.