GM Rick Hahn's Tenure

[caulfield12]

Who hired the new hitting coach? If it's Hahn, that has to be added to the list as a HUGE positive.

 

However, I agree with the person who didn't like the Ventura extension. Living in Virginia, I don't get to see that many games. But in the games I've seen, as often as not I felt Ventura really blew the game management to the point of helping LOSE the game.

 

What's amazing to me is the Hahn has put in place the position players who could compete, with the major need now the revamping of the pitching staff. Since the Sox have tended to be better at developing pitchers than position players, this is an excellent approach.

 

C - Tyler Flowers new hitting success makes him a viable option at catcher.

1B - covered with Abreu for 6 years of his prime.

2B - a possibly rejuvenated Gordon Beckham, and several options nearly ready behind him

SS - still have Ramirez, who is experiencing an offensive resurgence. One of the best SS in the game

3B - Conor Gillaspie adds a necessary LH bat, and we have a power hitting righty who is nearly ML ready

LF - Dayan Viciedo may have started to figure it out offensively.

CF - Eaton, IF he can stay healthy, is a fantastic sparkplug leadoff guy

RF - Avisail Garcia is still very young, but has potential to round out a solid outfield

DH - Adam Dunn is not as bad as most of us make him out to be. We need a lefty power bat here if Dunn is gone next year.

 

Hahn's additions are: Abreu, Eaton, Avi, Gillaspie, and some depth.

The hitting coach gets some credit for the improvement of: Ramirez, Viciedo, Flowers, Beckham, and possibly Dunn.

 

For that, we gave up Peavy, Rios, Santiago, Reed. Konerko came back for a fraction of his prior deal.

 

 

I guess we can give the Paulino acquisition a thumbs-down, but that was a lot less money wasted than on Downs.

 

Next, Matt Davidson needs to step it up in the next two months though, or the doubters are going to become louder. That said, it's not like Addison Reed on this current team would have meant more than 1 or 2 games. Certainly not enough to keep us at the same pace as the Tigers, who look to run away with the division unless the Royals can somehow get on an extended hot streak.

 

Finally, Rios/L.Garcia, while wise at the time...it's hard to look at that as anything more than a salary dump. It's not like Garcia was ever projected to be a sure-fire starting major league middle infielder due to concerns about his hit tool.

 

 

[SCCWS]

Who hired the new hitting coach? If it's Hahn, that has to be added to the list as a HUGE positive.

 

However, I agree with the person who didn't like the Ventura extension. Living in Virginia, I don't get to see that many games. But in the games I've seen, as often as not I felt Ventura really blew the game management to the point of helping LOSE the game.

 

What's amazing to me is the Hahn has put in place the position players who could compete, with the major need now the revamping of the pitching staff. Since the Sox have tended to be better at developing pitchers than position players, this is an excellent approach.

 

C - Tyler Flowers new hitting success makes him a viable option at catcher.

1B - covered with Abreu for 6 years of his prime.

2B - a possibly rejuvenated Gordon Beckham, and several options nearly ready behind him

SS - still have Ramirez, who is experiencing an offensive resurgence. One of the best SS in the game

3B - Conor Gillaspie adds a necessary LH bat, and we have a power hitting righty who is nearly ML ready

LF - Dayan Viciedo may have started to figure it out offensively.

CF - Eaton, IF he can stay healthy, is a fantastic sparkplug leadoff guy

RF - Avisail Garcia is still very young, but has potential to round out a solid outfield

DH - Adam Dunn is not as bad as most of us make him out to be. We need a lefty power bat here if Dunn is gone next year.

 

Hahn's additions are: Abreu, Eaton, Avi, Gillaspie, and some depth.

The hitting coach gets some credit for the improvement of: Ramirez, Viciedo, Flowers, Beckham, and possibly Dunn.

 

For that, we gave up Peavy, Rios, Santiago, Reed. Konerko came back for a fraction of his prior deal.

 

I don't think these position players can compete. The good thing is we have a few years to add morre pieces. I think the outfield has the potential to compete. They are young and I think Garcia has a world of potential. But they are very average defensively. Abreu is a stud but by the time we comete within the division, I think 2nd, 3rd and SS will all be new. Flowers is still very questionable. He had a great month but he still has more strikeouts than any catcher in baseball. I think the question remains will his average stay up( not 300+ but hopefully .275 and his strikeouts come down. He strikes out more than Dunn does.

 

[greg775]

I guess we can give the Paulino acquisition a thumbs-down, but that was a lot less money wasted than on Downs.

 

Next, Matt Davidson needs to step it up in the next two months though, or the doubters are going to become louder. That said, it's not like Addison Reed on this current team would have meant more than 1 or 2 games. Certainly not enough to keep us at the same pace as the Tigers, who look to run away with the division unless the Royals can somehow get on an extended hot streak.

 

Finally, Rios/L.Garcia, while wise at the time...it's hard to look at that as anything more than a salary dump. It's not like Garcia was ever projected to be a sure-fire starting major league middle infielder due to concerns about his hit tool.

 

Exactly on the salary dump regarding Rios. L. Garcia looks like one of the worst hitters around, but I'll never criticize it cause we got rid of Rios.

(I can't believe Sox are already 10 out in the loss column. Division race for Sox is ova. I don't know how anybody else could think otherwise).

[chitownsportsfan]

Exactly on the salary dump regarding Rios. L. Garcia looks like one of the worst hitters around, but I'll never criticize it cause we got rid of Rios.

(I can't believe Sox are already 10 out in the loss column. Division race for Sox is ova. I don't know how anybody else could think otherwise).

 

so what there are 2 wildcards now.

 

this team can compete this year imo if things start breaking their way health wise. Regression should work both ways (pitching and offense) so IF Sale comes back strong, stays strong, Johnson returns, and Eaton/Abreu/Ramirez stay healthy this team could stick around well into August, maybe even until the end.

 

I've revised my win total up from like 75 to 78-80 for this team. It's too bad Garcia is out for the year, he coulda pushed them into a 2nd WC contention imo.

[lasttriptotulsa]

Exactly on the salary dump regarding Rios. L. Garcia looks like one of the worst hitters around, but I'll never criticize it cause we got rid of Rios.

(I can't believe Sox are already 10 out in the loss column. Division race for Sox is ova. I don't know how anybody else could think otherwise).

 

Yep only 120 more games to make up 10, might as well pack it in and call it a season. The Sox have 13 games left with the Tigers and the Tigers are going to be stuck either playing a lot of double headers or losing off days because of all their rainouts. There is plenty of time to make up ground. We've also been without our #1,2 and 4 starters, starting CF and lead off hitter, starting 2B, 3B and RF for significant amounts of time. Considering that our #1 and #4 starters, CF, 2B and 3B are either back or coming back soon, the Sox are in decent shape.

[oldsox]

Trades

 

Acquired 3B Connor Gillaspie from the Giants for RP Jeff Soptic

Acquired SP Frank Montas, OF Avisail Garcia, SS Clelious Rondon, and SP Jeffery Wendelken from the Red Sox and Tigers for SP Jake Peavy

Acquired INF Leury Garcia from the Rangers for RF Alex Rios

Acquired SP Sean Bierman and SS Ben Kline from the Rays for RP Jesse Crain

Acquired OF Brandon Jacobs from the Red Sox for RP Matt Thornton

Acquired OF Adam Eaton from the Diamondbacks for SP Hector Santiago and OF Brandon Jacobs

Acquired 3B Matt Davidson from the Diamondbacks for RP Addison Reed

Acquired OF Gorkys Hernandez from the Royals for cash considerations

Traded INF Jake Elmore to the Athletics for cash considerations

Traded SP Zach Steward to the Braves for cash considerations

Traded SP Spencer Arroyo to the Diamondbacks for cash considerations

Traded RP Omar Poveda to the Nationals for cash considerations

 

 

Signings

 

3B Jeff Keppinger 3 years/18 million

1B Jose Abreu 6 years/68 million

RP Scott Downs 1 year/4 million

RP Ronald Belisario 1 year/3 million

SP Felipe Paulino 1 year/1.5 million

SP Tommy Hanson- minor league contract

RP Zach Putnam- minor league contract

RP Mitchell Boggs- minor league contract

RP Frank Fransisco- minor league contract

 

Rule 5 Draft

C Adrian Nieto

SS Angel Sanchez

 

Waivers

OF Moises Sierra

SP Eric Surkamp

RP Maikel Cleto

RP Frank De Los Santos

SP Hector Noesi

RP Javy Guerra

 

Extensions

SP Chris Sale 5 years/32 million with option years that can be 7 years/60 million

SP Jose Quintana 5 years/26.5 million with option years that can be 7 years/48 million

 

Draft (Key Players)

SS Tim Anderson

SP Tyler Danish

OF Jacob May

SP Andrew Mitchell

SP James Dykstra

3B Trey Michalczewski

SP Thaddius Lowry

SP Chris Fruedenberg

RP Brad Goldberg

OF Adam Engel

OF Micker Zapata (International Signing)

 

In just over a year Rick Hahn has provided a little more depth in the minor leagues, gotten younger at the ML level and signed our 2 most important pitchers to very team friendly deals. IMO, like I'm sure most of us, he has done a tremendous job overhauling this team to make it a young yet competitive team that can push for the playoffs if not this season but for sure down the road.

 

What are your guys' thoughts so far on his moves and if I missed anything, please tell me and I can edit this and possibly we can sticky this while we monitor Hahn's moves in the future. I think it would be beneficial to us to see how well he has done so far for this team in a short period of time.

Kepp was signed for 3 yrs, $12MM, I believe. Thanks for a great summary.

[SCCWS]

Yep only 120 more games to make up 10, might as well pack it in and call it a season. The Sox have 13 games left with the Tigers and the Tigers are going to be stuck either playing a lot of double headers or losing off days because of all their rainouts. There is plenty of time to make up ground. We've also been without our #1,2 and 4 starters, starting CF and lead off hitter, starting 2B, 3B and RF for significant amounts of time. Considering that our #1 and #4 starters, CF, 2B and 3B are either back or coming back soon, the Sox are in decent shape.

 

 

Tigers have 7 guys on the DL. You forgot Jones for us. Injuries are very much a normal part of baseball these days. In fact Texas has 13 on their DL. My concern is Detroit is winning despite injuries. When we get guys heading to the DL, we replace them w average AA/AAA type players.

[ILMOU]

Tigers have 7 guys on the DL. You forgot Jones for us. Injuries are very much a normal part of baseball these days. In fact Texas has 13 on their DL. My concern is Detroit is winning despite injuries. When we get guys heading to the DL, we replace them w average AA/AAA type players.

All the rainouts have allowed them to pitch their Aces in a crazy-high % of games so far. This will change.

 

Yeah, it'll take a lot, but not impossible.

[witesoxfan]

Tigers have 7 guys on the DL. You forgot Jones for us. Injuries are very much a normal part of baseball these days. In fact Texas has 13 on their DL. My concern is Detroit is winning despite injuries. When we get guys heading to the DL, we replace them w average AA/AAA type players.

 

A backup outfielder

A reliever they signed within the last week or two

Starting SS (all glove, no hit)

Two mediocre middle relievers

Their #3 starter

 

Their injuries have had nowhere near the impact the injuries the Sox have suffered.

 

[caulfield12]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/richar...p;vkey=news_mlb

 

You can start making some arguments about Hahn nearing the top ten now among MLB GM's.

 

The current thinking is that Beane is back to #1. It's pretty hard to argue with that, even though he hasn't won anything YET.

 

Then you have Andrew Friedman, Mozeliak in St. Louis, Brian Sabean in SF, Daniels in Texas (the glow is off a bit recently) and Dombrowski with the Tigers.

 

Epstein and Cashman are extremely difficult to rate, for obvious reasons.

 

Walt Jocketty (Reds/Cardinals) and Frank Wren (Braves) are probably at the back end of the Top 10. Antonetti with the Indians is getting a lot of rave reviews as well. Then you have Colletti (Dodgers) and Huntington (Pirates) as well.

 

 

1. Friedman

2. Beane

3. Mozeliak

4. Daniels (could have gone either way with 4/5....he was THIS close two times, but Sabean went for almost a decade without results after the Bonds years)

5. Sabean

6. Dombrowski (hard for me to rank him higher with so much money to throw around, and hasn't won it all with the Tigers)

7. Cashman

8. Cherington (Red Sox)

 

To in my mind, hard to argue against Hahn's body of work (so far) as legitimately meriting a 9-13 position.

 

Obviously, we won't know until 2-3 years (at least from now) where he REALLY belongs, but it's interesting to think about at least. Ten years ago, Terry Ryan of the Twins would have been in the Top 3-5.

Edited May 17, 2014 by caulfield12

[Quin]

Tigers have 7 guys on the DL. You forgot Jones for us. Injuries are very much a normal part of baseball these days. In fact Texas has 13 on their DL. My concern is Detroit is winning despite injuries. When we get guys heading to the DL, we replace them w average AA/AAA type players.

 

There was a FanGraphs article not long ago about how the Sox were basically the one team in baseball that this didn't apply to. I wish that happened this year.

[caulfield12]

There was a FanGraphs article not long ago about how the Sox were basically the one team in baseball that this didn't apply to. I wish that happened this year.

 

 

Keppinger and Paulino are basically irrelevant now...but it would have been interesting to see what a full season with Sale, Gillaspie, Beckham, Eaton, Avisail and Nate Jones all at 100% could have accomplished in the standings.

 

It has definitely opened up the playing time for Viciedo, and also taught us that Marcus Semien and Erik Johnson weren't quite ready.

 

Rienzo's been holding his own, and Noesi has been intriguing at times.

Edited May 17, 2014 by caulfield12

[GreenSox]

The Soptic deal is looking pretty good.

[caulfield12]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/...conor-gillaspie

 

Pretty amazing without a homer he's putting up an 808 overall OPS (855 OPS against lefties this year vs career 730 pre-2014) and almost a 700 vs. lefties, which isn't bad enough to bench him or make him a strict platoon player if he keeps it up.

 

14 homers in 447 career at-bats before this year, so the homers will come at some point. You could project him at 12-18 per season. The problem has always been the average or below average defense can't be offset by offense, especially with the lack of home run power.

Edited May 17, 2014 by caulfield12

[oldsox]

The Soptic deal is looking pretty good.

Correct. Soptic still at High A, pitching in relief with so-so results

[SCCWS]

All the rainouts have allowed them to pitch their Aces in a crazy-high % of games so far. This will change.

 

Yeah, it'll take a lot, but not impossible.

 

 

Verlander and Scherzer have 9 starts after their game last night. Quintana has 9 and Danks makes his 9th tomorrrow. If Sale was healthy he would already have 9. Their 5 less games results in one turn of the rotation .Scherzer dominated Boston last night.

[Balta1701]

The Soptic deal is looking pretty good.

 

 

Correct. Soptic still at High A, pitching in relief with so-so results

The downside to remember is...Gillaspie was available because Sandoval wasn't going to be replaced by him. He was blocked and that reduced his value.

 

This wouldn't be something we'd complain about except we traded a solid reliever for another 3b who is now, regrettably, similarly blocked.

[greg775]

Verlander and Scherzer have 9 starts after their game last night. Quintana has 9 and Danks makes his 9th tomorrrow. If Sale was healthy he would already have 9. Their 5 less games results in one turn of the rotation .Scherzer dominated Boston last night.

 

Detroit has already put the Sox away. We aren't making up 10 games in the loss column on Detroit. So the only hope is hanging around the wildcard situation.

[Dunt]

There was a FanGraphs article not long ago about how the Sox were basically the one team in baseball that this didn't apply to. I wish that happened this year.

 

Link?

[Quin]

Link?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-white-s...ng-projections/

[fathom]

Detroit has already put the Sox away. We aren't making up 10 games in the loss column on Detroit. So the only hope is hanging around the wildcard situation.

 

Why do you continue to act so surprised by this? The Tigers have 3 superstars still near their peak years, while the White Sox are in rebuilding mode

Edited May 17, 2014 by fathom

[Balta1701]

Why do you continue to act so surprised by this? The Tigers have 3 superstars in their peak, while the White Sox are in rebuilding mode.

He also gets to act surprised by that because he hasn't yet paid attention when people respond to him that the Tigers have played 6 fewer games.

[caulfield12]

Only 8 teams in MLB have more wins than the White Sox right now!!!

 

Except for Det, Oakland, Milwaukee, SF, COL and the Dodgers, we'd be right on the heels of a playoff spot.

 

We're also only 1 1/2 and 2 games behind and Yankees and Angels for the WC with an easier schedule run and Eaton/Sale both on the way back soon.

Edited May 17, 2014 by caulfield12

[GreenSox]

Only 8 teams in MLB have more wins than the White Sox right now!!!

 

Except for Det, Oakland, Milwaukee, SF, COL and the Dodgers, we'd be right on the heels of a playoff spot.

 

We're also only 1 1/2 and 2 games behind and Yankees and Angels for the WC with an easier schedule run and Eaton/Sale both on the way back soon.

Do we have an easier schedule? The AL Central is the best division in the AL right now, based on interleague and interdivisional play. Those Western teams get to load up on the Astros.

[greg775]

Do we have an easier schedule? The AL Central is the best division in the AL right now, based on interleague and interdivisional play. Those Western teams get to load up on the Astros.

 

The Sox got owned by Houston last year and are not exactly running away with this series.