Rick Hahn is the last person you should blame

[Jose Abreu]

Look, I'm as frustrated as anyone with this team. But Rick Hahn did a tremendous job over the offseason of putting this roster together. Yes, he should be taking more action now, and I think we'll see some very soon, but coming into the year, I was pleased with his work. Before the season, the general concerns on this site were

-Catcher

-Second base

-Back of rotation

-Bullpen

We were right, as these positions have not performed well for us. However, how could you fault Rick Hahn for the performance of proven veterans? Melky's .240 batting average could not have been predicted, given that he has excelled in recent seasons, even post-steroids. Samardzija is coming off a ~3.00 ERA season, Eaton is supposed to be a .300 hitter, Alexei has never hit this poorly in a season, etc. My point is, it seems as if almost everything has gone wrong this year, but it's not Hahn's fault, because our players are severely underperforming. That is out of his control.

[GreenSox]

The only trade Hahn made in the offseason was bad.

Otherwise, he just signed 4 players, 2 of whom are good, 1 bad and 1 so-so.

He also missed the opportunity to peddle Alexei.

He wasn't able to make small trades to improve C.

He put together a terrible bench.

[TheBlackSox8]

Rick is about the only front office person I'd keep at this moment

[greg775]

Look, I'm as frustrated as anyone with this team. But Rick Hahn did a tremendous job over the offseason of putting this roster together. Yes, he should be taking more action now, and I think we'll see some very soon, but coming into the year, I was pleased with his work. Before the season, the general concerns on this site were

-Catcher

-Second base

-Back of rotation

-Bullpen

We were right, as these positions have not performed well for us. However, how could you fault Rick Hahn for the performance of proven veterans? Melky's .240 batting average could not have been predicted, given that he has excelled in recent seasons, even post-steroids. Samardzija is coming off a ~3.00 ERA season, Eaton is supposed to be a .300 hitter, Alexei has never hit this poorly in a season, etc. My point is, it seems as if almost everything has gone wrong this year, but it's not Hahn's fault, because our players are severely underperforming. That is out of his control.

 

I don't understand posts like this. You are giving him an A for effort basically, a trophy for trying. Just.Win.Baby. Or It's.The.Results.That.Matter. That's Greg's mantra.

Just because Melky and LaRoche have names doesn't mean they'll continue excelling. Paulie suddenly hit the brick wall and couldn't play the game anymore. It takes a special touch from a GM to acquire guys with stuff left in the tank. LaRoche and Melky got little left. It's results that matter. He put together a 100 loss team again, worst team in the American League by far.

Edited June 20, 2015 by greg775

[Jose Abreu]

The only trade Hahn made in the offseason was bad.

Otherwise, he just signed 4 players, 2 of whom are good, 1 bad and 1 so-so.

He also missed the opportunity to peddle Alexei.

He wasn't able to make small trades to improve C.

He put together a terrible bench.

I loved the Bonifacio signing. Ideally, he would have 125+ games under his belt by the end of the year because he'd be the primary backup 2B/SS/3B/LF/CF/RF. Instead, we screwed things up by signing Beckham and basically eliminating Bonifacio's role.

[fathom]

I loved the Bonifacio signing. Ideally, he would have 125+ games under his belt by the end of the year because he'd be the primary backup 2B/SS/3B/LF/CF/RF. Instead, we screwed things up by signing Beckham and basically eliminating Bonifacio's role.

 

Bonifacio has played all season like an alien came and stole all his ability. If they can't trade him soon, he will probably be DFA'd

[Balta1701]

Look, I'm as frustrated as anyone with this team. But Rick Hahn did a tremendous job over the offseason of putting this roster together. Yes, he should be taking more action now, and I think we'll see some very soon, but coming into the year, I was pleased with his work. Before the season, the general concerns on this site were

-Catcher

-Second base

-Back of rotation

-Bullpen

We were right, as these positions have not performed well for us. However, how could you fault Rick Hahn for the performance of proven veterans? Melky's .240 batting average could not have been predicted, given that he has excelled in recent seasons, even post-steroids. Samardzija is coming off a ~3.00 ERA season, Eaton is supposed to be a .300 hitter, Alexei has never hit this poorly in a season, etc. My point is, it seems as if almost everything has gone wrong this year, but it's not Hahn's fault, because our players are severely underperforming. That is out of his control.

So, you're in for "Rick Hahn put together a solid roster but some mysterious effect has somehow managed to impact the entire roster".

 

I assume you're in for "this is all on the team's management and coaching staff and they all need to be gone top to bottom" because that's where your logic leads. What other process could cause the entire roster to underperform so completely?

[Boopa1219]

The only trade Hahn made in the offseason was bad.

Otherwise, he just signed 4 players, 2 of whom are good, 1 bad and 1 so-so.

He also missed the opportunity to peddle Alexei.

He wasn't able to make small trades to improve C.

He put together a terrible bench.

 

The Shark trade was not bad, the Sox got a legit #2 for a few fringe prospects. Actually it was a very good trade.

 

I have said this before and I'll say it again, there is a serious lack of impact Cs across MLB. Teams with good depth at catcher are not going to trade whatever able bodies they have at the position. There are 25 GMs who are not satisfied with their catching situation.

 

If you're going into the season expecting to contend, why trade Alexi?

 

LaRoche was a smart move, one of the few guys on the team doing what he's supposed to do.

 

Robertson has been great too.

 

Hahn had a great offseason, this season rest on the players, that's who I blame.

[Jose Abreu]

So, you're in for "Rick Hahn put together a solid roster but some mysterious effect has somehow managed to impact the entire roster".

 

I assume you're in for "this is all on the team's management and coaching staff and they all need to be gone top to bottom" because that's where your logic leads. What other process could cause the entire roster to underperform so completely?

I don't know, but it's not Rick Hahn. It probably is the coaching staff, but that isn't his fault.

[greg775]

Hahn had a great offseason, this season rest on the players, that's who I blame.

You guys are easy graders. Give Hahn a participation trophy as the bums on the field lose 105 games.

[Jose Abreu]

I'm not saying Rick Hahn is an amazing, top-five GM or anything. I'm just annoyed at all of the comments blaming him instead of the players/coaches.

[caulfield12]

Robertson is nearing bad contract if he can't rediscover his sharp cutter.

Cabrera is 2011 Dunn bad if you look beyond average. In his three seasons prior to the ped's breakout, he was a 20% below average hitter and fielder and now he's even older and doesn't have the motivation of a new contract to play for.

Bonifacio was a total waste of money. Same with Keppinger and Downs.

Samardzija will turn out, at best, as a slight net loss.

The catching and 2b situations are laughably bad...and more examples of terrible development decisions.

Eaton and Avi had to be as good or better than 2014...same with Abreu. Didn't happen.

The Danks contract continues to plague the back end of the rotation.

Held on to Alexei Ramirez too long and will end up with scraps/salary relief at best.

 

The minor league system is a joke at the AAA level...we don't have a single prospect (not even Anderson or Montas) we can count on 100%.

When there was a chance to still save the season, Hahn did absolutely nothing...except the embarassing Sanchez for Micah flip-flop.

Edited June 20, 2015 by caulfield12

[Balta1701]

I don't know, but it's not Rick Hahn. It probably is the coaching staff, but that isn't his fault.

By the way I think Hahn's plan was absolutely terrible and a set of terrible mistakes from top to bottom, but if people want to come out hard for "This would have been a winning roster if they had a decent coaching staff but instead they have the worst" I'm at least going to listen.

[fathom]

I'm not saying Rick Hahn is an amazing, top-five GM or anything. I'm just annoyed at all of the comments blaming him instead of the players/coaches.

 

He did nothing to improve the defense coming into the season. They had to have known how much of a butcher Johnson was at 2nd

[fathom]

Eaton's extension is scary right now, as it seems like he's already pissing off some people in the org. I actually like him and hope he turns it around.

[caulfield12]

The Shark trade was not bad, the Sox got a legit #2 for a few fringe prospects. Actually it was a very good trade.

 

I have said this before and I'll say it again, there is a serious lack of impact Cs across MLB. Teams with good depth at catcher are not going to trade whatever able bodies they have at the position. There are 25 GMs who are not satisfied with their catching situation.

 

If you're going into the season expecting to contend, why trade Alexi?

 

LaRoche was a smart move, one of the few guys on the team doing what he's supposed to do.

 

Robertson has been great too.

 

Hahn had a great offseason, this season rest on the players, that's who I blame.

 

Four blown saves before the All-Star break doesn't scream great. He was great but lost his sharp cutter somewhere along the way. Not sure if it was overuse...but he needs to go to more knuckle curves. The problem is we don't have the catchers to block them.

 

[Jake]

So we gave a bunch of money to Melky who has been horrible, which isn't entirely unsurprising though nobody would have expected him to be THIS bad. We traded our most viable option for 2B for a starting pitcher in the last year of his contract. That pitcher hasn't pitched well and 2B has been an absolute mess. We did not address the catcher position and it has been predictably horrible. We didn't address 3B and it's been bad. We failed to foresee Alexei's fall, ruining the fact he had a great deal of trade value before the season began.

 

I don't necessarily think that Hahn needs to get fired, but Hahn was in charge of putting together a team that was highly likely to be bad and is bad.

[caulfield12]

Yeah, if they're forced to "Nick Swisher" Eaton, that's yet one MORE open position to fill...leaving only Abreu and probably but not 100% certainly Avi Garcia.

 

Two DH's out of position, unfortunately.

[LittleHurt05]

Can we stop with this "the players are under performing" nonsense?

 

Catcher, 3B, 2B are just bad

Alexei is playing worse, but he is also getting old, and that happens

Eaton is unproven, 2014 may have been him over performing

Every recent Cuban hitter has regressed after their first year, it was obvious Abreu wasnt gonna be Miggy again

Danks and Noesi never under performed in the rotation, they aren't good

Robertson is a closer, the most volatile position in baseball

LaRoche is actually performing up to expectations IMO given his age

Zach Duke is Zach Duke

 

Melky is underperforming, even if you ignore steroids, but he's not worth 10 wins

[BigHurt3515]

So we gave a bunch of money to Melky who has been horrible, which isn't entirely unsurprising though nobody would have expected him to be THIS bad. We traded our most viable option for 2B for a starting pitcher in the last year of his contract. That pitcher hasn't pitched well and 2B has been an absolute mess. We did not address the catcher position and it has been predictably horrible. We didn't address 3B and it's been bad. We failed to foresee Alexei's fall, ruining the fact he had a great deal of trade value before the season began.

 

I don't necessarily think that Hahn needs to get fired, but Hahn was in charge of putting together a team that was highly likely to be bad and is bad.

 

Did the front office really think Conor and Beckham would be a good platoon?

[flavum]

I'm a Hahn fan. If by some miracle, he's left without Kenny and Buddy around him, I wouldn't mind if he was in charge of an organizational rebuild.

[BigHurt3515]

Also I am not really happy how they gave up on Micah pretty quick to start the season. They knew in the beginning his defense wasn't good and they demote him for his defense being bad? Come on

[flavum]

Also I am not really happy how they gave up on Micah pretty quick to start the season. They knew in the beginning his defense wasn't good and they demote him for his defense being bad? Come on

 

At the time Sanchez was raking in AAA. It wasn't a bad move considering how bad Johnson was defensively. He was terrible.

[fathom]

At the time Sanchez was raking in AAA. It wasn't a bad move considering how bad Johnson was defensively. He was terrible.

 

Which goes back to the inability of this organization to develop anyone on the offensive side.

[BigHurt3515]

At the time Sanchez was raking in AAA. It wasn't a bad move considering how bad Johnson was defensively. He was terrible.

 

I understand but don't demote for the thing you knew he was bad at from the beginning. Why even start him with the MLB team to begin with? He was hitting .270 and getting on base more then most on the team from the 9 spot.