'Put it on me': Sox GM Hahn takes blame for team's worst start since 1950
The White Sox gutted the roster in 2016 and '17, opting for a rebuild and bringing in a boatload of young talent.
Pedro Grifol is their third manager in the last four seasons.
Off to their worst start since 1950, irate Sox fans are calling for another change — this time at the top.
Earlier this week, vice president Kenny Williams told the Chicago Sun-Times the heat should be on if the White Sox don't pull out of an ugly tailspin.
Thursday night's 14-5 loss to Tampa Bay at Guaranteed Rate was the Sox's eighth in a row, dropping them to 7-19.
It's gotten so bad, fans wearing paper bags over their heads were spotted in the announced crowd of 11,060.
Before the game, general manager Rick Hahn stood up and pointed a finger at himself.
“Put it on me,” Hahn said. “That's the job. It's the absolute gig. Put it on me. I'll tell you this, let's make this real clear, it sure as heck isn't on Pedro and his coaching staff. They are doing everything in their power to prepare, focus on what's controllable, what's fixable, addressing the problems as they arise.
“Ultimately, it's the players who play the game and when they don't achieve at the level we've projected, they certainly bear a level of responsibility for that. But at the end of the day, the people who put the players on the roster, put them on the field, are the ones who bear the responsibility if that group doesn't achieve. That's me. That's fine.”
Like Williams and Grifol, Hahn still thinks it's too early in the long season to call for any drastic changes.
“We're upset,” the GM said. “We're feeling every emotion in the book, ranging from rage to disappointment and we've done perhaps the exact opposite of what we set out to do in terms of regaining our fans' confidence and trust in what we're about here. At the end of the day, we have to win. That's the way we're going to earn this back. We can sit here and talk about how it's early.
“We can sit here and talk about all these other teams that had rough starts but still turned it around and even won World Series after those rough starts. But in the end, it's not going to matter unless we start winning ballgames.”
The Sox haven't come close to winning lately, but maybe that will change when the rugged schedule softens up.
If it doesn't, and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf gets rid of Williams and Hahn — the duo have combined for almost 50 years in the White Sox's front office — it will be a dramatic change.
“I want to make something abundantly clear, I'm not a king,” Hahn said. “I don't sit in this chair by divine birthright. It's an absolute privilege to be general manager of the White Sox, one that I need to continue to earn. It's pro sports. These things eventually come to an end and never once has any decision that I have been involved in making has my job status had anything to do with what decision we make. It's about doing what's best for the organization based on the possibilities on the table at this time.
“But the day I assumed this job or anyone assumes a general manager's job, you know it's going to end at some point. Never has it been my focus and it's not today.”
In Thursday's loss to Tampa Bay, at least the Sox scored some runs coming off back-to-back shutouts at Toronto.
But Jake Burger's solo home run and RBI double weren't nearly enough to beat a Rays team that owns the best record (21-5) in baseball.
“Just bad,” White Sox starter Dylan Cease said after allowing 7 runs (6 earned) in 4 innings. “Didn't give us a chance to win. Just bad all around. We've got a lot of professional guys in here, we're not sulking or anything. We want to fix it, so were going to keep working and eventually figure something out.”