Shut up, Rick Hahn!

Rick Hahn

Didn't it seem as though the White Sox were always destined for 81-81? 

By my count, they were at exactly .500 on 28 occasions during the 2022 season, so it's fitting that they ended up at, well, 81-81.

The Sox briefly pulled their record over the .500 mark by winning the first two games of their season-ending three-game series against the Minnesota Twins. Alas, the Twins won, 10-1, in Wednesday's series and season finale, sentencing the 2022 Sox to .500 for all eternity.

This team has earned that fate, because they arrogantly thought they could defend their 2021 AL Central title with minimal effort. The Sox always had that "No worries, we got this attitude," and it was to the point where I often thought, "I don't think they've got this. They just think they do." 

The "big run" was always said to be right around the corner, but it never came. There was always "time" to make a push until there wasn't time. The Sox were an arrogant, overconfident team, and that starts with general manager Rick Hahn.

I've lost track of how many times he's spoken of "competing for multiple championships." He's said it so many times that it's become a cliche. Other phrases such as "talk to me after the parade" and "World Series or bust" have been used time and again.

Here's my reaction to all that talk: Just shut up, Rick Hahn. 

The Sox are not the Houston Astros, the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Sox are not in the playoffs every year. They have never even won their division two seasons in a row in their 122-year history. You don't get to say "World Series or bust" unless you are a perennial power that knows it will be playing in October on a near-annual basis.

The Sox are simply not that team. They shouldn't be worried about anything other than trying to win their next game, and this whole strategy of "playing the long game" and "trying to have guys rested and ready for October" blew up in their faces this season. There is no October baseball to be played in Chicago. At least not playoff baseball.

It should be humbling, but Hahn's quotes from his end-of-year press conference Monday still projected arrogance. Here's a statement that caught my attention:

"Two years ago, our baseball operations department was getting nods for executive of the year. A year ago we won the division by whatever, 11 or 12 games, and this year we were picked for being in the World Series, and now we’re being asked if we should be in our jobs."

Guess what, Hahn? You're damn right we're asking whether you should be in your job!

You've been the general manager for 10 years, and you've had a grand total of two winning seasons. TWO!!! And one of them was a pandemic-shortened 60-game season where your team ran out of gas and blew the AL Central title in the last 10 days of the schedule.

Your regime has produced a grand total of two playoff appearances in 10 years, and two playoff wins -- one in 2020 and one in 2021. The Sox still haven't won a playoff series since 2005.

In your 10 years on the job, the Sox have gone 700-817. That's a .461 winning percentage. GMs who win at such a low level generally don't stay employed for a full decade. 

You have no idea how lucky you are that you work for Jerry Reinsdorf, who never fires anybody no matter how incompetent they are. And you sit there and smugly assert that you're above reproach because you've managed one division championship during your tenure -- and that one division championship team got its ass summarily kicked in the first round of the playoffs.

Nothing of substance has been accomplished here, and I'm tired of hearing about how awesome this team supposedly is going to be. Put up some results for once. That means getting to the playoffs AND winning once you get there.

Until then, shut up, Rick Hahn!