Spiegel: Sox should follow Blackhawks' model

Rocky Wirtz knew the Blackhawks needed fixing, and he didn't have the plan or the people in house to do it.

As we celebrate a remarkable transformation from irrelevance to dynasty, among the lessons to glean is this: steal from the best.

Rocky needed a marketing and financial model. He grabbed John McDonough from the Cubs, coming off a 24-year run that included the creation of the Cubs Convention, massive attendance records and the remarkable evolution of Wrigleyville. Together, they rebranded the Hawks as forward thinking and welcoming.

Rocky needed a talent evaluator and cap whiz to mold a young core into a winner. He promoted Stan Bowman from assistant general manager, and they wooed Stan's father, Scotty, out of retirement. The Detroit Red Wings model was co-opted by the man who had built it.

Hawks legend Denis Savard was not the right coach. Rocky went and got Joel Quenneville, who had coached his teams to the playoffs nine times and won a Cup as an assistant in Colorado.

What is all this hockey doing in a baseball column?

Jerry Reinsdorf is the most successful owner in the history of Chicago sports. But his beloved White Sox are broken. They need a massive overhaul. The men to fix it may not be within his organization. The methodology certainly is not.

The Sox need to do things differently. They need to rebuild and reprioritize the minor leagues. The annual attempt at piecing together a winner from scraps is blowing up in their face worse than ever in 2015.

Reinsdorf's legendary loyalty can come at a cost to success.

Former Sox players Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen were allowed to coexist for far too long. Former Sox player Robin Ventura is simply not a good manager. The time to make a move in hopes of sparking this particular team was six weeks ago.

Go higher. Williams consistently overlooked and undervalued the accumulation of true prospects.

Doug Laumann has worked for the Sox for more than twodecades, the last eight seasons as director of Amateur Scouting. Credit him with Chris Sale if you like. But he also oversaw Sox drafts from 2001-2003. e've seen a steady parade of outfielders who don't amount to much.

Rick Hahn is a smart man, and I think he knew the way things should be done when he was given this job. I think he was not allowed to do it. So he tried to middle it, working on lower levels of the farm system while trading for ready-made plug-ins at the big league level. The results are disastrous.

The owner has not been willing to go backward to eventually move forward. Yes, there was the White Flag Trade in 1997, but that's a long time ago. If that unwillingness was mixed with a fear of losing on the big league level while not drawing crowds, well, that's happening anyway.

The only way to truly get better long term is to draft great talent and develop it well.

From 1987 to 1990, Larry Himes took the following players in the first round: Jack McDowell, Ventura, Frank Thomas, and Alex Fernandez. A foundation.

There were 33 first-rounders (including compensation picks) between Fernandez in 1990 and Sale in 2011. Of those players, here are the career leaders in rWAR (wins above replacement) according to Baseball-Reference.com:

• Aaron Rowand 20.8 (5 seasons with the Sox)

• Gio Gonzalez 17.1 (Traded away, twice)

• Kip Wells 7.2

• Gordon Beckham 6.8

• Bobby Seay 3.0

That's the Top 5; the best of 33 players chosen over 21 years.

Among all MLB teams from 1991 to 2011, the cumulative rWAR for Sox first-rounders (regardless of where and for whom they played) is third from the bottom.

Reinsdorf needs to empower Hahn to do what must be done. Allot resources toward scouting and drafting, not mid-level free agents. It is a distinctly non-White Sox way of doing things.

Hahn has started, is trying, and will need more help; get him some of the best and brightest of organizations that know how to do this.

Do what the model franchise in this town did. Go get smarter from the outside.

• Matt Spiegel co-hosts "The Spiegel & Goff Show" 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday-Friday on WSCR 670-AM. Follow him on Twitter @mattspiegel670.