Who is to blame for Chicago White Sox' third straight losing season?

Typically meeting with the media twice a month through the season for progress reports, Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn was consistent with one message: Manager Robin Ventura was not the problem.

On May 5, when the Sox were saddled with an 8-14 record, Hahn was asked if Ventura was to blame for the poor start.

"Make one individual the focal point?" Hahn asked back. "I don't think that's fair."

On June 17, the White Sox still were spinning their wheels at 28-35.

"Ultimately, it is the players between the lines who bear the responsibility for their own performance," Hahn said.

Through July, August, September and into October, the revamped roster continued to receive the most blame. When it ended Sunday, the Sox (76-86) headed home with their third straight losing season in tow.

Since winning the World Series 10 years ago, the White Sox have made one playoff appearance (2008) and won one game.

Bench coach Mark Parent was the lone nonroster casualty this year. He was let go last Thursday. Assistant hitting coach Harold Baines also is out, but he will remain with the organization in an ambassador role.

Sifting back through the rubble of a season that started with legitimate playoff potential, there is little doubt that key additions such as Jeff Samardzija (11-13, 4.96 ERA), Adam LaRoche (.207, 12 home runs, 44 RBI), David Robertson (6-5, 3.41 ERA, 7 blown saves), Melky Cabrera (.273, 12 HRs, 77 RBI) and Zach Duke (3-6, 3.41 ERA) did not come close to meeting expectations.

"We just didn't play well this year," said Robertson, who signed a four-year, $49 million free-agent contract last December. "I myself have had the worst year I've had I think in my entire major-league career. I'm obviously mad about it, but there's nothing I can do at this point except put a lot of hard work into the off-season and be prepared for what hopefully will be a good season next year."

Blame the players, and Hahn also blames himself.

"That's the main thing that keeps me up," the Sox' GM said Friday in his final session with the media. "That's the main thing that makes me feel accountable for what has gone on here.

"Yes, I think there are areas we can improve. I think there's obviously a feeling that we can improve the coaching staff and the support that Robin's getting. There are areas that I've mentioned where Robin needs to improve.

"But fundamentally the players didn't achieve at the level that I individually expected them to. I put that on me. I don't put that on anybody else. There are areas where I need to improve and get us to the point where we're making the right personnel decisions and guys are living up to the expectations."

With a core of players headed by Chris Sale, Jose Abreu, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton already in place, Hahn seemed set on gradually mixing in younger talent such as Carlos Rodon and Trayce Thompson.

But in an attempt to end the lengthy playoff drought, Hahn added $30 million to the payroll last winter with rapid-fire splashy moves.

"I do take some level of solace that it wasn't just us heading into this season, it wasn't just White Sox personnel that had these high expectations, it was throughout the game," Hahn said. "People believed we had a successful off-season, that we continued to build this thing in the right direction.

"But we didn't meet them, so there are repercussions both from a personnel standpoint and there are repercussions from an operational standpoint going forward."

Instead of spending big for more outside help this off-season, don't be surprised if the Sox make headlines by declining shortstop Alexei Ramirez's $10 million club option for 2016, trading disappointing right fielder Avisail Garcia while trying to figure out how to get better at catcher, third base and second base.

"We tried to accelerate the process last off-season and it didn't work," Hahn said. "That doesn't change the fact that the goal remains of putting ourselves in the position to contend on an annual basis and that we've been able to at least take steps toward that goal.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us to continue that, and we did not meet our own expectations. But we still feel we're in a position where we're headed in the right direction."