Still seeking first winning season as Sox GM, Hahn alters outlook this year
If there's one general manager in baseball who has a genuine hankering for wins, it's the White Sox's Rick Hahn.
It's been a rough ride since he stepped in for Kenny Williams right after the 2012 season ended. Not only were the Sox 491-642 heading into this year under Hahn, they had a run of seven straight losing seasons.
The 49-year-old GM finally had enough of the constant badness midway through the 2016 season, deeming the floundering franchise "mired in mediocrity."
After the White Sox ended the year with a 78-84 record and replaced manager Robin Ventura with Rick Renteria, Hahn started trading one veteran player after another.
That resulted in a three-year rebuild that finally ended after the 2019 season and set the Sox up for good things this year and beyond.
Through the first third of the short season, the White Sox have shown flashes of being a dangerous team. They can hit for serious power and have a nice roster mix of rising young stars and established older players.
The Sox also have been hampered by inconsistent play and injuries, the main reasons they headed into Monday night's game against the Tigers with an 11-11 record.
They managed to nudge their way back over the .500 mark with a 7-2 win over Detroit.
After tying a major-league record with 4 straight home runs in Sunday's victory over the Cardinals, the White Sox were mashing again vs. the Tigers in their second straight win.
Tim Anderson led off the game with a homer and Yoan Moncada followed with another one off Detroit starter Matthew Boyd.
The Sox's power surge continued throughout the game. Anderson added a solo shot in the second inning, Luis Robert had 2 home runs that traveled a combined 829 feet and Danny Mendick hit his first major-league homer.
There is still plenty of time left on the abbreviated calendar for the White Sox to reach their heightened expectations, and no one would be happier than Hahn.
But in this delicate season where COVID-19 always seems to be lurking around the corner, Hahn has adjusted his outlook.
"We're fortunate as an organization, we're fortunate as baseball fans, to be playing right now," the Sox's GM said. "There are a tremendous amount of hurdles out there in the world that could have derailed this season. I think Major League Baseball, the players association, the players, the coaches all deserve a ton of credit for getting us to the point where we're all able to actually have competitive games."
Winning would be great, but Hahn has a firm grasp on the bigger picture. Keeping everyone coronavirus free is the No. 1 concern.
"It's a reminder not to get perhaps too wrapped up in what's going on on a nightly basis because there's a lot of challenges associated with just getting them out on the field right now," Hahn said. "The greater benefit to the organization in being able to play any games this year, much less play 60 and hopefully into October, makes the sort of day-to-day unrest in terms of managing a roster worthwhile."