MANY bouquets being thrown at Rick Hahn's feet for trading two under-market contracted pitchers and an under-market paid RF to restock a farm system.

I am confused why there is so much faith and exuberance behind Rick Hahn. He couldn't field a winning team with Sale, Quintana and Eaton. What track record does "Geghis" Hahn (as Sox fans have begun to affectionately call him) have that fans feel so confident in a successful rebuild?

Are you just being dense? No matter how much the "stat guys" probably hate it, the Sox probably have the best rated farm system in baseball now. He did it by only trading one true superstar and without a year of "intentional tanking" as this year really hasn't had the effect of a top draft pick that pretty much starts off as a high rated prospect.

At the end of last season, many, and maybe even you, doubted the White Sox even HAD a plan to move forward.

Of course it may not work. As leash points out all the time, the baseball playoffs are pretty random.

Here's the thing. If this works, you have to credit Kenny for a few things.

The acquisitions of Sale (great draft pick) Quintana (rule 5) and Eaton were all great moves that paved the way for this rebuild.

He's been tanking for 5 years, whether it's intentional or not is irrelevant, in fact, it's more embarrassing if he was trying to win.

Are you just being dense? No matter how much the "stat guys" probably hate it, the Sox probably have the best rated farm system in baseball now. He did it by only trading one true superstar and without a year of "intentional tanking" as this year really hasn't had the effect of a top draft pick that pretty much starts off as a high rated prospect.

At the end of last season, many, and maybe even you, doubted the White Sox even HAD a plan to move forward.

Of course it may not work. As leash points out all the time, the baseball playoffs are pretty random.

I'm concerned as to why Hahn is being trusted with the rebuild.

He inherited Sale, Quintana, made a fantastic trade for Eaton and then signed Abreu.

Once the waves and waves of talent begin arriving to the MLB...most fans be ecstatic with a core equal to those four players. So you're right back in the exact position of the past 3-4 years.


I wouldn't place any faith in Hahn. He's a smooth talker with no results.

I find it sad that skeptics who enjoy calling out BS like good dolphin or BRick bend the knee and kiss the ring of Hahn simply because he possesses degrees from Michigan, Harvard and Northwestern.

I expect that behavior from Dan Bernstein but I'm surprised to see the same from MANY on the board.

Well, I'm still under the impression that trading with Theo means you probably lost the trade.

Theo does seem to be emptying out the farm system for one last run before he moves on though so maybe it will work.

If you notice, Theo doesn't really draft or internationally sign Pitchers. So is it really a loss trading with him?

I think you're wrong on Collins but the rest of this is correct. The accolades being given to him over this is insane. It's like the last four years never happened.

I think this is the first year (going back to last offseason) where Hahn has really had full control of the roster and moves to make. The Smaardjzjzja, Melky, LaRoche, Frazier, Ventura, and Robertson moves were all Kenny calls IMO.

I think Hahn deserves the benefit of the doubt, and so far he has done a great job trying to set up this team for the future.

He was the GM for those moves. His signature was on them. If he's as smart as people like to think he wouldn't be attaching his name and resume to another guy's moves.

Even if that is true, he wouldn't be the first sports executive that suddenly started doing good work after 4 years of poor results.

Sure. There's just not a ton of skill involved in trading good players for worse, younger players who might one day be good.

So there wasn't a lot of skill in trading for Adam Eaton, or signing Jose Abreu out of Cuba and Jose Quintana as a minor league free agent?

Sure. There's just not a ton of skill involved in trading good players for worse, younger players who might one day be good.

You could say this about virtually everything a GM does.

Considering all the moves surrounding those moves? I'd lean towards it being more on the luck side of the spectrum. The overall body of work is very poor.

Right. That's why you look at an overall body of work instead of one or two moves. We know Rick Hahn can strip down an underachieving team and get applause from the press in the process, because nowadays GMs are lauded every time they make their team worse. We have no idea if he can build a winning team. So far it looks like he can't. I hope I'm wrong obviously and he's every bit the genius people are pretending he is.

Well, I'm still under the impression that trading with Theo means you probably lost the trade.

Theo does seem to be emptying out the farm system for one last run before he moves on though so maybe it will work.