HOUSTON -- The words “mired in mediocrity” were uttered by Rick Hahn in late July during the 2016 season.
Just three words, brought up by a frustrated and largely disappointed White Sox senior vice president/general manager while speaking to the media at Guaranteed Rate Field. Those words ultimately changed the course for a current group now making its first back-to-back playoff appearances in franchise history.
“I got in trouble for that one right after I said it,” Hahn told MLB.com during a recent interview. “The funny thing is, I think what was in my head, the mediocrity comment, it was a conversation with [White Sox chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] earlier that day, where I believe he was the one who said we are awfully mediocre right now.
“Later my little media scrum, I publicly say that and frankly at the time, I didn’t necessarily realize I said that and [vice president of communications Scott] Reifert grabbed me afterwards and said, ‘Did you really have to use alliteration?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he said how mired in mediocrity will be repeated many times.”
That 2016 White Sox squad had a record of 23-10 on May 9 and sat atop the American League Central by six games. The bullpen gave up seven runs in the eighth inning as part of a 13-11 loss to Texas the following night, and by June 19, Chicago had dipped to 33-36 and 5 1/2 games out of first.
Good enough to not be great, with the top of the roster strong but no real alternatives behind them to handle situations if adversity arose. Or as Hahn put it, mired in mediocrity.
“It was honest. It was authentic,” Hahn said. “It was based upon conversations that Jerry and [executive vice president] Kenny [Williams] and I had about where we were as an organization.
“We didn’t have depth as an organization needed to be a championship club. We knew we had to take a step back to build that up properly.”
The rebuild
Chris Sale rates as one of the top three of four pitchers in franchise history. So, the White Sox certainly weren’t going to trade him just to trade him. The concept holds true for every veteran the club moved during the gradual build of this immense talent pool. There was a group of potential acquisitions and a plan designed behind each deal.
Sale doesn’t go to Boston without current third baseman Yoán Moncada being part of that deal, according to Hahn. The same holds true for right-handed pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López in the Adam Eaton trade with Washington coming the day after Sale at the 2016 Winter Meetings, and left fielder Eloy Jiménez and right-hander Dylan Cease in the Jose Quintana trade with the Cubs. It was a necessity at the time, but certainly not where the White Sox wanted to be.
“You don’t like that at all. You don’t want to be in that position,” Hahn said. “You know you want to be in the Red Sox's position in that deal. You want to be in the Nationals' position in that deal. You want to be the team having realistic World Series aspirations and you are adding the premium piece, not the one building up for the future.
“There was no doubt in our mind it was the right thing to do. The way the team has been playing now and what we at least look like on paper going forward, those decisions paid off. But at the time, there’s absolutely a level of discomfort in moving talented core pieces some of whom are building Hall of Fame resumes along the way.”
The players
All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson recently admitted to not seeing the front office vision at the outset of the rebuild.
“I was obviously just thinking within the organization, but to see some of the trades and some of the free-agent signings that we have got, it definitely shows that they’re the guys with the plan,” Anderson said. “I guess it wasn’t for me to see, but now I do see it.
“I’m excited and couldn’t be more happy to be right in the middle of it. Hopefully, we can keep continuing to come together and try to succeed those plans, and take care of business.”
Anderson began his Major League career in 2016, and he has become the driving force of the White Sox. José Abreu, one of the most consistent middle-of-the-order presences in the last eight years and a true team leader, understood the developing talent in this group enough to joke he would sign himself back with the organization if he wasn’t re-upped as a free agent after the 2019 season.
Growing pains have existed for almost all of this elite young talent to get to this point. Lucas Giolito’s rough 2018 season is talked about on a commercial, which also mentions how he’s become one of the top starting pitchers in the game with a second season of at least 200 strikeouts in ’21 and a 2.65 ERA over 13 second-half starts.
They developed together. They lost together and now they are winning together, and ready for more.
“During Spring Training this year, it was the first time I could say, the rebuilding process is already done,” Moncada said through interpreter Billy Russo. “All the prospects are ready to help us and contribute, and all the pieces fit. All throughout the years, I found out that process was good for us. It brought us to where we are right now.”
“Before I signed with this team, everybody was telling me that they need me here because they had a good group of young guys and that I was supposed to be a key to that group to help that team to win championships,” Luis Robert, a key international addition, said through Russo. “Since that moment, I’ve been thinking of how good this team is and all the things that this team can do.”
The present and future
Optimism began for this White Sox team in 2019. Adding important veteran pieces to this young core became just as crucial to what they hope is a championship process.
This plan didn’t work to perfection. The pursuits of right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler and infielder Manny Machado in free agency were not achieved. But the White Sox made the right moves in signing catcher Yasmani Grandal and closer Liam Hendriks, as well as trading for starter Lance Lynn.
“Let’s stack up as many good decisions as we can on top of each other and then look up and see what we need to augment from the outside to make it work,” Hahn said. “Those were important pillars. It’s imperative we have not only those homegrown key guys that we can build upon like the Moncadas and Roberts, and Eloys and Giolitos, but we still had to augment this thing properly.”
With young core players such as Anderson, Robert, Jiménez, Moncada and reliever Aaron Bummer under contractual control, the White Sox competitive window has just opened. They are no longer mired in mediocrity, as their 93 wins have proven, but there’s still work to be done.
“We are going to have to be blessed with some good luck along the way, both from a health and development standpoint, and need to continue to hopefully make good decisions to augment this group and keep it rolling,” Hahn said. “We’ve got a fair amount of work ahead of us over the next several weeks, hopefully make a deep run.
“No one is going to rest in that clubhouse on what we already accomplished over the next few weeks. But it’s the same deal with the front office and our scouts, and our player development people. We can’t rest on back-to-back playoff appearances or winning this division or expecting more success to come just because we necessarily roll out the same group.”