Margalus: Avert your eyes: An accounting of White Sox free agents in the Rick Hahn era
From SABR member Jim Margalus at Sox Machine on November 8, 2019:
Back on South Side Sox in June of 2016, Larry wrote an open letter to Jerry Reinsdorf saying it was time for him to scrap the White Sox front office due to the horrendous track record it accumulated since Kenny Williams moved upstairs and yielded the general manager’s seat to Rick Hahn. Larry presented a tabulation of all of Hahn’s moves, and Hahn came out with a measly 15 Wins Above Replacement for all his struggles with trades and free agency. Worse yet, Jose Abreu and Adam Eaton accounted for 17.4 of those wins, which means everybody else was cumulatively underwater.
Obviously, Reinsdorf has not made such changes. He did opt to pull the plug on the cost-controlled core and rebuild for a second time after that season, but he kept the architects of the first rebuild in place. The continuity keeps Larry’s missive relevant years later, especially since they haven’t yet threatened a winning record.
The White Sox’s historical inability to acquire productive MLB players at digestible costs is why I’ve been bearish about their chances of succeeding with this rebuild, especially since a rough year on the farm wiped out their margin for error solving problems from within, or using extra prospects for trades.
Read the full article here: https://www.soxmachine.com/2019/11/08/avert-your-eyes-an-accounting-of-white-sox-free-agents-in-the-rick-hahn-era/
Originally published: November 8, 2019. Last Updated: November 8, 2019.