Great city. Loyal owner. Weak division.
The White Sox job doesn’t sound so bad, no?
Well, if the team was in even halfway decent shape, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf would not have stunned the baseball world Tuesday night by firing both executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn, effective immediately.
The White Sox, 49-77 and 16 games out of first place in the AL Central, are a hot mess. They admit to culture problems in their clubhouse. Even after acquiring numerous prospects at the deadline, their farm system ranks only 22nd in the majors, according to Baseball America. In the perception of rival clubs, their analytics department and overall infrastructure are lacking.
And yet, five rival executives contacted by The Athletic on Tuesday night see the White Sox’s opening as more appealing than the average fan might think. The executives, granted anonymity so they could speak candidly, view the White Sox as almost a sleeping giant.
“So much upside to that place,” one executive said.
Reinsdorf, 87, is “definitely the X factor,” another exec said. Will the chairman continue to spend? How will he allow his new head of baseball operations to operate? What will be his input on baseball decisions? Does he recognize how big a project turning around his franchise will be?
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 22, 2023
Still, Reinsdorf’s employees rarely complain about him. If anything, just the opposite is the case. So, if Reinsdorf gives his new executive reasonable latitude — the team’s announcement said it anticipates putting a single decision-maker in place by the end of the season — then the other parts of the job should only add to its appeal.
The White Sox play in the largest market in the AL Central. They opened the season with a $181 million payroll, the highest in the division and 13th-highest in the majors. Both East and West divisions feature big spenders, and the Cubs in the NL Central also are capable of flexing financial muscle. The other four teams in the AL Central, meanwhile, all rank in the bottom half in payroll.
Such clubs thrive only when they consistently develop young talent. Yet, none of the White Sox’s division rivals is strong enough in that regard to give the appearance of an emerging juggernaut along the lines of the Orioles or Reds. The Guardians are probably the closest thing to such an organization. But even their farm system ranks only 13th, according to Baseball America. The Tigers are 16th, the Twins 17th, the Royals 29th.
The inability of the White Sox to separate from such competition is what finally prompted Reinsdorf to dump Williams, who was with the team for more than 30 years, and Hahn, who was with the club for more than 20. Things turned quickly for the White Sox. But they also turned dramatically. And now the team again must rebuild a roster that is woefully short on pitching, and plays among the worst defense in the majors.
Only two years ago, the White Sox won the Central before falling to the Astros in the Division Series. Center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and first baseman Andrew Vaughn since have emerged as core pieces, along with right-hander Dylan Cease, the 2022 AL Cy Young runner-up. Designated hitter Eloy Jiménez and righty Michael Kopech probably fit in that group as well, as does left fielder Andrew Benintendi, who is signed through 2027.
That’s not awful, particularly with the young talent coming. Shortstop Colson Montgomery and left-hander Noah Schultz, the team’s first-round picks in 2021 and ‘22, both are top 100 prospects. Catcher Edgar Quero, the centerpiece of the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo López deal, gives the White Sox another top 100 player. The trades at the deadline also brought lefty Jake Eder from the Marlins (for Jake Burger) and righty Nick Nastrini (in the Lance Lynn/Joe Kelly deal).
“They need a lot of help in terms of building up their prospect base but their major-league team is talented and just needs different tweaks and building out of the roster,” one executive said.
Who might do that building? Reinsdorf, an old-school baseball traditionalist, would seem unlikely to hire a rising young hotshot as his GM. Regardless, it’s not as if he will be short on candidates, even though former Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns seems ticketed for the Mets and Nationals GM Mike Rizzo likely will stay put unless his negotiations for an extension fall apart.
Dayton Moore, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol’s old boss with the Royals, could be one possibility. Jon Daniels, formerly with the Rangers, and Michael Hill, formerly with the Marlins, are worth investigating. Lest anyone forget, James Click won a World Series with the Astros just last season. And Zack Scott, who was the acting Mets GM for most of 2021, could get another look. Scott lost his job because of a DWI arrest, but a judge later acquitted him of that charge and a lesser one for driving while ability impaired.
Reinsdorf might settle on someone else entirely, perhaps a top assistant with a successful club. In any case, as bleak as the landscape appears on the South Side, as much work as the White Sox need to do, people in baseball view the job as far from hopeless.
“You add it all up,” one exec said, “and I think it’s up there as one of the best.”
(Photo of Jerry Reinsdorf, left, and Rob Manfred: Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)