White Sox Fire Ken Williams Rick Hahn White Sox Fire Ken Williams Rick Hahn

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The White Sox are overhauling their front office. The club announced Tuesday evening that both team president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn have been relieved of their responsibilities. This is an incredibly difficult decision for me to make because they are both talented individuals with long-term relationships at the White Sox , said chairman Jerry Reinsdorf in a pre-prepared statement. Ken is like a son to me, and I will always consider him a member of my family. I want to personally thank Ken and Rick for all they have done for the Chicago White Sox, winning the 2005World Series and reaching the postseason multiple times during their tenures. While we have enjoyed succe ses as an organization and were optimistic headed into the competitive window of this rebuild, thisyear has proven very disappointing for us all on many levels. This has led me to the conclusion that the best decision for theorganization moving forward is to make a change in our baseball operations leadership. As Reinsdorf indicated, both Williams and Hahn were longtime members of the franchise. The former played for the Sox for a few seasons during the 1980s and rejoined the club when he began a scouting career in 1992. By the second half of the decade, hed worked his way into the front office and took over as general manager headed into the 2001 season. Williams spent over a decade leading baseball operations. The Sox hovered around .500 for his first few years at the helm before breaking through with a 99-win campaign in 05, the second year of Ozzie Guillns managerial tenure. They won the AL Central and went on a torrid postseason run, dropping just one of 12 games en route to a sweep of the Astros in the Fall Cla sic. It was the Soxs first championship since 1917, snapping an 87-year drought that stands as the second-longest in MLB history. The White Sox didnt find consistent succe s following that title, however. Theyd make the playoffs once more in 08 losing to the Rays in the Division Series before Williams ceded more control of daily baseball operations to Hahn after the 2012 campaign. The White Sox promoted Williams to executive vice president while bringing Hahn up as general manager. The latter was no stranger to the organization himself, having spent a decade in the front office prior to his GM nod. The Sox slumped to a 63-win campaign in 2013. Despite the signing of to a $68MM deal that immediately paid off when he won Rookie of the Year in his debut campaign the next season, Chicago remained below .500 through 2016. They firmly kicked off a rebuild during the 2016-17 offseason. Williams Merrill Kelly Jersey and Hahn orchestrated trades of and that winter and moved the ensuing June. Those deals brought in players like , , , , and to join Abreu, and international amateur signee as the core of what the club hoped to be a long-term contender. That group indeed got the Sox back to the playoffs. They qualified for the expanded postseason in 2020 and won 93 games en route to a division title two years ago. Neither team won a playoff round, though, and the organization has stagnated in the year and a half since their division win. Chicago mi sed the playoffs last season with a .500 record. The Sox made a bit of an offseason push to try to turn their fortunes last winter, headlined by a $75MM free agent contract for that somewhat remarkably stands as the largest investment in franchise history. Yet the Benintendi signing hasnt panned out in year one hes hitting a slightly below-average .274/.338/.356 in 117 games and the team as a whole has had a dismal season. Chicago e sentially played their way out of a winnable division within a month, running an 8-21 record through the end of April. The only time they got above .500 was after an Opening Day win. That left the Sox positioned as deadline sellers, moving Giolito, Lpez, , , , and for younger talent. Chicago didnt fully commit to another teardown they held onto Cease, Robert and Jimnez but it neverthele s marked a disappointing admi sion their prior rebuild hasnt established the long-term consistency theyd envisioned. Reinsdorf entrusted Williams and Hahn to oversee their deadline activity but decided to go in a different direction as they look to return to competitivene s. The clubs statement indicated they expect to have a new baseball operations leader in place by the end of the season. Theres no indication theyll tab anyone to serve as GM on an interim basis, although Bruce Levine of 670 The Score that a sistant GMs Chris Getz and Jeremy Haber will retain their positions. Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggests ( ) that Getz could receive some consideration for the full-time GM job. Its far too soon to identify any kind of frontrunner and its not clear if the White Sox will prioritize an in-house candidate or look outside the organization. Whomever is tabbed as GM seems likely to work with manager Pedro Grifol; Nightengale that Chicago currently envisions retaining Grifol for a second season. The White Sox hired the former Royals catching coach last winter after Tony La Ru sa stepped down because of health reasons. The start of Grifols tenure hasnt gone particularly smoothly. The club has the third-worst record in the American League at 49-76. Middleton and Lynn at the Soxs clubhouse culture after being traded elsewhere. Hahn defended Grifols leadership at the time, noting that overhauling an organizational culture can take some time. Grifol and his coaching staff will focus on playing out the final few weeks of the season while Reinsdorf evaluates the franchises long-term plan. Its the biggest front office shakeup for the organization in over two decades, one they hope will set the stage for more sustained succe s in the coming years. Image courtesy of USAToday Sports. J.b. Wendelken Jersey