‘Put it on me’: Chicago White Sox GM Rick Hahn takes responsibility for the team’s worst start since 1950

Rick Hahn made it clear.

“Put it on me,” the Chicago White Sox general manager said Thursday when asked about the team’s rough start. “That’s the job. It’s the absolute gig.”

Entering the opener of a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Guaranteed Rate Field, the Sox found themselves with their worst 25-game start since 1986 at 7-18.

“Put it on me,” Hahn continued. “I’ll tell you this, let’s make this real clear, it sure as heck isn’t on (manager) Pedro (Grifol) and his coaching staff. They are doing everything in their power to prepare, focus on what’s controllable, what’s fixable, addressing the problems as they arise. And are really doing everything in their power to get this thing right. It’s absolutely not on the manager and the coaches.

“Ultimately it’s the players who play the game, and when they don’t achieve at the level we’ve projected, they certainly bare a level of responsibility for that. But at the end of the day, the people who put the players on the roster, put them on the field, are the ones who bear the responsibility if that group doesn’t achieve. That’s me. That’s fine.”

The Rays added to it Thursday, roughing up Sox ace Dylan Cease for seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in four-plus innings in a 14-5 rout. Seven Sox pitchers allowed 16 hits in the team’s eighth consecutive loss and 13th in 15 games, falling 12 games under .500.

The 7-19 start is the team’s worst through 26 games since 1950, when they opened 6-20.

Meeting with reporters before the opener of a seven-game homestand, Hahn addressed a number of topics pertaining to the struggling Sox.

“When you said who’s responsible for this and I said ‘Me,’ that makes it clear that my job is potentially on the line,” Hahn said. “But I want to make something abundantly clear: I’m not a king. I don’t sit in this chair by divine birthright. It’s an absolute privilege to be general manager of the White Sox, one that I need to continue to earn. It’s pro sports. These things eventually come to an end and never once has any decision that I have been involved in making has my job status had anything to do with what decision we make. It’s about doing what’s best for the organization based on the possibilities on the table at this time.

“But the day I assumed this job or anyone assumes a general manager’s job, you know it’s going to end at some point. Never has it been my focus, and it’s not today. It’s more about again getting this team right for 2023 and what happens later in this season or after the season or five years from now will happen when it happens.”

Hahn’s message to a frustrated fanbase: “They’re not alone.”

“We’re upset,” Hahn said. “We’re feeling every emotion in the book, ranging from rage to disappointment, and we’ve done perhaps the exact opposite of what we set out to do in terms of regaining our fans’ confidence (after the 81-81 record in 2022) and trust in what we’re about here. At the end of the day we have to win. That’s the way we’re going to earn this back. We can sit here and talk about how it’s early. We can sit here and talk about all these other teams that had rough starts but still turned it around and even won World Series after those rough starts. But in the end, it’s not going to matter unless we start winning ballgames.

“The focus and commitment remains strong. But when you say, ‘We need to earn this back on the field,’ we know we’re doing quite the opposite of that, and we still have not just that important hole in the standings to dig out from (seven games behind entering Thursday) but that hole in terms of regaining our fans’ trust. We completely understand that, and more than just empathize with the emotions they’re feeling, we’re living it day in and day out. So we absolutely understand any frustration, dissatisfaction or even finger-pointing that’s coming from outside the organization. Absolutely get it.”

Pinpointing the problems, Hahn said a fundamental issue is commanding the strike zone and controlling the strike zone.

“It would be both sides but offense is probably a bit more pronounced with the amount of expansion we’ve seen with guys at the plate,” Hahn said. “But if you wanted to boil things down, that’s a fundamental we need to get better at on both sides.”

Hahn said the bar hasn’t changed for the Sox.

“It’s the same as it was when we started the season,” Hahn said. “We felt we had the talent to contend for a championship. We felt we had the talent to contend for this division and then make some noise in the postseason.

“That goal hasn’t changed. We made our job a heck of a lot harder based on the first 25 games. But the goal hasn’t changed for us.”

Injury updates

Shortstop Tim Anderson (sprained left knee) and infielder Hanser Alberto (strained left quad) will begin rehab assignments with Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, Hahn said.

Reliever Garrett Crochet (Tommy John recovery) is in Chicago for a health check-in and “potentially” will begin a rehab assignment “as soon as this weekend,” Hahn said. Closer Liam Hendriks, who recently announced he was cancer-free after disclosing he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January, will be in Chicago next week, and a rehab assignment is potential after the Minnesota Twins series, Hahn said.

Third baseman Yoán Moncada is “progressing steadily,” Hahn said.

“For the sake of clarity, he was dealing with a disk that was inflamed (protruding and) impinging on his low back,” Hahn said. “Don’t anticipate him leaving on a rehab assignment during this homestand, but hopefully he continues to progress over these seven or eight days and have an assignment soon after.”

Judge dismisses former trainer’s claims in suit against Sox

An Illinois Circuit Court Judge on Wednesday dismissed with prejudice all of former head athletic trainer Brian Ball’s remaining claims against the Sox related to Ball’s termination in 2020, the team said in a statement.

Last May, Ball filed a lawsuit in Cook County against the team and Hahn, alleging unlawful termination in October 2020 because of his sexual orientation, age and disability.

“In his February response to the Club’s Motion to Dismiss, Ball voluntarily dismissed all claims against general manager Rick Hahn personally, as well as two of Ball’s original five claims against the Club,” the Sox said in the statement. “With (Wednesday’s) ruling, the Court dismissed the remaining three claims against the Club, thereby closing the matter, unless there is an appeal of the Court’s ruling.”