5 MLB front office shakeups that could happen in 2022
By Bill Felber
1. Chicago White Sox
Rick Hahn was widely heralded as a genius molder of talent when he swung a series of trades a few years ago designed to lift the Sox to a dominant position in the AL Central.
Those trades brought Chicago’s Southsiders the core of the present team: Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, Eloy Jimenez, Reynaldo Lopez, Michael Kopech, and Dylan Cease.
As a group, they were supposed to carry the White Sox to dominance in the very available AL Central. That hasn’t happened and, in the waning weeks of 2022, it looks increasingly like it might not happen this year either.
At some point, somebody has to be judged responsible for the failure of this presumed juggernaut to click in a division populated by the likes of the Guardians, Tigers, Twins and Royals. After all, Chicago’s 2022 payroll is $60 million higher than any of those other teams. Hahn this year will pay his on-field personnel only about $10 million less than the combined payrolls of his two closest competitors, the Guardians and Twins.
There was a brief window when it looked like Hahn might actually have pulled off a restoration of the White Sox to division dominance. With those pickups at the team’s core, the Sox reached postseason play in the COVID year, then got back there as division champions in 2021, when they won 93 regular-season games.
But both postseason runs ended abruptly, the Sox being ousted by Oakland in three games in 2020 and by Houston in four games last year.
This year, Chicago has languished around .500 all season. The Sox enter play Thursday night four games behind Cleveland in the division race and four behind Seattle in the Wild Card race.
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Obviously there’s no reason to give up on the White Sox’ 2022 chances just yet. But combine the open-ended status of Hahn’s contract with the team’s .461 winning percentage since Hahn became GM, toss in the high 2022 expectations and the potential for a sub-.500 season on the South Side, and it would be no surprise if a failed Sox regular season was followed by a front office house-cleaning.