Rick Hahn, Chicago White Sox
Impact: -6.2
Division rank: fourth
MLB rank: 21st
To fully assess the performance of the White Sox front office, it is necessary to remember that this team was a virtually unanimous preseason pick to dominate the AL Central.
Instead the Sox finished a break-even 81-81, 11 games behind the surprising Guardians and five games out of a playoff spot.
Hahn’s various personnel moves cost 6.2 games for a team that finished five games out of a playoff spot. Do the math: Hahn cost the Sox a postseason opportunity. In 2022, he was the only front office exec about whom that could be said.
It was not that Hahn overplayed his hand. If anything, the opposite may have been true. Chicago’s front office made only 32 moves affecting players who got in MLB time in 2022, making the White Sox front office one of MLB’s quietest start to finish.
The problem was that whether he was obtaining players or dumping them, Hahn had a hard time getting it right.
Only 13 of his transactions worked out favorably to the Sox, contrasted with 17 that produced negative value.
Statistically, Hahn’s worst move was a non-move: allowing pitcher Carlos Rodon to walk to free agency last November 3. Rodon signed with the Giants in March and won 14 of his 22 decisions, piling up a 178-inning workload. That translated to a +3.9 WAA for the Giants, and made Rodon one of the five most valuable acquisitions of the season … or, if you are a Sox fan, one of the five most costly losses.
And so it went. In December, Hahn reupped veteran Leury Garcia for another season. Garcia hit .210, good for -2.0 WAA.
In April, Hahn unloaded troubled closer Craig Kimbrel on the Dodgers, and got outfielder A.J. Pollock in return. But Pollock’s .681 OPS worked out to -1.2 WAA.
The bright moments were few, but they did exist. Free agent pitcher Johnny Cueto’s 3.35 ERA at times seemed a godsend; it produced a 2.1 WAA. When Tim Anderson was injured, Hahn pried Elvis Andrus away from Oakland to cover shortstop, and Andrus generated another 1.1 WAA.
The positive math, however, is limited. Hahn’s front office ranked 23rd in trade value, 15th in free agent value, and a dismal 26th in farm system value.