Overall grade
Given Chicago’s record, you’d expect Williams and Hahn to rate badly for front office impact. The rating is actually uneven, with decent showings in a couple of categories. The total is a net of +2.0, a fact that is likely to come as a major surprise to Southsiders.
Full disclosure notice; The bulk of that grade is attributable to the decision to let Abreu walk to free agency, and the subsequently awful start he is off to in Houston. That may not have helped the White Sox much on the field, but technically it’s a decision-making plus.
Here’s the first half report card on the White Sox front office. Note that grades for players departing the organization are based on the reverse of those players’ WAAs with their new teams.
Mode WAA Grade
Acquired +1.1 B
Traded -0.3 C
Signed 0.0 C
Lost -3.0 B
Rookies -2.4 D
Overall +2.0 B
Overall, Williams and Hahn have made 25 personnel moves since the end of the 2022 season impacting the fortunes of the 2023 White Sox. Numerically, the results are mixed: Nine produced positive values to the team, 10 have to date been negative, and six were neutral.
Not reflected in this rating, but very much true, is that Chicago’s holdover core has also, as a group, performed poorly. We’re talking here about veterans like Tim Anderson (-1.8) and Lance Lynn (-1.6).
The returning core’s collective score of -4.4 WAA doesn’t count against an assessment of the moves made by Williams and Hahn since the end of the 2022 season, but it certainly hampers the team’s record.