With or without Machado, Rick Hahn says White Sox aren’t done adding (2024)

If SoxFest is an opportunity for the media to take the temperature of the fan base, the White Sox faithful are running a couple of degrees cooler than expected. Rather than a weekend of tension built up from a prolonged and currently unsatisfying free-agent pursuit, the sharpest criticism directed at Rick Hahn all weekend was from a fan who wondered why the White Sox were not a “mystery team” in their pursuit of Manny Machado, and suggested that the Sox would benefit from acting more secretively.

It’s only the very start of my third year on the beat, but I’m going to label that as a bit of a misread of the White Sox’s preferred modus operandi.

“We operate better when it’s under the radar,” Hahn said in response. “I am irritated with leaks. I get real irritated when there are reports we made offers to players we haven’t made offers to. I get real irritated when there are reports that we’re pursuing a guy and I don’t even know who the agent is. But we keep silent through all that so if there is something that is actually accurate, we don’t confirm it or deny it. When you’re involved in premium-type guys when there’s a lot of spotlight and spectacle around, stuff gets out. And as much as it may irritate me or quite frankly make our job harder, we’re not going to get out there and lie.”

Hahn made reference to Manny Machado’s meeting at Guaranteed Rate Field and the leaked picture of a videoboard presentation for Bryce Harper at the United Center as some stuff that got out that the Sox did not act to refute. And for the most part, those indications of the Sox’s sincere effort and assurances that they will be viable in their free-agent pursuits assuaged the fan base.

It’s probably a lot easier to buy into that concept when the possibility of landing Machado still exists, but a ticket to SoxFest is a lot of money to spend to be unenthusiastic and skeptical in a nice hotel downtown. Fans usually express disenchantment by just not coming, and while the team sold out SoxFest, how another in-development roster fills seats at Guaranteed Rate Field remains to be seen. And the dynamics could still yet change.

“It’s not over yet for me,” Hahn said of offseason moves for the Sox. “The way the free-agent market or even the trade market by extension has played out over the last several winters, we’ve sort of moved away from SoxFest on the calendar being the unofficial start of the season, the kickoff before spring training. They’re still on our mind, conversations we’ve had the last 48 hours. There’s still three to four potential acquisitions that we’re working on.”

It could have been easily guessed that the White Sox were not going to sign both Harper and Machado this offseason, but Hahn sounded opposed to it entirely from a strategic perspective.

“From a payroll management flexibility standpoint going forward these are obviously not the last two free agents that we intend to add in the future,” Hahn said. “Having two commitments of the magnitude they’re going to require on the same roster probably limits your flexibility and might not be the strongest move for us long-term.”

That sounds like if the White Sox land Machado, they will be unlikely to pursue another free agent of his caliber during their run. Given their concentration of pre-arbitration core talent and the hopes that they would be able to levy a top-tier payroll while they intend to be a top-tier team, it’s a disappointing stance if still an expected one, given this team’s avoidance of major free-agent contracts.

There’s been an inordinate amount of Manny Bañuelos talk this weekend, despite Hahn’s acknowledgment that he was due to become a minor-league free agent before the Sox swung a deal for him almost three months ago. It’s clear he should be viewed as the clubhouse leader for the fifth-starter gig, and Hahn invited everyone to dream about him regaining his former consensus status as a top-30 prospect (from seven years ago).

“One of our scouts, Bill Young, when we were going over the minor-league free agents, essentially pounded the table and said, ‘No, no, no, this guy can help us win ballgames now. He’s back to being what he looked like when he was one of the topprospects. He can come in and step into that fifth slot no problem.’”

Hahn said the White Sox had talked internally about “bullpenning” or “the opener” before it became popular across the league throughout last season. He listed some complications such as needing the flexibility to option players and the potential discomfort caused by the lack of set roles, but he seemed more open to it as a measure than his manager or pitching coach did. It’s clear that the White Sox’s ideal mode is to run out four to five 200-inning horses, and they will probably take a significant shortfall in developing them for the opener to gain significant consideration.

“We know that the strength of your pitching is in the starting rotation,” Rick Renteria said. “If you accrue a deficit in your starting rotation, you have to think outside the box and it gives you an opportunity to possibly have a reliever start.”

Since the kids-only press conference failed to deliver the belly laughs of previous years, the funniest moment of the day was Dylan Cease telling the story of his pilot twin brother, Alec, taking him on a flight to Florida on a “real sketchy plane” that had to switch fuel tanks mid-flight. I was not sitting close enough to the stage to see the blood drain from player development director Chris Getz’s face.

“For like 10 seconds we were freefalling and like freaking out, and then they were laughing about it after,” Cease said.

“Dylan, let’s not ever do this again,” Getz said.

“I was with the Cubs at that point, so it’s OK.”

A Baseball America articlepointed out an area for adjustment in Nick Madrigal’s game, citing his lack of hits to the pull side in his professional debut. Madrigal’s elite contact ability very much relies on his willingness to go the other way with pitches on the outer half, but he’ll need the ability to also pull the ball with authority to collect extra-base knocks, which were the weak point of his 2018 performance (.347 slugging at High-A Winston-Salem). When asked about it on Saturday, Madrigal reiterated his intention to try to maintain a balance in his approach.

“I’ve always been taught to hit the ball where it’s pitched,” Madrigal said. “I’m not saying all those (pitches) were on the outside part of the plate. I’m definitely working on pulling pitches. I’m not going to change my game too much. I know there’s been a lot of talk out there. If the ball’s inside, I’m going to try to pull it. That’s what I’m going to try to do.”

Michael Kopech opened up a bit about how his anxiety to get to the majors resulted in a month of yips, to which he attributed his early-season struggles at Triple-A. Kopech is still relatively unique among athletes for his willingness to openly discuss his mental health and the toll of the pressure he puts on himself to perform. He’s also open about the fact that his idol — and someone he met as a child — is Nolan Ryan, which means he’ll flat-out tell a crowded room that he’s willing to throw at opposing hitters as a means of “protecting teammates,” though he has perhaps learned to be more measured about when he chooses to do it.

“I’ve found out the hard way the wrong time to do it,” Kopech said. “It happened in the minor leagues a few times. Usually as a pitcher, you should wait for the call to come from your manager. I’ve taken it upon myself a few times and that was the wrong thing to do. If you talk it over with your manager, your pitching coach, whatever the case might be, they know what the situation is, they know what’s going on and they’ll tell you when’s the right time to do it.”

Zack Collins got praised by Hahn for improving his defense multiple times this weekend, was identified as the biggest clubhouse prankster in the organization, was decried by Madrigal as the weak link of their beach volleyball team in the Dominican Republic, and professed his newfound love of bat flips and celebrations after his trip to a LIDOM playoff game. He also said that using Trackman data made him a better pitch-caller this past season, and that he knows his game management is where the White Sox want to see continued growth from him.

“I think what they’re looking for is a lot of leadership and the ability to run a pitching staff,” Collins said. “We obviously have a lot of big arms in the minor leagues and obviously now in the big leagues. They need a guy who is able to run a pitching staff and lead them. I worked on that a lot last year to improve and I’ve gotten a lot better at that and hope to show it at spring training.”

(Top photo: Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)