What was more difficult for White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, firing vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn on Tuesday or knowing it would look like he caved in to public pressure by doing so?
If I were a betting man, I’d put all my money on the latter. It had to kill Reinsdorf that all of us — and I mean everyone with any baseball common sense and/or a pulse — picked up on the obvious a long time ago: The Sox’ rebuild was a total failure, and somebody had to pay.
It only took Reinsdorf three months to catch on.
There’s no gloating here. The people who were on the Fire Kenny and Rick double-decker bandwagon were not geniuses. They were people who saw the dismal results, saw the incredibly unhappy fan base and wondered why in the world nothing had been done. But they also knew what they were dealing with: an owner who hated firing people and an owner who, by God, was not going to let public opinion tell him what to do.
The only surprise here is a massive one: Now? He did it now?
Reinsdorf’s history as an owner of the Sox and Bulls is heavy on loyalty to employees and light on caring about what anybody — particularly media members and fans — thinks. So the prevailing thought was that, despite a brutally disappointing season, Reinsdorf would wait until the offseason to make any moves. The ‘‘moves’’’ would be Williams quietly retiring and Hahn quietly taking some lesser title in the organization. Reinsdorf could wave his cigar around and say, ‘‘See, the so-called experts knew nothin’.’’
Instead, he fired his friends. That’s how monumentally bad this season is. So bad that Reinsdorf had to acknowledge it.
Now, before anyone lauds him for doing the right thing, the reality is that he should have done this months ago, when a purported playoff team was in a rapid descent to hell. That’s what a responsible owner would have done. A responsible owner wouldn’t have stood for two playoff appearances in Hahn’s 11 seasons as GM.
But that’s not how Reinsdorf operates. Still, not even someone as stubborn as he is could ignore the ridiculousness of 2023. It says something about him that he waited this long to do the deed. It says that he couldn’t stand the idea of firing people when enraged Sox fans and pesky columnists were telling him what to do.
So many bad things have happened in the last three years that they all run into one another. Tony La Russa’s hiring, clearly on Reinsdorf’s orders. La Russa’s odd in-game decisions. The signing of pitcher Mike Clevinger, despite domestic-violence accusations by the mother of one of his children. Former Sox reliever Keynan Middleton saying the club was lax and had ‘‘no rules’’ this season. The fall from 2021 American League Central champs to a 2023 team that was 49-76 before their game Tuesday against the Mariners.
This season is the biggest baseball sin, of course. Hahn was the architect of the rebuild. He was the one who tore everything down, trading Chris Sale and others to amass high draft picks in the hope of building a winner. And it looked promising until it became apparent the talent was not that talented and not at all blessed with a deep knowledge of how to play the game.
Whatever the dynamic was supposed to be between Hahn and Williams, it became something else. If Williams was meant to fade into the background after Hahn was promoted to GM in 2012, somebody forgot to tell him. If Hahn thought he was in charge, he must have been surprised when Williams told the Sun-Times in late April that he was ‘‘not in a good place right now’’ after the Sox’ 7-17 start. And he must have been especially surprised when Marlins GM Kim Ng, a former Sox executive, called Williams, not Hahn, to start the ball rolling on a trade that would send third baseman Jake Burger from Chicago to Miami.
It was a mess that long ago was begging for someone to come along with a shovel and a bag.
Better late than never, I guess.
What now? The Sox say they’ll hire one person to run the show and expect to have someone on board by the end of the season. ‘‘On board’’ might be the wrong phrase for a ship this much aground.
In other news, Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting the Sox might move from Guaranteed Rate Field when their lease is up in six years. It’s also reporting Reinsdorf might look into selling the team. I find that harder to believe. What would Jerry do with all his spite?
