April 10--White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Friday that the club is "disappointed" and "frustrated" that it enters its home opener against the Twins at U.S. Cellular Field 0-3.
But he said he would rather treat it as a three-game losing streak within a 162-game season rather than the "overreaction" of prematurely branding the Sox rebuild a failure just yet.
"I know you have to go back to 2014 to find the last playoff team who started off 0-3," Hahn said. "Our plan is to turn the page and start a winning streak of our own today.
"Despite what I've read in some venues, we are not yet out of it."
The only other American League team to start 0-3 was the Twins, who lost three to the Tigers.
The Royals outscored the Sox 21-7 in the three-game sweep in Kansas City, but the Sox players agreed with Hahn's sentiment that it is too early to panic. Sox closer David Robertson thought of pitching for the 2009 Yankees, who lost their first two games of the season, went 12-10 in April and eventually won the World Series.
"So you can't look at the first three games and predict the entire season on it," Robertson said. "We've got a good group of guys. We've just got to go out and play good baseball and win some games. We've got to get that first one under our belt."
Hahn said he typically uses the 60-game mark as a time to take stock of where a team is at.
"When you start introducing young guys from the minors or you make trade acquisitions, it does involve a little bit of a transition," Hahn said. "But as a general axiom, a couple of months you have a better feel for where you sit."
ckane@tribpub.com
