Rick Hahn clarifies a few White Sox positions, sort of

The previous time Rick Hahn spoke to the media as a whole, the White Sox hadn’t made the team option decisions on Craig Kimbrel and César Hernández, nor had they decided whether to issue a qualifying offer to Carlos Rodón.

The monthlong silence has since been broken by regular appearances, whether on Chicago radio shows or at the general managers meetings in Carlsbad, Calif., so Hahn’s made himself available for further elaboration, even if it mostly turns into reiteration.

Through these appearances, Hahn’s at least been able to provide some clarity in three areas, at least if you possess some literacy in tea leaves.

CARLOS RODÓN

We talked about this on Monday, and between Carlos Rodón’s injury-scarred track record and the loaded free-agent pitching market, the environment wasn’t conducive to offering Rodón a contract they didn’t want him to accept. That seems to be what Hahn’s saying:

“Essentially, it’s a contract offer of $18.4 million for one (year),” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday at the GM meetings in Southern California. “And we made the assessment based on everything we know, which includes our needs and our other targets, that that wasn’t an offer we were comfortable making at this time.”

Rodón’s situation brings back memories of 2008, when the White Sox could effectively dare Orlando Cabrera to accept arbitration upon reaching free agency after the season, expecting him to reject a $9 million salary because the Sox were going to bury him on the bench. They carried an Opening Day payroll of $121 million back then, good for top five in the league. Thirteen years later, their payroll was only $5 million higher.

(Cabrera ended up signing with Oakland for $4 million; the White Sox gained two draft picks that turned into Trayce Thompson and Josh Phegley.)

Set aside the payroll disparity, and one key phrase in Hahn’s answer is “everything we know,” because given all the physical issues Rodón battled during his time with the White Sox, everything could be a loaded term in multiple senses of the word. The decision loses all of its controversy if Rodón only makes 10 starts in 2022.

CRAIG KIMBREL

I can’t remember Hahn being so candid about the possibility of trading an under-contract player as he’s being about Craig Kimbrel.

“We view him as a potentially impactful reliever as he’s been for the vast majority of his career,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday on Day 1 of the GM meetings in Southern California. “We’re not alone in that opinion.

“It didn’t work out the way we wanted last year so perhaps there’s a better use of his skills than how we were doing it,” Hahn said. “So we have to reconsider his usage with us versus a potential trade.”

On the surface, those quotes sound like they’re keeping every option open, but Jesse Rogers found somebody who could turn the subtext into normal text.

“He’s as good as gone,” one rival executive said Tuesday.

BACKUP CATCHER

When it comes to the three positions where the Sox could use more impressive internal candidates, I’m having a hard time gauging how serious Hahn is about his plans for right field and second base. Hahn told ESPN 1000’s Kap & J. Hood show on Monday that the Sox are closer to having internal options in right field, for whatever that’s worth.

Hahn is trying to voice confidence about the incumbent backups to a similar degree, but I don’t think he’s as successful in masking the preferred path forward.

“Certainly there’s room for improvement from both Seby and Zack,” Hahn said. “A lot was asked of them, especially after Yaz went down, so some of their development might have been rushed. But we think both of them can be even stronger defensively than what they displayed this year.

“You obviously hope your primary catcher, especially someone as important as Yaz is to us, is able to answer the bell as frequently as possible. But as he gets older, and we hopefully keep him strong for an extra month (of postseason play), having someone in that backup role that we can feel confident in is important. I think a lot of our pitchers over the course of the year grew more and more confident with Seby and Zack, which is good, and look forward to seeing how they show up in camp.

I see how Hahn can say a lot was asked of Zavala and Collins. I can’t say how anybody can say the situation rushed development. Zavala was 27, with 229 games in the high minors, including three cracks at Charlotte. Collins was 26, with 231 high-minors games over three seasons. After the latter caught Rodón’s no-hitter in April, the Sox were taking victory laps about the job they did with Collins’ defense.

The one-knee catching stance has become an en-vogue way of boosting the framing of low pitches for catchers who do not naturally excel there. But the fact that Grandal is largely ditching it now that his right knee has recovered, and that Collins is still working through the nuances of it at age 26, is a testament to the long development the Sox have had to steel through to start seeing some reward at the major-league level. It also puts a different perspective on the efforts they made to jolt the process, like exposing Collins to how much work was left to be done in 2019.

“Rick (Hahn)’s method, there’s always a method to his madness,” Hostetler said. “When he makes a move, it’s for a reason. I knew Zack was probably getting frustrated with not playing. But I was glad to see it from a standpoint of him having to learn what being a major leaguer was all about.”

Their development wasn’t so much rushed as it was tested/exposed, unless the Sox want their catchers to have the kind of runway that crosses state lines. That’s why I’m thinking this is more Hahn avoiding the open denigration of players that were merely asked to do too much, especially if they might be included in deals, or their own future plans as a third catcher.

It’s hazier with the other positions, mostly because second basemen have come relatively cheap in recent winters, and Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets indeed have paths to productive MLB careers. It’s not ridiculous to think they could solve a position between them, even if right field seems beyond their grasp of real actual defensive adequacy. There’s a little bit of the good kind of flexibility here (finding the most effective solution and adjusting the other positions), as long as it doesn’t turn into the bad kind of flexibility (having the capability of doing something because you never do anything.)

(Photo by Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire)

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