The White Sox have fired Ken Williams and Rick Hahn.
In a surprising move — despite the Sox’ awful performance on the field this season — the team announced Tuesday that Williams, executive vice president, and Hahn, senior vice president/general manager, were relieved of their duties effective immediately.
“This is an incredibly difficult decision for me to make because they are both talented individuals with long-term relationships at the White Sox,” chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “Ken is like a son to me, and I will always consider him a member of my family.
The Sox will begin a search for a single decision maker to lead the baseball operations department and anticipate having an individual in place by the end of the season, which is six weeks away. The organization embarked on a rebuild in 2016 that failed, leading to two postseason appearances but having a significant decline in the last two seasons.
Assistant general manager Chris Getz, who oversees the Sox’ farm system, and assistant GM Jeremy Haber are assuming GM duties while Reinsdorf looks for a new top front office person. Getz will be a candidate for the GM post.
Manager Pedro Grifol, who was endorsed by Getz when the Royals bench coach was hired in the offseason, could return for the second year of his three-year contract.
After going 81-81 last season, the Sox were 49-76 under Grifol entering their game against the Mariners Tuesday. Clubhouse culture issues became public around the time of the trade deadline, when Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Keynan Middleton and Jake Burger were traded for prospects.
Reinsdorf, known to be as unhappy about this team’s performance as any he has seen since purchasing the team with a limited partnership group in 1981, allowed Williams and Hahn to oversee the trade deadline, but pulled the plug after having internal discussions about high-level personnel in recent days.
“Ultimately, the well-worn cliche that professional sports is results-oriented is correct,” Reinsdorf said. “While we have enjoyed successes as an organization and were optimistic heading into the competitive window of this rebuild, this year has proven to be very disappointing for us all on many levels. This has led me to the conclusion that the best decision for the organization moving forward is to make a change in our baseball department leadership.”
Williams was in his 11th season as executive vice president with the Sox after serving as the club’s general manager for 12 seasons. The Sox won the 2005 World Series under his guidance as general manager.
Hahn served as the Sox general manager for the past 11 seasons, leading the Sox to consecutive postseason appearances in 2020 as a wild card and 2021 as AL Central champions.
The Sox assembled rosters filled with talent and had the seventh highest payroll in baseball last season and the 16th highest this season, but never signed a player to anything bigger than outfielder Andrew Benintendi’s $75 million deal last offseason. Their $73 million, four-year contract for catcher Yasmani Grandal that expires this season is just one example of money poorly spent.
While Williams’ and Hahn’s performance in recent years warranted a change, Reinsdorf’s well-known loyalty was thought to be the only thing saving their jobs.
The Sox’ announcement came as stunning news around baseball.
“I want to personally thank Ken and Rick for all they have done for the Chicago White Sox, winning the 2005 World Series and reaching the postseason multiple times during their tenures,” Reinsdorf said. “I have nothing but the greatest respect for them as people and appreciate the commitment and passion for the White Sox they exhibited over the years.”
The firings come a day after it became known that Reinsdorf is considering moving the team from Guaranteed Rate Field when the team’s lease expires in six years, and may also explore selling the team.
