White Sox GM Rick Hahn Continues To Preach Patience: This Is 'By No Means A 2-Move Rebuild'
(CBS) As the regular season nears with left-hander Jose Quintana and closer David Robertson still on the rebuilding White Sox and little movement on the trade front, general manager Rick Hahn continues to stress what he harped on early last December.
Patience. Because there's no clock on this rebuild for the White Sox.
"It's not our impatience or desire to get these things done that's going to dictate the pace of these moves," Hahn said Sunday on Hit and Run with Barry Rozner on 670 The Score. "It's going to be the market. We just did not get to the level -- in a couple instances, we didn't even get close to the level -- that would motivate us to move some premium assets as part of this. Now, we're going to stay on it. Things can change in the coming weeks. We certainly expect things to change in the coming months as we get closer to the deadline. And as we said from the start, this process may well take us through next offseason as well. We are by no means done, and it was by no means a two-move rebuild."
The White Sox began their roster overhaul in earnest with the early December trades of left-hander Chris Sale to the Red Sox and outfielder Adam Eaton to the Nationals that netted seven prospects in return, including headliners in infielder Yoan Moncada, right-hander Michael Kopech and right-hander Lucas Giolito.
"It's too soon to put a firm end date on this," Hahn said. "That said, when we started this process, we did have a general idea of how many more drafts, how many more trade deadlines, offseasons, free-agent markets it would take to get us back to where we want to be -- in a position to win on a sustainable basis."
Hahn then joked that his answer on the rebuild timeline has evolved a bit since the end of last season.
"I do in all candor feel like if you'd gotten me after a half a bottle of scotch, let's say, and asked me in November how long I thought it was going to take, that answer would probably be slightly different in all candor than I'd give you now or after the December trades," Hahn said. "Because we feel good about what we were able to accomplish with those two important deals, and that arguably moved up the clock a little bit."
That said, there's no rush, Hahn again emphasized, as he has all along.
"It's imperative we do it right, not quickly," he said.
Listen to Hahn's full interview with Rozner below.
