Rick Hahn's Second Rebuild

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn got the ax last August because his grand rebuild crashed and burned, though with a big assist from a certain owner who insisted on rehiring a certain manager. That said, the current rebuild may be showing results sooner than expected, and much of it will feature the handiwork of Hahn. Front and center are—or should be—pitchers Garrett Crochet and Michael Kopech. Crochet ran his scoreless streak to nineteen innings with six shutout frames against the Blue Jays in a 5-0 Sox win in Toronto last night. Kopech struck out the side in the ninth. If either is traded come July, it will be a sign the current front office is either clueless or doesn’t care about winning for another three or four years. The thing of it is, it could all turn around by next season, depending who gets promoted when and where and who manages on the major-league level. The sooner Carson Montgomery is playing shortstop on the South Side, the better. The sooner Bryan Ramos goes back to third base, the better. As for second base, current GM Chris Getz moved Double-A shortstop Brooks Baldwin there this week after promoting shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Winston-Salem. Baldwin is leading the Southern Association with a .355 batting average. Gonzalez was hitting .273, and he celebrated his promotion by going 3-for-5 last night. Both were drafted by Hahn. So was Montgomery, the eleventh ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and 20-year old pitcher Noah Schultz, promoted with Gonzalez to Birmingham. Schultz had 42 strikeouts in 27.1 innings at Winston-Salem with a .91 WHIP. Fingers crossed there. It’s worth remembering Hahn also signed Ramos (and Luis Robert Jr.) and traded for catcher Edgar Quero; the 22-year old has 32 RBIs for Birmingham. Reliver Jordan Leasure was another acquisition as Hahn was headed out the door. All in all, it’s almost enough to forget the Jake Burger deal. When he traded Dylan Cease back in March, Chris Getz got a return that included starters Drew Thorpe (6-1 with a 1.50 ERA at Birmingham) and Jairo Iriarte (1-3 with a 2.89 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 43.2 innings at Birmingham). There’s talk of Thorpe getting called up sometime during the season. To which I say, Great. But then what? Does Getz want any of these prospects assembled by him and Hahn to be coached by the likes of Mickey Mouse and Ethan Katz? Sox fans have seen one rebuild goes bust. They could do without a repeat.