Levine: Rick Hahn Knows Cubs' Title Can Be Hard On White Sox Fans
By Bruce Levine--
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (CBS) -- The pressure of having another team eight miles north win a World Series is real for the White Sox.
As the GM meetings got started in earnest Tuesday, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn was questioned about the Cubs winning their first championship in 108 years, and he was candid in his responses. His message was the emotional component of it is real and understandable, but the White Sox can't allow that to divert implementing their strategy in practice.
"These plans that we have for this offseason, we have been exploring this possibility for years," Hahn said of the team potentially getting younger and focusing on the long term rather than the short term.
"We have been looking at this potentially happening this offseason since July or August. So I don't think what happened in October (with the Cubs winning) changes that at all. Any time you don't win the World Series, you feel a level of frustration. It's difficult for any of us in the organization to watch the postseason. That includes the American League side of it. That is without getting to what the Cubs did. You as a group want to be there. That is why we do this."
Hahn addressed how city bragging rights that go with a championship team can affect a crosstown rival.
"The competitiveness of seeing someone else reap the benefits is hard," Hahn said. "When you add in the element of that going on in our city -- I do feel happy for my friends and neighbors who are Cub fans. I know a ton of people who have been waiting a long time for that. I realize it's good for baseball, good for the city, it's good for my friends in the Cubs organization. You are certainly happy for all of them. At the same time, it reinforces getting our fans back in that position."
The White Sox are coming off of one of their longest periods of sub-.500 baseball in decades, with four straight losing seasons. That downturn has wreaked havoc on attendance and moral around Guaranteed Rate Field.
"We realize there is very real frustration within our fan base, watching their friends and neighbors celebrate the highest level of success," Hahn said. "It has been since 2005 since we have been able to celebrate that kind of success.
"I don't think it changes our plans. You try not to be emotional or reactionary to what other clubs are doing. It doesn't change what is available in the open market or the value of your players. It does not change the needs you currently have. Certainly there is the emotional side of it. You want our fans to enjoy what their friends and neighbors are enjoying right now."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
