If the promotion of Frank Menechino into the hitting coach position didn't satisfy your desire for an external hire, the White Sox made up for it with the installation of his assistant.
Scott Coolbaugh is aboard, taking the place as Greg Sparks as the No. 2 hitting coach behind Menechino, who rose through the ranks after spending the season as the hitting coach in Charlotte.
Like Menechino, Coolbaugh spent 2019 serving as the minor-league hitting coach in Triple-A for Oklahoma City, the Dodgers' affiliate. Also like Menechino, he can claim some victories as a major-league hitting coach, with a successful stint in Texas from 2011-12, and a good run overseeing the end of the Orioles' window. They both have respectable track records, although there isn't much about whether the successes they've enjoyed dovetail with the ways more advanced teams have succeeded. But hey, coming from the Dodgers organization is a point in Coolbaugh's favor.
Unlike Menechino, there isn't even the slightest of White Sox ties to be found -- Menechino was drafted by the White Sox in 1993 -- so the White Sox did truly hunt around on this particular action.
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In terms of words, Rick Hahn had some for the White Sox reporters who traveled to the general managers meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Monday. He's aware that he can't really say anything to make up seven losing seasons in seven years and last year's "Waiting for Godot" winter, but he still has to talk.
This was the line that circulated the most ...
... but I've been around a lot of first-time parents over the last few years, and my findings show that people who genuinely care want to know about both. So here we are.
Hahn's trying to diminish the need to say things because he can't really talk around the lack of accomplishments. He either sounds like he's trying to paper over the failed first rebuilding attempt and pretend that the dissatisfaction is a recent and intentional development...
... or that he's trying to pin the White Sox' rich legacy of free-agent flops on the players, rather than their own pro scouting.
Ironically, Hahn might not like talking about the task at hand, but he makes the most sense when he's doing just that. Read through the bullet points of Daryl Van Schouwen's story, and there's nothing to quibble with. Hahn said the Sox are open to short-term contracts if there aren't long-term improvements available, which is better than last year's Machado-or-bust-and-actually-please-somebody-outbid-us-for-Machado winter.
The rhetoric only sounds empty because the White Sox have been ghastly about converting signings into wins, and rather than hold front office personnel accountable, they chose to stop competing for players instead. People will be very interested in what Hahn will have to say if they can count on him and the White Sox ever following through. He shouldn't pretend to lose sight of that very fixable problem.
