When Chris Getz hired Josh Barfield as an assistant general manager, I'd wondered what kind of impact that would have on incumbent White Sox assistant GM Jeremy Haber, who we never really heard about except for contract details and Rick Hahn's attempts to disperse accountability.
There could've be room for both if Barfield handled player personnel matters and Haber dealt with payroll, but if Haber were part of the chain of command issues that plagued the Kenny Williams/Rick Hahn days, then perhaps the White Sox would want to continue turning the page on that era, at least as much as an internal replacement like Getz possibly could.
According to Bob Nightengale's Sunday notebook, Haber indeed won't be returning. The report was phrased in a strange way, and his replacement will be yet another member of the 2019 Royals.
– The White Sox are shuffling their front-office staff and are bringing in Jin Wong from the Kansas City Royals to be an assistant GM. White Sox assistant GM Jeremy Haber is expected to depart on his own before spring training, with Jin fulfilling part of his duties.
"Haber is expected to depart on his own" probably reflects the timing of the report beating Haber to his next job, but it also sounds like there's an ultimatum going unsaid. Alas, Daryl Van Schouwen killed the fun by softening the blow:
Wong will replace Jeremy Haber, who is leaving the organization at the beginning of spring training. [...]
Haber will take on a leadership role in sports business in the northeast, closer to family. He will remain with the Sox as an adviser to Getz and department leadership through 2024.
That leaves the question as to why an advisory role is necessary, but perhaps he, like Hahn, was under contract through 2024, and this allows Getz to ask him about any loose ends as the year rolls along.
As for Wong, he'd been with the Royals since 2000, and I remember him being one of the more accessible members of that front office for Royals Review. He'd been considered one of the more analytically oriented employees of a retrograde front office, although that was also Pedro Grifol's reputation among coaches, and that didn't really seem to pay off for the White Sox in any way.
(Bruce Levine said that Haber compiled a 190-page report on Grifol during the White Sox's managerial search, which inadvertently suggested that Haber spent way too much of his time on the wrong things.)
Wong's KC ties aren't individually worrisome if this just allows Getz to reset expectations for the position and frees up Barfield to put his stamp on the White Sox's player evaluation apparatus. It'd just be nice if the Sox hadn't already hired Gene Watson and his 17 years of experience with the Royals to be director of player personnel, because that sets the stage for a counterproductive clique to form.
The Royals and White Sox are two of three teams that have never committed $100 million to any player (the A's are the other), so if Wong is merely taking over the payroll side of the equation, he'll be well acquainted with the restrictions.
Dylan Cease rumors
Nightengale's column also included a forecast for Dylan Cease among his 10 predictions for the remainder of the winter:
7. Dylan Cease will stay put
The Chicago White Sox will open spring training with Dylan Cease, and could even carry him until the July trade deadline. They have had serious trade discussions with about a half-dozen teams, currently including the Yankees and Orioles, but no one has stepped up and is willing to offer a package of at least two top-100 prospects and two other players. The White Sox can afford to be patient. There’s no pressure to move him now.
Given that Nightengale often lays track for White Sox news with something that sounds like an educated guess, it's worth bookmarking in case the supposedly heightened interest of the AL East teams doesn't lead anywhere.
That said, Nightengale only got his news about Getz's ascension half correct, saying Dayton Moore "could also join Getz in a key front-office position." Moore chose to stick with the Rangers, so if Nightengale's choice of words is consistent, then saying the White Sox "could" carry Cease into July might only be a reflection of the Sox's posturing, rather than something the team has told him.
