Hahn won’t second guess his manager Ventura

SHARE Hahn won’t second guess his manager Ventura
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Ross D. Franklin/AP

NEW YORK — A significant portion of a White Sox’ disgruntled fan base is calling for a managerial change. White Sox general manager Rick Hahn understands their angst — their fury, in some — having watched the team lose seven straight games and 15 of 19 heading into Tuesday night’s interleague game against the New York Mets.

Players have failed during the free fall — starting pitchers, relief pitchers and hitters have all take their turns. And manager Robin Ventura has made some bullpen decisions he’d probably like to have back.

So when general manager Rick Hahn fielded questions when he met with reporters at Citi Field Tuesday, the first was about Ventura and the heat he’s getting on social media, talk shows and in other circles.

“Professional sports is a bottom line business,” Hahn said. “Obviously part of the reason we are all drawn to this initially was as fans and fans focus on the lack of results when things are struggling and look for areas to assign blame. For me, I don’t think it’s really in anyone’s best interest when things are going bad to publicly point fingers or second guess or assign blame like that on any individual.”

Hahn’s mood would be brightened a few hours later, after the Sox rallied from an early four-run deficit to rally past the Mets for a 6-4 victory. Todd Frazier, responsible for two unearned runs charged to Mat Latos  that helped stake Mets to a 4-0 lead, hit a two-run homer against lefty Steven Matz (7-2) to cut the lead in half. And shortstop Tyler Saladino ripped a longer two-run homer against Hansel Robles in the eighth to give the Sox the lead. And the Sox’ beleaguered bullpen contributed four scoreless innings by four different relievers.

Hahn could have issued a vote of confidence for Ventura, who is in the last year of his contract, but did not. He didn’t say anything to suggest a change is being considered, either.

Hahn said the players, manager, coaches and front office must “rally together” to get back to winning, “which is all you can control at this point. That’s really from a public all that I think needs to be said.”

Then he added that “whether you are talking about Robin or the coaches or the bulk of the player minus a few due to injuries or some roster moves, it’s the same group that had us 23-10 and rolling and at that time there was even stuff being written about when it’s time for a contract extension for Robin.”

“It shows you how difficult this game is but it also shows how quickly things can change and the upside of that roster.”

Asked specifically about Ventura’s game management skills — he was criticized heavily Monday night and Tuesday after having Melky Cabrera bunt with runners on first and second and no outs trailing 1-0 to Matt Harvey and the Mets. Cabrera executed the bunt but Todd Frazier popped out and J.B. Shuck grounded out. Another standing pitching performance by Jose Quintana went by the boards.

“Look, the game management realm is 100 percent the manager’s purview, and I’m not going to stand here and second guess any decisions he’s making,” Hahn said. “Obviously we all have the benefit of hindsight right now in evaluating a decision. Our conversations in private are about the conversations that lead up to the decision or the thought process that leads up to the decision. And from my standpoint, it’s important to make sure that process is sound and that he and our coaches all have the right information when they’re making a strategic in-game decision, and I’m very pleased with where they are from an information standpoint and from a process standpoint. But it’s not my place, certainly publicly, to second guess in-game managerial decisions.”

Hahn is frustrated but he said he knew the AL Central would be a dogfight.

“We have an extremely and tight-knit clubhouse,” he said. “I very much like some of the comments I’ve seen over the last few days coming out of KC from guys like [Chris] Sale and Frazier and others, talking about how they believe there’s the talent to win in that clubhouse and we still very much feel the same way.”“We can’t do anything about the last couple of weeks. We can’t do anything about this weekend right now. We can put ourselves in the best position to win tonight which is where everyone’s focus has been in that clubhouse, which is all you can ask at this point.”

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