White Sox ‘cultural problem,’ explained: GM Rick Hahn speaks out after traded players sound off, dysfunction stories emerge

Where there is smoke, there is clearly fire in Chicago.

In the days since Tim Anderson was dropped in a fight with Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, there has been a flood of information around the White Sox — none of it reflecting well on the franchise.

It sounds as if Anderson’s bout with Ramirez wasn’t his first altercation in recent weeks. Leading into the All-Star Game, Anderson reportedly got into it with teammate Yasmani Grandal, who wanted to leave the team early for the break and was kept out of the lineup.

According to a report by Shane Riordan of Chicago sports radio station 670 The Score, Anderson responded with something along the lines of “F— him” and offered to pay for Grandal’s flight. Grandal responded by approaching Anderson and slapping him.

Anderson has struggled all season, but there’s something to be said for him wanting a player to stay in tow. The picture painted by Riordan is clearly one of organizational dysfunction that goes beyond a 45-68 season. To make matters worse, players who have recently left the White Sox have taken aim at the team’s culture.

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Here’s everything you need to know about the reported dysfunction in the White Sox organization:

White Sox ‘cultural problem,’ explained

Keynan Middleton and Lance Lynn White Sox quotes

The White Sox traded a handful of players before last week’s deadline in an attempt to get something out of a dismal season. Three of them have since hinted the culture in Chicago is a problem.

Reliever Keynan Middleton, who was traded to the Yankees minutes before the deadline, wasted no time revealing just how unruly the White Sox’ clubhouse became under first-year manager Pedro Grifol. He told ESPN that there were “no rules.”

“You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game. You have guys missing meetings,” Middleton said, adding, “there are no consequences for any of this stuff.”

ESPN confirmed through multiple sources that a pitcher was seen sleeping during games.

As one would expect, Middleton said he was eager to move on once he received word of his trade to the Yankees. “You know how to act. You know not to be late and you know there are consequences if you are late,” Middleton said of the Yankees’ culture.

MORE: Tim Anderson addresses Jose Ramirez fight with bizarre Twitter rant

It’s not uncommon for a disgruntled player to make accusations about his former team, but Middleton’s comments don’t stand alone. Lance Lynn, who spent nearly three seasons with the White Sox before a recent trade to the Dodgers, backed Middleton’s allegations:

“I was there a lot longer than Key was. He’s not wrong,” Lynn said Monday on the “Foul Territory” show.

Lance Lynn said he saw Keynan Middleton’s comments about the White Sox’s culture problems

His take: “I was there a lot longer than Key was. He’s not wrong.”

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) August 7, 2023

White Sox fans first raised an eyebrow at comments made by Jake Burger, who was traded to the Marlins last week. After Miami won a 12-inning thriller over the Phillies in Burger’s debut, he told reporters, “That’s the most fun I’ve had on a baseball field in a really long time.” Burger hit 25 home runs for the White Sox through the first four months of the season.

“That’s the most fun I’ve had on a baseball field in a really long time”

Jake Burger is already enjoying Miami pic.twitter.com/6kgO2uxfkE

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 3, 2023

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Longtime White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu hinted at organizational dysfunction when he signed with the Astros in the fall.

“Sometimes, when you’re at a place where maybe you’re not being respected to the point where you think you should be, you just have to go somewhere else,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times in March. It is a jarring statement from a player who sits third on the franchise’s all-time home run list.

Abreu’s comments hint that the issues plaguing the White Sox right now aren’t limited to just Grifol, who didn’t manage the team until 2023. Tony La Russa’s tenure with the White Sox was also marred by various controversies, although many of them were rooted in incompetence and misplaced loyalty in players (a common issue in old-school managers).

Just two years after Chicago won the AL Central and seemed poised to control the division for years to come, all indications are that dysfunction runs deep within the organization.

White Sox’ GM Rick Hahn comments

The White Sox held an emergency news conference of sorts on Monday, where Hahn addressed some of the controversy swirling around the Southside Sox.

“Obviously over the last 48 hours there’s been a few things that require direct responses,” Hahn said, per Daily Herald reporter Scot Gregor.

Hahn began by addressing the Anderson incident, condemning the fight, before going into the “second topic of leadership and clubhouse culture.”

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“You did see a team on Saturday and Sunday rally around each other,” Hahn began. “You see individual examples of leadership such as that from Andrew Vaughn on the field. Michael Kopech playing peacemaker in that melee. And a team that faced adversity as a unit and came away with two victories that was hopefully something to build upon.”

Hahn then addressed the player comments, albeit in roundabout fashion:

For the past month you’ve heard fairly directly from both Pedro (Grifol), and me, and others that we realize that we have — we had — a bit of a cultural problem in this clubhouse. That we didn’t have a group that was all pulling in the same direction that was necessarily supporting each other or going about their business the way that we wanted this team to go about it.

That was something we’ve been up front about for the last several weeks. Something that we feel we’ve been in the process of addressing both at the trade deadline as well as since. And it’s something that we expect will continue to improve over the coming weeks.

Grifol also said the White Sox are in the process of building “new foundation on rock, not on muck,” per Gregor. Ultimately, the brass can only say so much about this situation, which has escalated at a shocking rate.

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