SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (670 The Score) -- While White Sox leaders have downplayed the idea that the Cubs' successful rebuild gave them more of an impetus and confidence to move forward with their own organizational teardown that began in December 2016, it's likely that it did.
Certainly, it gave their fans an easy reference point to buy into the rebuild. The Cubs lost 286 games from 2012-'14. The White Sox have had a similar trek in the first three years of their rebuild, compiling 284 losses from 2017-'19.
Of course, the White Sox's goal is to win a championship, like the Cubs did in 2016, and then sustain success.
"Look, Houston did the same thing, Kansas City to an extent years ago, Washington," general manager Rick Hahn said at the GM Meetings on Wednesday. "Certainly, you saw it in other sports.
"Our local fans at least being able to see bear fruit eight miles away may have made it easier for them to understand what we were doing and to embrace, as they have, what we're doing. But in terms of our decision to do it or how we've executed it, it really hasn't affected it."
The Cubs won 97 games and reached the National League Championship Series in their fourth rebuilding season. Similar progress would be a big step for the 2020 White Sox, who are coming off a 72-89 campaign as they prepare for the fourth season of their rebuild.
The 2015 Cubs were fortified by the big free-agent signing of ace left-hander Jon Lester. The White Sox would like to make some noise in free agency this winter, and they have the financial flexibility to do so.
As for whether the White Sox get a fair shake from the media in Chicago, Hahn was nonplussed.
"In Chicago, a fair shake?" Hahn said. "It's not really something I concern myself with."
"I concern myself more with trying to build something that wins championships and makes White Sox fans proud. If there's some sort of potential slighting by the media once we're winning championships, that's going to take care of itself. We'll be happily covered by all outlets when we're winning championships. But on a day-to-day basis, it's not something I think about or worry about it."
Does anyone in the White organization concern themselves about receiving fair coverage?
"Maybe in the PR department, but that's their job," Hahn said with a laugh. "Hopefully they're concerned with such things. But it's not on our radar in the baseball department.
"(The Cubs) are (a concern) like six times a year. I certainly get fans feeling perhaps some sort of rivalry with them and what they're doing influencing potentially (our fans') view of us. I get all that. But frankly, what the Minnesota Twins do has a much bigger impact in our likelihood for success than what the Cubs do."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
