Former White Sox GM reveals truth about ‘horrible’ Fernando Tatis Jr. trade and what really happened behind the scenes

Fernando Tatis Jr. continues to put up huge numbers for the San Diego Padres, but he wasn't always in that franchise. Tatis was initially in the Chicago White Sox organization, but was traded to San Diego during the 2016 MLB season.

Rick Hahn, the general manager of the White Sox at the time of the trade, reflected on the move Saturday on MLB Network via X. He admitted that dealing away Tatis Jr. was a huge mistake, and one that impacted the Chicago White Sox moving forward.

"I mean it begins and ends with Tatis," Hahn said. "I mean what fool would trade him. Here's the thing about Tatis, obviously horrible trade. San Diego actually asked for Erik Johnson as well as another arm initially. We were reluctant to include two arms."

"We pushed back and we wound up shuffling and pivoting. They then asked for Tatis, which they deserve a ton of credit for identifying this guy out of complex ball as someone they wanted."

The White Sox were off to a great start in 2016, and Hahn was hoping to push them into a World Series contender. He continued his answer by recognizing that trading Fernando Tatis Jr. pushed the franchise into a rebuild.

"We had a manager in Robin (Ventura) who kind of knew that if we did not win this year, he might not want to be around too much longer. So there was a lot pointing to let's push in to make this work and win now."

"Obviously I regret the trade. Obviously it did not work out the way we hoped as we wound up not winning. Frankly part of the rebuild was wanting to have the depth to withstand if you did have failure at one spot on the roster."

MLB Analyst believes Fernando Tatis Jr. could win NL MVP

Fernando Tatis Jr. has solidified his status as an All-Star in the National League, but he is primed to take another step. MLB analyst Jay Hay, appearing on the "Baseball is Dead" podcast, predicted Tatis could win the NL MVP Award in 2025.

"I find myself taking a long look at Tatis and Corbin Carroll and I think between those two I'm a little bit more compelled by the case of Fernando Tatis..." Hay said. "The Padres were the story of the season in the blink of an eye ago, and Fernando Tatis is the best player on that team.

"I think Fernando Tatis is the biggest threat to the incumbent Shohei Ohtani's actual MVP candidacy. I think moving forward, the NL MVP, I feel pretty confident that the NL MVP is going to come out of the NL West," he added.

Shohei Ohtani continues to be the favorite for that award, but it could be Fernando Tatis Jr. who comes away with the award if the Padres keep winning.