The Chicago White Sox promoted current general manager Ken Williams as executive vice president and current assistant GM Rick Hahn as senior vice president and general manager.
Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was impressed by Hahn's working style and efficiency, and said the promotion was an easy decision to make.
Reinsdorf, in a statement praised Hahn as "one of the most respected young executives in baseball" and said that it was Williams' idea to promote him a few years ago.
Reinsdorf, however, added "Williams will maintain oversight and final approval on major baseball decisions."
Answering questions about his new role and responsibilities Williams said it wasn't significantly different from what he did earlier.
"I'm not having those initial conversations or even probably mid-level conversations on (transactions). It's not any different than what I had to do with regards to when I had an idea before we made that particular deal, or started down a path to acquire a player via free agency.
"I had to go have that conversation with Jerry. And ultimately, he would weigh in. ... You generally go to a consensus."
The White Sox looked quite impressive this season maintaining the top spot for 117 days in the AL Central. They eventually finished second with an 85-77 record. Detroit Tigers were at first place with a record of 88-74 with the Tigers beating the New York Yankees in the playoffs and currently battling the San Francisco Giants for the World Series title.
Williams will be handing over his day-to-day operations to Hahn. Under him the White Sox have done pretty well in the last 12 years having won the World Series in 2005.
Williams said: "He (Hahn) has been doing the job for a number of weeks. He will have the day to day dialogue with the other general managers. Obviously, I have relationships with some so we may split a little bit of that up as an initial conversation.
"But in practice, let me just tell you how it's worked here this off season. I have gotten phone calls from other general managers, had the initial conversation but then immediately turned it over to Rick. That's his job.
"Hahn is a quality general manager who has new ideas," Williams added. "You won't see me get in his way, the GM has to have a certain amount of autonomy."
Hahn, meanwhile, would still depend on Williams and Reinsdorf for important matters even though he has a bigger role now. "I fully intend to bring Kenny and Jerry in on any big moves. I think it would be foolish of me not to call upon their expertise and knowledge and insight on stuff like that."
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