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Ventura out, Renteria in

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* Now all we need is a new owner…

Rick Renteria is managing in Chicago again. This time, on the South Side of town.

The White Sox on Monday named Renteria as the 40th manager in club history, replacing Robin Ventura, who managed his last game Sunday after five seasons.

Renteria, hired by the Theo Epstein regime but fired with two years left on his Cubs contract after the 2014 season when Joe Maddon became available, sat out of baseball during the 2015 season before returning as Ventura’s bench coach this season. He managed the Cubs to a 73-89 record during a rebuilding year.

The Sox were 375-435 under Ventura, including 78-84 this year. The Sun-Times first reported Saturday that Renteria would be named as his replacement Monday.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:01 am

Comments

A fish rots from the head down. If Jerry is not going to sell, at least get rid of Kenny Williams. Why he didn’t let him go to Toronto last off-season is baffling.

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:04 am
Somebody wake up Robin in the dugout and tell him he can go home now.

Ricky becomes only the second to manage both the Cubs and Sox. The first being,,,,,,,,,

……Johnny Evers.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:11 am
Also be interesting to see which coaches are retained. Darryl Boston had too many guys picked off first or caught in rundowns. Cooper……

Comment by Bogey Golfer Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:13 am
Disclosure: I’m a Cub fan. I don’t hate the Sox but don’t have the emotional investment in this that many of you do.

Renteria could turn out to be a really good manager but if I’m a Sox fan I’m furious that there was no interview process. What’s the rush? Was everything going so well that it was critical to maintain continuity? No. Was it likely that the Sox would lose Renteria to another job? Probably not.

The best argument for hiring him seems to be that Jed and Theo did it once and THOSE GUYS know what they’re doing. Great work Rick and Kenny.

Unfortunately, and I can’t prove it, Jerry Reinsdorf and Virginia McCaskey get daily full bloodstream stem cell transplants and will never die.

Comment by LizPhairTax Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:15 am
This is more of my Cubs frustration and empathy and sympathy I now have for Sox fans. Honest.

Renteria is…

One or two notches above Mike Quade, and one or two notches below Joe Maddon.

That is Renteria.

Feel for you Sox fans. Seriously. I’ve been “there”.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:19 am
Rick Renteria did well with the Cubs two years ago. I understood why Theo brought in Joe Maddon but Rick Renteria definitely got a raw deal.

After seeing what Rick Hahn wanted for Chris Sale - and with a horrible starting pitching crop in free agency - the Sox should be able to fleece someone for Sale during the winter meetings. As a Red Sox fan I was very happy than Dom stood firm and refused to include Yoan Moncada and/or Andrew Benintendi for Sale, but other teams may look at the market and decide they have no choice but to give up the farm.

Rick Hahn needs the latitude to make moves. Make everyone except for Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu and Nate Jones available during the winter meetings. If someone is dumb enough to trade for David Robertson and his bloated salary - even if the move is just a salary dump - do it. Shed payroll and build for the future. No more living in the now.

Comment by Team Sleep Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:22 am
Loved that Robin had to be talked into taking the job 5 years ago. We deserved exactly what happened (although a good manager should only affect 6 W/Ls throughout the season; talent wins).

Comment by Jose Abreu's next homer Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:25 am
Dunno, Rich. It’s pretty hard to fire the owners. Just ask the ILGOP.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:25 am
Robin had to go. He’s Jerry Manuel 15 years later. Renteria can only be an improvement. Yea, he’s on Joe Maddon but then again the Sox aren’t ready to compete anyways. By then hopefully we’ll have a championship level Manager.

Comment by Stones Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:27 am
==Renteria could turn out to be a really good manager but if I’m a Sox fan I’m furious that there was no interview process. What’s the rush? Was everything going so well that it was critical to maintain continuity? No. Was it likely that the Sox would lose Renteria to another job? Probably not.===

I’ll give the Sox the benefit of the doubt this time and say the Renteria had a year long audition and they liked what they saw. Also, depending on their strategy next year (rebuild vs “reload”), it may make little difference who the manager of the team is.

Comment by Sox Fan Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:33 am
@Sox Fan

I guess we’ll see. They nailed the promote from within thing with Terry Bevington so maybe they’ll catch lighting in a bottle twice.

I feel for you all. Hopefully, Levy is working on some kind of nacho sundae in a helmet.

Comment by LizPhairTax Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:39 am
TS, Hahn has the GM title, but he can’t make a move on his own. Kenny’s running the show, with Jerry as the last word.

Similar to Jed Hoyer; he has the GM title, but there’s no doubt Theo is calling the shots. Or Gar with the Bulls; he can’t make a move without Pax.

Useful buffers for the boss when thing’s go south.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:41 am
“Rick Renteria did well with the Cubs two years ago.” Leave it to a White Sox fan to think 73 wins is doing “well.” As a Cubs fan, I’m glad the Sox have reduced themselves to hiring Cubs castoffs. Typical Sox move. Instead of going out and getting the best manager available, take the cheapest available alternative who is so happy to have the job he’ll blindly do whatever he is told to do.

Comment by Michael Westen Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:41 am
What are the chances a new owner would try to demand a new stadium with state/city money to stay?

Comment by John Gregory (ex-IRN) Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:42 am
Word - hence why I said that Mr. Hahn needs the latitude to make the moves. Theo had the same problem in Boston before he left. Larry Lucchino used to stick his nose into situations.

Comment by Team Sleep Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:50 am
They need to fire the owner which unfortunately they can’t do and the front office, which they won’t do.

Comment by shore Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:57 am
===I guess we’ll see. They nailed the promote from within thing with Terry Bevington so maybe they’ll catch lighting in a bottle twice.===

Fair point. Although, hiring Rick Renteria as “manager in waiting” and promoting him after one year as bench coach is a little different than the Terry Bevington disaster.

Comment by Sox Fan Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:12 am
Jerry Reinsdorf’s fault is that he is too loyal to his employees. As faults go, I can live with that. At least until Ricketts bought the Cubs, Reinsdorf was hands down the best team owner in Chicago.

Comment by SAP Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:31 am
I don’t know why they couldn’t take the time to interview other managerial candidates. I am also worried about management’s ability to get value in return for Sale or Quintana if traded, and if they are kept, how do they get the talent to bring a winner to the south side.

Comment by James the Intolerant Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:36 am
I agree with SAP’s comments on Reinsdorf’s loyalty. But the ownership did bring us 6 NBA titles and a world series.

Comment by pundent Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:39 am
This is such unbelievably good news. A real manager. Yes.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:47 am
SAP, I think Rocky has done pretty, pretty, pretty good since taking over for Dollar Bill.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:50 am
@sox fan

I hope you’re right. Relevant baseball after the 4th of July is good for everybody. I worry that this is a John Fox hire. More focused on establishing a solid floor than a high ceiling. Hopefully the either cash Sale in for a lot or build something around him.

Also, no role for AJ please. But I’m not a Sox fan.

Comment by LizPhairTax Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:51 am
@Liz

Have you heard AJ on the ESPN broadcasts? He belongs in the booth. I would love to hear him and any one of the current announcrers together.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:57 am
For those worried about the seemingly lack of an interview process for slecting Renteria, the Cubs put him through one three years ago. Theo picked Renteria then and he would be the Cubs manager today if Maddon (the best manager in basebal) hadn’t become available. Sox fans, Renteria has been selected by Theo, be happy.

Comment by Groucho Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 12:17 pm
There are some real stars and fan favorites under contract on current Sox roster (Sale, Q, Eaton, Frazier, Abreu) and some rising stars (Rodon, Anderson) as well as several other quite serviceable players and benchers. I say spend some real money in the off-season to add a few key pieces (CF, C, DH) and let the new mgr. go for it. Then, if 2017 is a bust tear the sucker down and start over.

Comment by Responsa Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 12:25 pm
This means the Sox are a year away from a major, positive overhaul.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 12:26 pm
I am willing to live with that Michelle. As a lifelong fan of the White Sox, and one who actually attends games at Sox Park, dispersing that solid core without at least giving them a shot to win together is anathema to me.

Comment by Responsa Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 12:34 pm
=== I worry that this is a John Fox hire. More focused on establishing a solid floor than a high ceiling.===

That’s an interesting way to put it, and something I never really thought about with Fox or Renteria. But as John Fox has proven in Carolina and Denver, you can be pretty darn successful as an established “solid floor”.

Comment by Sox Fan Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 12:46 pm
The Sox seem to be at a loss regarding who they want to be. They can’t commit to being “good” but at the same time don’t want to be considered “bad” so they are consistently mediocre. Whether Ventura or Renteria is at the helm I don’t think that really changes.

Comment by pundent Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:11 pm
My gut instincts tell me that the past few days were a public relations charade in that Ventura was allowed to resign rather than being fired. The White Sox have a front office problem and until that is addressed I do not think Renteria is going to be all that successful. Reinsdorf has canned better managers than Ventura (cf. LaRussa, Fregosi and Torborg) for much less.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:20 pm
Renteria is fine - the problem has been the terrible trades Rick Hahn has made (and I feel awful about that because he’s such a class act). LaRoche, then using the LaRoche money for Jamie Shield, Avi Garcia, Matt Davidson (one game!), whiffing on every free agent center fielder until the aging and (surprised) injured Austin Jackson, Brett Laurie (put up numbers anyone could give you, even Todd Frazier is mediocre b/c the home runs are offset by his low on-base percentage.

Manager is fine, need to make smarter on-field moves. Still have a great starting pitching base.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:21 pm
Anon @2:21 is me - forgot that I cleared my internet cache…

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:27 pm
Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t make one basket, Michael Jordan and others did. Reinsdorf also didn’t have one strikeout or homerun either.

Successful owners hire smart people (not friends or unqualified lackeys) and shuts up.

See Tom Ricketts and Rocky Wirtz

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:38 pm
–Have you heard AJ on the ESPN broadcasts? He belongs in the booth–

Old-Dahmer-Eyes belongs in the nut house.

Which doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t belong in the booth. A talented grifter like Schilling made some money in the booth for a while, too, while he wasn’t robbing Rhode Island taxpayers on some video game grift.

At the Goat, there’s a story of a drunken AJ being obnoxious and rude to a young waitress at Shula’s.

Jim Thome, Mr. Incredible from Peoria, dragged AJ out of the place by his ear and explained to him on the street that such behavior would never happen again in his presence. Or else.

Thome then went back inside, apologized to the waitress, and left her a fat tip.

Thome is the guy you want on your team, not AJ.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:49 pm
Well

First Thanks Jerry R for keeping the White Sox in Chicago

I have watched part of all of most of the games this year

Robin had to go
Renteria will be better then some think maybe a lot better
We have a top 5 roster of Starters and very decent closer
Infield is strong in field
Beginning and end is season shows what they are capable of
One or two players away from playoffs next year

Comment by Sox fan for over 50 years Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:38 pm
–First Thanks Jerry R for keeping the White Sox in Chicago==

You can’t be serious.

Thank Big Jim and Madigan, for pushing through and eating stuff for a generation on a sweetheart deal rather than calling Jerry’s bluff on moving to that dome-dump in Tampa.

The Sox were never going to Tampa. Jerry has copped to that.

That Tampa team, currently in the worst stadium in baseball? Soon to be in Ciudad de Mexico, senor. Or Montreal, mon frere.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 11:03 pm