After guiding the White Sox to a 35-25 record and a postseason appearances in his fourth season as manager, Rick Renteria was fired Monday, the team announced.
The move comes as a surprise but demonstrates the Sox’ resolve to take the next step in the fifth year of their rebuild after bowing out of the postseason with a Wild Card series loss to the Athletics.
Renteria had one year left on his contract, and he wanted to return in 2021. Pitching coach Don Cooper was also fired. The status of the rest of the coaching staff will be determined after consultation with the team’s next manager, according to the team’s release.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) October 12, 2020
Senior vice president/general manager Rick Hahn said Monday that former Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will not be a candidate. The Sox will look outside the organization for the next hire.
While in full rebuild mode, the Sox were 67-95, 62-100 and 72-89 in Renteria’s first three seasons. The Sox hired Renteria as a bench coach one year after the Cubs fired him as their manager in 2014, then named him to succeed Robin Ventura before the 2017 season. Renteria, replaced by Joe Maddon, spent one year on the job with the Cubs.
Renteria, 58, received high marks for establishing a good clubhouse culture and getting his players to play hard for him. His bullpen management skills were subject to debate when he inserted Carlos Rodon into a high leverage situation with the bases loaded in a 5-4 loss to the Indians on Sept. 24 at Cleveland, and the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card series in Oakland. In the playoff game that ended their season, the Sox were forced to have a bullpen game with no trusted third starter after Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel.
Hahn held his end of the season conference with media via Zoom Monday morning.
In the abbreviated 60-game season during a pandemic, the Sox built a 32-16 record after a 10-11 start and held the top seed in the expanded eight-team American League playoff field. The Sox faded late, closing with a 3-12 regular season record and losing home field for the Wild Card series. They were seeded seventh.
Renteria was the Sox’ 40th manager. He was 236-309 (.436) over his four seasons on the South Side.
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