A certain proven manager from across town with a World Series ring might be on the open market soon, but the White Sox are not interested.
They are more than happy with Rick Renteria.
Asked Friday if there would be interest in hiring Cubs manager Joe Maddon should he become available after a disappointing season, Sox general manager Rick Hahn emphasized the organization’s confidence and belief that Renteria is the right guy to take the rebuilding Sox to the next level.
“Ricky will be our manager,” Hahn said.
Renteria was unceremoniously replaced by Maddon as Cubs manager in 2014 when Maddon unexpectedly became available just as the rebuilding North Siders were getting ready to win. Renteria sat out of baseball for one season, was named Sox manager Robin Ventura’s bench coach for 2016 and replaced Ventura as Sox manager before the 2017 season to pilot the Sox during their rebuild.
“When Ricky was put in that role, it wasn’t with the idea that he was just going to be the right guy for the first stage, the stage that is coming toward an end here, or is at an end here,” Hahn said at his end-of-the-season press conference at Guaranteed Rate Field. “Obviously, the history and teaching and communicating and holding guys accountable is very important now. But even at the time we hired him, we felt he had the ability to not only set the right winning culture but to put guys in the best position to win.”
At the general managers meetings last November, Hahn revealed that Renteria had received an extension on his original three-year deal due to expire at the end of this season. Renteria is known to be signed through 2021.
“His ability to communicate with all 25 or 26 guys on a daily basis, to know where they’re at, to know what they’re capable of doing and putting them in the best position, makes us fairly confident that once that roster is deep enough and strong enough that he’s going to be able to maximize the win potential with that roster when the time comes,” Hahn said Friday.
While Renteria wasn’t afforded an opportunity to select his coaching staff when he was hired, he is believed to be happy with it now. Hahn declined to say that everyone is returning, however.
“It’s still a little premature on ‘everyone coming back’ conversations,” Hahn said. “We need to sit down and finish up with Ricky the evaluation of where we’re at. Certainly when we assembled this staff, we wanted it to be filled with guys with roots in player development so that they were able to teach our young players and hold them accountable and set standards. And we’re certainly very pleased with how that’s unfolded. We’ll deal with specific staffing issues once the season’s over.”
The Sox are scheduled for a doubleheader against the Tigers Friday with single games Saturday and Sunday to close out the season.
