Wins were few and far between for the Chicago White Sox this season, so the news of the hiring of Will Venable as manager likely will be viewed with skepticism by a sizable segment of fans.
Their trust in the Sox organization is at an all-time low after the blatant cronyism surrounding the Tony La Russa hiring in 2020, the stench of the Pedro Grifol era, the general manager search that ended before it began and, of course, the record-breaking 121-loss 2024 season.
The default setting of Sox fans these days is: “What the (bleep) are they thinking?”
Without knowing exactly what general manager Chris Getz was thinking when he sorted through the many candidates and decided on Venable, I think he got this one right.
Getz had several months to find someone to replace Grifol, who everyone knew was a goner in April, even though it took until Aug. 8 for Getz to finally pull the trigger. Interim manager Grady Sizemore was the preferred choice of many Sox players, but keeping Sizemore, whose record was almost as bad as Grifol’s during his brief audition, would’ve been a hard sell on fans looking for change.
None of the rumored candidates was exactly a household name, and only a few had managerial experience, including Skip Schumaker and Phil Nevin. Fair or not, we’re in an era in which managerial experience is basically a nonfactor in the hiring process, so Venable’s lack of experience was meaningless. Stephen Vogt proved this season with the Cleveland Guardians that anyone with a firm knowledge of the game and the ability to relate to modern players can succeed.
Will Venable still be around when the Sox are respectable again?
It might depend on whether Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is still the owner in three or four years. As a Princeton grad with a degree in anthropology, Venable surely is smart enough to know that the future of the franchise is not set in stone.
Anyone interested in the Sox job had to understand he could be a coat-holder if the team gets sold and new ownership decides on new management. And it was only a matter of time before someone hired Venable, according to baseball insiders.
But Venable took the Sox job anyway, which means he’s either crazy or extremely confident in his ability to turn things around in a relatively quick time frame.
Even if Reinsdorf keeps the Sox, Venable could be the guy to get them from Point A to Point B, as Rick Renteria turned out to be after the last rebuild turned the corner in 2020. Renteria was toast after guiding the Sox to the 2020 postseason in his fourth season. Reinsdorf stubbornly ignored his front office and decided to hand deliver a playoff-ready roster to his old friend, La Russa, who remains as an adviser to Getz.
Venable is well respected in baseball circles but still mostly anonymous to Sox fans, as Grifol was two years ago. When the news of the hiring was leaked during the World Series, as I predicted it would be, fans learned that Venable, who had a nine-year playing career, became a special assistant to former Cubs President Theo Epstein and then-general manager Jed Hoyer in 2017 after playing for the San Diego Padres when Hoyer was their GM.
Getz and Hoyer have become close friends, and Hoyer’s stamp of approval was no doubt a factor in the decision. Venable became a coach under Joe Maddon in 2018 and stayed in the organization for one year under David Ross in 2020 after being interviewed for the job that Ross was a shoo-in to get. Venable also interviewed for the Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants jobs in 2020, when he turned to Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll for advice during the interview process.
“After I got off the phone, I was ready to run through a wall for him,” Venable told the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales. “He’s so passionate and inspiring, and I let him talk. It gave me the confidence and a focus going in there.”
After leaving the Cubs, Venable moved on to the Boston Red Sox to coach under Alex Cora, and in 2023 became the assistant manager with the Texas Rangers under future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy. Those three managers have six rings among them, so if Venable was learning on the job, at least he was learning from the best.
Venable won a ring in his first season as Rangers bench coach, so he knows about winning. Whether Venable can lift the Sox from the pits to the playoffs is the big question. Considering how far they are from being even mediocre, no one expects any miracles in 2025 or ’26.
But if Getz was looking for someone who could gain the respect of players, communicate the team’s message through the media and bring a sense of normalcy back to the organization, he seemingly found the right guy. But seeing is believing. Remember that Grifol came in touting his credentials as a communicator, but communication turned out to be one of his weaknesses.
Like Sizemore, Venable is soft-spoken and low key, closer in personality to Renteria than Grifol or La Russa. Venable probably won’t cause a stir by calling the team “f—ing flat,” as Grifol memorably did in June, but will stress the same positive outlook as Sizemore, looking for daily improvement from what will be a young team with several new faces.
We’ll hear a lot about “playing the game the right way,” the mantra of Sizemore and any new manager taking over a team as inept as the 2024 White Sox were.
Many fans wanted either Ozzie Guillen or A.J. Pierzynski to be the next manager, and both would’ve helped sell tickets and gave the team credibility. But neither one was considered by Getz, who wanted someone with no Sox ties. Guillen and Pierzynski have become media stars, so they’ll be critiquing Venable, just like the rest of us.
Getz knows Sox fans are wary of him and that he still has to prove himself. This move is the biggest he has made as Sox GM, one that ultimately could decide whether he’s here for the long haul.
Now he just has to fill in the holes on a roster that has far too many to mention.
Ready or not, the Getz-Venable era is on the clock.
