A GRAND OPENING ON SOUTH SIDE
MANAGERIAL JOB FOR ON-THE-VERGE SOX SHOULD ATTRACT THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS
General manager Rick Hahn has pitched the White Sox in the past as a franchise free agents should want to play for. When you work for an organization that hadn’t had a winning season since 2012 until this year, it took a little selling. Hahn doesn’t have to tout the Sox anymore, although he did anyway when he hung a “manager for hire” sign outside 35th and Shields on Monday. “We should be viewed as a very desirable landing spot for potential managers,” Hahn said.
That they should. And after years of hiring managers with no major-league experience from within the organization or chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s beloved Sox family, the Sox will go outside to find the best man for the job at this pivotal and prime point in their rebuild, with a plum job to offer.
They are coming off their first postseason appearance since 2008, stocked with young and proven talent under contract for multiple seasons and positioned to spend in free
agency to put finishing touches on a roster that will enter 2021 as a World Series contender.
Step right this way!
“We’re a team that not only gets to play in Chicago and have tremendous support, we’re a team that’s poised to potentially go on an extended run here,” Hahn said. “So we’re looking for that right fit that’s going to be able to take us to that next step.”
Bruce Bochy, one of the game’s very best but now in retirement, didn’t rule out having interest when he was asked about the Sox job this week. Ozzie Guillen, the 2005 SoxWorld Series champion manager, would drop everything he’s doing for another chance but isn’t being considered. Fan favorite A.J. Pierzynski, the catcher on that team, threw his hat in the ring but doesn’t have the experience Hahn is looking for.
Alex Cora? He won a World Series in 2018, but the Sox aren’t interested. Oh, the luxury of having the elbow room to be picky.
It wasn’t long ago when the American League Central rival Tigers would have the upper hand on the Sox for attracting players and managers, but Tigers general manager Al Avila, who has said that AJ Hinch was on his wish list, most certainly winced when the Sox fired Renteria, opening a door for arguably the best candidate on the market — a sign-stealing scandal on his resume notwithstanding — to pilot the Sox.
Even 76-year-old Tony La Russa, as stunning as it is that he supposedly is being considered, wouldn’t be interested unless the Sox were this good. The Sox reportedly are the only team the three-time World Series champion and Hall of Famer would even want to manage.
So Hahn has no excuse but to land the best man for the job to take the Sox to the “multiple championships” he has been talking about since the rebuild began. He will be under more pressure to get this one right than he was with Renteria, his first hire.
But there are no locks. The Phillies and Angels switched to big, proven, championship names in Joe Girardi and Joe Maddon, no ordinary Joes on the managerial tower, and look where it got them in 2020— watching the playoffs on TV.
Adding pitching in the rotation and bullpen, a capable right fielder and seeing rookie Andrew Vaughn become the first decent designated hitter in Hahn’s tenure would help make it right.
The window is open.
And the right man for the job has to be ushered in.
There should be no shortage of good candidates.
“We talked last year that we were moving into that second stage, finished the talent accumulation stage for the most part, building a core,” Hahn said. “We wanted to augment that group and ideally transition to a team that’s capable of competing for championships. We have flaws still, we have holes that we’re going to have to hopefully address over the coming weeks and months.”
With the right man to oversee all of it on the field.
“We’re a team that not only gets to play in Chicago and have tremendous support, we’re a team that’s poised to potentially go on an extended run here. So we’re looking for that right fit that’s going to be able to take us to that next step.” Rick Hahn, sox general manager