Rick Renteria and Rick Hahn talk White Sox rebuild and Manny Machado. Paul Sullivan,
Like young players, Renteria’s goatee being grown with better future in mind
The topics discussed Saturday morning during the management seminar at SoxFest ran the gamut, from the pursuit of Manny Machado to how a club becomes a “mystery” team to guessing the color of broadcaster Jason Benetti’s pants.
But perhaps the most newsworthy item came near the end of the 45-minute session, when White Sox manager Rick Renteria was asked whether he would stop shaving until the Sox win a championship.
“I’ve already promised I’m not shaving — I’m going to keep this,” Renteria said, referring to his winter goatee. “Someone said that championships come with coaches in the city with facial hair, so I’m leaving it.”
It worked for Mike Ditka, Phil Jackson, Ozzie Guillen, Joel Quenneville and Joe Maddon, so Renteria might as well give it a shot, even if he could look like one of the guys from ZZ Top by the time the Sox win.
When that will be is anyone’s guess. The Sox are entering Year 3 of their rebuild with or without Machado, who could get them a year or two closer to their goal if he winds up on the South Side. One fan asked Renteria and general manager Rick Hahn whether the Sox can win 80 games in 2019, which would be an 18-game improvement over 2018.
“Is it possible? Absolutely,” Renteria said, pointing to bullpen additions Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome.
Hahn interjected: “Do keep in mind our goal is not to build a team that wins 80 games. We’re trying to build something that wins 95 on an annual basis.”
The key, Hahn said, is the “young guys taking a step forward and putting themselves in a position to be part of that core of rebuilding. The win total we care about, but as we enter Year 3 of this, it’s about the long-term win total, not just one stop along the way.”
The Sox acknowledge the pursuit of a premium free agent such as Machado or Bryce Harper is significant to the franchise, which hasn’t landed a top-of-themarket free agent since Albert Belle over two decades ago. It signals their willingness to mix it up with baseball’s big spenders, although how far they’ll go to reel one in remains to be seen.
Asked whether the Sox are prepared to outspend any other team to get someone such as Machado or Harper, Hahn hedged.
“Do we have no limits? No,” he said. “Everyone has a limit on how far you’re willing to go on something. You also have to keep in mind that there are at times, depending on the player, other elements besides simply economics. So if I stood up here and said, as (the Phillies) said, ‘We’re going to spend stupid money this offseason,’ that doesn’t guarantee you’re going to get the guy.”
In other words, the Sox could offer the most money and still be rejected because of the player’s preference for a certain city or wanting a chance to win immediately. The Padres, by the way, reportedly have entered the mix for Machado, and the temperature was 72 in San Diego as it hovered around zero at SoxFest.
Do the Sox Math.
“We’ve prepared for this, from the economic standpoint,” Hahn said. “We expect at the very least to go down swinging if we don’t convert.”
One fan asked why the Sox have been so public about their pursuit of Machado and Harper since they’re usually “a bit annoyed” about media reports on their maneuvering. “Stay out of White Sox business” was once the unofficial motto of the Ken Williams era.
“If that’s the case, why weren’t we the mystery team?” the fan asked. “If you don’t like the noise, then don’t step out there.”
“I’ll hide the ball more in the future,” Hahn cracked, before admitting to getting “irritated with leaks” and preferring to operate under the radar.
“I think when you’re involved in premium-type guys, where there’s a lot of spotlight and spectacle around them, stuff gets out,” Hahn said. “And as much as it may irritate me, or quite frankly at times make our job harder, we’re not going to get out there and lie. You have not heard me talk specifically about any elements of the negotiation or any element of the pursuit or what we did or didn’t do.
“All you’ve heard me say is (about) our level of interest in premium free agents, which I’ve been saying for several years now. And along the way, if a photo (of Harper) at the United Center slips out or someone sees video cameras of Manny walking up to our ballpark, we’re not going to lie and say it’s not going on.
“People have a bit of a right to know that we’re being true to our word when we said when the time is right we’re going to pursue this type of talent.”
Benetti then asked Hahn how to become the ubiquitous mystery team that always pops up in media reports.
“Well, more often than not there’s not one,” Hahn replied. “So I guess I can say we were the mystery team on one of the six guys that we didn’t even talk to.”
Benetti asked Renteria if he ever played for “the mystery team.” Renteria simply smiled and replied: “No.”
“But that’s what you’d say if you had because you didn’t want us to know it,” Benetti said. “This is really difficult.”
There’s no mystery about the state of Sox fans entering another year of the rebuild.
Sometimes you just need a good laugh.