General manager Chris Getz said he wanted a manager who would walk in step with him and the White Sox’ brain trust, including analytics, scouting and development personnel, as they make changes throughout the organization in its latest rebuilding effort.
By choosing Will Venable, 42, it indicates the former Cubs coach’s willingness to be on board with an organization that was shredded and humbled for all to see the last two seasons.
Venable, who sat alongside four-time World Series champion manager Bruce Bochy as the 2023 champion Rangers’ associate manager and again last season, is highly thought of in most circles. He was targeted by the Marlins this offseason and the Mets and Guardians last offseason, which says something. Perhaps in hopes of filling Bochy’s seat, he declined to interview with the Mets and Guardians, both playoff teams in ’24, and will face a much greater challenge with the Sox, in full rebuild mode after losing 222 games the last two seasons.
Word came late Tuesday night, after the Yankees’ elimination-game victory in Game 4 of the World Series, that Venable had agreed to accept his first manager’s job. The hire was made official Thursday morning, with Getz and Venable scheduled to talk on a Zoom call with media at 11 a.m.
Venable, unlike former Sox minor-league skipper and future Hall of Famer Terry Francona — who was not on the Sox’ expansive list of candidates before he came out of a one-year retirement to take the Reds’ job this month — has no significant ties to the team. That fits the profile of what Getz sought to bring to an organization known for being in-house to a fault.
Getz was looking for someone who would be up to the challenge, who would understand how far away the Sox are from competing and knowing he’d be operating with a payroll-reduced roster for at least one season.
“I’m looking for a partner in this to help lead the organization,” Getz said at the end of the season.
A graduate of Princeton, where he initially attended as a basketball standout before shifting focus to the game his father, Max, played in the majors, Venable is smart enough to know what he’s facing, with much of his post-playing-days experience gained on winning clubs.
Former Cubs president Theo Epstein made Venable, after nine seasons as an outfielder in the majors, a special assistant to him and general manager Jed Hoyer in 2017. He was the Cubs’ first-base coach in 2018 and 2019 and their third-base coach in 2020, and Getz’s close relationship with Hoyer likely factored to some extent in Venable and Getz coming together.
Before the Rangers, Venable was the Red Sox’ bench coach for manager Alex Cora from 2021 to 2022. He replaces Grady Sizemore, who had a 13-32 record as the Sox’ interim manager after Pedro Grifol was fired in his disastrous second season that saw the team plummet to a modern-era-record 121 losses. Sizemore, former Angels manager Phil Nevin and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz were among the candidates for the position.
It’s the first managerial hire for Getz, who took over as chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s decision-maker when the tandem of vice president Ken Williams and GM Rick Hahn were fired during the 2023 season, a 101-loss year after a .500 season in 2022 and division-winning year in 2021 under Tony La Russa.
The Sox need stability at the helm. Including interim managers Miguel Cairo and Sizemore, they’ve had four managers the last three seasons and six since Ozzie Guillen’s last year in 2011.
“We built our criteria, we’ve looked at the desired outcomes, we’ve got a deep candidate pool and we’ll work through that and find the best fit for us,” Getz said.
Is it Venable? Initial reviews around the industry suggest the Sox did well for themselves.
Time will tell.
