Rick Renteria raises, invites expectations after White Sox's busy winter
During Rick Renteria’s hero’s welcome at his second SoxFest as manager in 2018, a fan stepped in to ask him about his overreliance on the bunt. The question drew applause from the otherwise adoring crowd, but Renteria squirmed out of the pin by placing some of the blame on hitters going rogue.
“Actually there were a couple of opportunities there where, to be honest, we didn’t put the bunt on. And our players thought they would be helping the club by executing the particular play there where to be honest we didn’t put the bunt on. And our players thought that they would be helping the club by executing that particular play. I don’t want to throw my players under the bus. Believe me, there were times when they came in after trying to bunt, I went, “OK, I really wanted you to try to swing the bat there, because I think you might be able to pop one.”
In the season following that answer, Renteria looked somewhat justified in deflecting some responsibility. The White Sox went from league-high in 2017 to roughly league-average in 2018. That’s not quite cold turkey, but it showed progress.
But then he backslid last season, so Chantix might want to hold off on using him as a pitchman just yet.
| Year | SacA | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 47 | 1st |
| 2018 | 28 | 6th |
| 2019 | 35 | 2nd |
Given the fluctuation in this particular column, I trusted the content of Scott Merkin’s tweet …
… but I needed to verify it.
And alas. I mean, that was a problem, too. Both Ricks stressed defensive improvement from the most glaring positions last year. Rick Hahn said he expects Tim Anderson to contend for a Gold Glove at some point, while Renteria said Eloy Jiménez will surpass expectations in left field as long as he respects the task. Throw in Yasmani Grandal behind the plate and Nomar Mazara’s mediocrity beating Daniel Palka’s haplessness, and the Sox have reason to be sounder around the diamond.
But if you’re looking for feel-good rhetoric from the White Sox manager, you’ll have to abandon the specific idea of bunting, take his overarching view on the team’s expectations, and try to apply them elsewhere.
“I would be disappointed if we don’t make the postseason. That would be accurate,” said Renteria, who also spoke at Thursday’s press conference. “We want to break through. We want this to be an impactful season.”
“You can’t force those things. You have to allow them to play themselves out. But man for man, now we at least have a little bit more ammunition to be able to go out and compete, hopefully, on a consistent basis and put those victories on the board.”
If you want to believe Renteria will get out of his team’s way now that they have the talent to win more often than not, the concept of “ammunition” goes further than anything else. Renteria said he doesn’t have a specific batting order in mind at them moment, but look at the probable starting nine and ask where the bunts are going to come from:
- Luis Robert, CF
- Yoan Moncada, 2B
- Jose Abreu, 1B
- Yasmani Grandal, C
- Eloy Jiménez, LF
- Edwin Encarnacion, DH
- Nomar Mazara, RF
- Tim Anderson, SS
- Nick Madrigal, 2B
Madrigal will probably bunt his fair share, but as part of his overall Hot Local Singles approach. Robert might bunt to reach, depending on where he’s hitting in the lineup and how his high-motor approach guides him to wreak havoc. Nobody else who factored prominently in Renteria’s bunting plans last year figures to get nearly as much playing time this year. In fact, most of them aren’t even in the organization anymore.
Going through Baseball Savant, here’s the list of White Sox players who had more than one potentially frustrating bunting attempt in 2019. I’m counting those fouled off, those whiffed, and those that were successful but resulted in an out.
| Player | Foul | Missed | Sac | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yolmer Sánchez | 13 | 3 | 7 | 23 |
| Leury García | 10 | 1 | 11 | 22 |
| Adam Engel | 12 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| Ryan Cordell | 6 | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| Jon Jay | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| Ryan Goins | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Jose Rondón | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Yoan Moncada | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Charlie Tilson | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Nicky Delmonico | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
It’s an ugly list, but also a heartening one. Moncada’s the only one who 1) should get more than 200 plate appearances in 2020 and 2) has a bad habit to break. His three unsuccessful bunt attempts were all terrible ideas that I doubt Renteria called. However, I don’t think it’s unfair to call those bunt attempts that Renteria inspired. Similar bunts were demanded and applauded in similar situations elsewhere in the lineup, and perhaps the dugout is having difficulty keeping messages unmixed.
The hope is that the idea of “ammunition” permeates everything, from the signs Renteria sends to his coaches to what talented hitters like Moncada deem appropriate in the moment. If the projected home run increase materializes early, this might be the year Renteria feels like he’s playing for one run every time one of his non-Madrigal hitters is swinging away.
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Thats a really good point about how the way this lineup looks on paper there automatically won’t be a lot of bunts asked for.
Rickys job as a Reinsdorf employee is probably safe for the foreseeable future but he should be careful ramping up expectations. A very possible story line next off season could be is Ricky the guy to take this team to the next level especially if the sox dont live up to 2002 expectations.
Managers really out safe under Jerry. Front office folks are the ones that seem to have unlimited job security.
Thats semi fair, and probably more so for the bulls, but in terms of sox managers Ozzie got himself fired in a feud with Kenny and Robin literally had to quit after being a train wreck…
Does anyone have confidence that the sox would act boldly and do something like the cubs did and fire a well liked but unproven guy like renteria, to bring in a high end established guy like maddon, cause I put the chances of them having the balls to do that at 0.
At some point I expect Rickie will be replaced by Justin Jirchele…. at some point.
I don’t think Robin quit. They tried to frame it to the media that he quit so he could save face. He was launched into orbit.
Honestly if I had my pick I rather them be bold with free agent spending.
Your thought is incorrect.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/09/white-sox-expected-to-offer-contract-to-robin-ventura-for-2017.html
I think the idea is that they leaked that info to Nightengale to help Robin save face.
Yup …The fact that it game from Jerry’s favorite reporter tells you all you need to know
But how many cashed in on the multiball in the 3029 season?
Joke aside i always felt the bunting was a result of just bad hitters trying to do something instead of an outright out that doesn’t even advance the runner or result in a double play. So its nice to see that chart showing that.
Im much more pessimistic on the Sox this year cause ive lived too long in the “Why cant we have nice things” mindset for this team. So ill be happy if they just stick it out in the playoff picture till September. But barring injuries ruining some guys i am expecting next year to be playoffs or people get fired time.
That’s my hope too, but I’m still not sure if a playoff appearance is a necessity for Reinsdorf. If it was, there are still some players on the free agent market, right now, that could actually improve this current roster, for a very low cost. Puig would be a better RF option than Mazara. Holt could be a very useful bench piece. Strop is a great bounceback bullpen candidate. All of them could likely be had on a cheap 1 year deal, maybe even with a team option for year 2.
If this front office truly was feeling like there was any chance they could be fired in the next few years, I would think they would be all over these types of guys to shore up the roster.
This is a Blernsball blog now.
As long as Henry Aaron plays for the Sox, fine.
I’ll take a Wireless Joe Jackson. Now there was a hitting machine!
I’ll continue to follow, but was hoping the transition was going to be to a Bouillabaseball blog.
Bob Loblaw’s Blernsball Blog
You can’t cash in on the multiball unless the infield blern rule is in effect. Everyone knows that.
“Everyone knows that.”
….. well I do now!
I don’t think pushing the blame to the players really helps Renteria. If players are bunting “to try to help the team” when the sign isn’t on, Renteria should make it clear that it doesn’t help the team. It’s on him either way. As you say, Jim, bunts can be “Renteria inspired” or more modestly “Renteria allowed.”
You raise a good question, Jim, on where the bunts are going to come from. I’m guessing it will be Nick Madrigal/Leury Garcia leading the charge in 2020, but I think you’re right that they are not purposely trying to sacrifice. Rather they are trying for a bunt single.
A promotion note: I was on 670 the Score last night with Joe Ostrowski for a full hour in-studio (very nice setup 670 has after the renovations). You can listen here: https://670thescore.radio.com/media/audio-channel/ostrowski-josh-nelson-talks-white-sox-in-studio-hour-2
One thing the HOPEFULLY happens is not only if the bunts occur (my guess is they still will, but hopefully the frequency diminishes), but when they occur. I really hope the stats people get on board with run/win expectancy. I’ll cede any knowledge on that front, as I didn’t pay much attention to WS baseball last season. But, I think Ricky is the old school get on; get ’em over; get ’em in.
We’ll see.
Moncada bunted 4 times in 559 plate appearances, resulting in exactly one out. I don’t think that amounts to a “bad habit.”
I’ve tried to run down my wife half a dozen times, but this infernal Subaru has stopped me every time and yada yada we have a healthy marriage.
The road to success is paved in Marginal gains. Moncada gave away 3 pitches on bunt attempts, and a 4th pitch he put down put sacrificed himself when he was the best bat on the team.
Thats 4 pitches (and subsequently 3 or 4 at bats) that he could have done something better with.
Fantastic writing Jim.
Not super worried about the prevalence of bunts as long as 70 wRC+ players get a minimum number of plate appearances.
Generally, I like the way Ricky manages. The criticisms of his lineups are pretty empty until we see what he does with more than 4 good hitters and I think he does a pretty decent job with the pen. I reserve the right to reevaluate this opinion depending on how this season goes.
Obviously, with better hitters, there will be fewer bunts.
That bunting list has 10 guys on it, and most of them are not with the team anymore. I agree that Moncada should not bunt. The only case where I could see Moncada doing that is if he is in a bad slump, the opposing pitcher is a guy he has trouble with and a defensive shift is basically giving him a hit if he bunts.
As for the other guys on the list, I am not bothered if any of them bunt. Leury has good speed and can beat out a bunt for a hit sometimes, as can Engel. Madrigal might be the same way, as he has yet to develop a consistent power stroke. I haven’t seen enough of Madrigal’s game, but if he bunts for a hit a few times, that will force opponents to play in at the corners, allowing him to then slash hits past the drawn-in defenders.
I still don’t understand all the anxiety over Yolmer bunting last season. Relax, people. He hit two homers all of last season, and he struggled to drive in runs for much of the year. He still managed to be a productive player for us, and I wouldn’t mind having him back as an infield reserve. And, yes, if he’s still not hitting for power, he can bunt now and then.
I love it when Leury runs a bunt toward Second, past a left handed pitcher. The is delightful.
If Madrigal comes out batting a soft .300+ can we call him Hot Local Singles?