Podcast: Shortlist of managerial candidates for White Sox
Record Date: 9/29/2022
Rundown:
- White Sox finally won a game!
- Luis Robert’s wrist injury demonstrates the systematic failure within the White Sox org.
- Our favorite managerial candidates for the White Sox in 2023
- White Sox vs. Padres preview
I like the Espada name a lot… a real coaching search would start with someone just like that.
Fair or not, I’m not sure the sox can go from an over the hill alcoholic, to an over the hill guy with a previous drug problem. Not saying washington isnt a great coach but it would seem an organization that just embarrassed themselves with the handling of TLR’s dui isnt gonna be strong enough to bring a guy in with some of that baggage.
Aside from Harris who I do think has cut his chops a bit, I would much prefer a total outsider from the system. No AJ, Ozzie, Thome, Konerko talk, I cant stand it, its never made sense to me. You are not some historic franchise with this aura of winning and titles and etc etc, you are a second rate organization that has 1 freaking ship in a 120 years. To pretend you do it the “whitesox way” as if thats some sort of badge of honor has lead to inside hires of horrific coaches and front office types for FAR too long. I want fresh eyes and minds to be brought in top to bottom. President, GM, Scouting Directors, Manager, assistant coaches, and so on, replace everyone.
Yes, stay away from ex-Sox, please.
I get what you’re saying about Washington but that was 12 years ago without any relapses, at least that I’m aware of. TLR, as we all know, got busted right before the Sox brought him back.
And besides that, Washington’s habit would at least keep him awake in the dugout!
it is one way to light a fire lol
Laughed at Jim’s comment that the strength of the handshake might be taken into account in the managerial hiring process…than I frowned as I realized it might be true.
How similar the candidate’s personality is to Patton will probably be take into consideration as well.
Sadly also true
The scale on which White Sox managerial decision making is measured ranges from ‘catastrophic’ to ‘puzzling’. I’m thinking this one won’t quite be a Tony LaRussa on the scale, it will be closer to an Ozzie Guillen.
Good rundown of some managerial options. The one nice thing for the Sox is this is a pretty opportune time to be in the market for a manager. If you like “name” veteran guys, you have Bochy, Girardi, Maddon, Mattingly. If you like young, up-and-coming possibly forward-type thinkers, you have Espada, Quatraro, Perez, Alomar. Plus several other palatable options. Whether or not the Sox choose to properly explore the field is another question entirely, but there’s no denying what’s there is solid. Personally, I’d go for Espada, Bochy or Sandy.
I would prefer a young up-and-coming guy like Espada or Quatraro, but I get the feeling that Sandy Alomar will be their choice. I like Sandy, but you have to wonder why he’s been passed up so many times in the past. Plus, he has that ex-Sox connection that they seem to prefer.
Agree the “always a bridesmaid” thing is a worry with Sandy, and to some extent some of the others too. But sometimes that’s just the way it works out. It took Dave Martinez forever to get the top job, and he has a WS ring to show for it. Not quite apples to apples, but I remember Tom Thibodeau’s name around as a head coach candidate in the NBA for quite a while before he got the Bulls job.
It would be nice to see an actual interview process for a change. A number of strong candidates that would be well worth bringing in for a closer look and sure hope that short list includes Quartarro, Espada and Sandy Alomar Jr among others.
If LaRussa isn’t officially fired, and there’s no reason to think he wiil be, he will collect $4mil next year. Therefore I see zero chance of a quaity manager who would require $3-4mil per year salary. No chance JR commints $6-7mil total to manager salaries.
I think it is just the opposite of what you are saying
He will throw around 2 million here and 2 million there on crappy managers and players but won’t pony up the 25 million for the solid free agent. He ends up spending the money anyways but in his head he feels good because he has no long-term commitment. In essence he will spent 6-7 million on managers next year and then put a warm body at second base.
Also, sadly true.
A big thing for me is I want to see a manager with previous managing experience, majors or minors. There’s a learning curve to making decisions in real time. Citing two examples, Francona was a failure in Philadelphia; Stengel was a failure in Brooklyn and Boston. Both went from bad situations to good ones, but I believe both learned from their experiences.
Managing your son’s travel team doesn’t count.
Is Stengel available?
At first glance, Eduardo Pérez is too far removed from the insular White Sox culture to receive consideration as manager, but I see a path to his hire. Pérez regularly worked with Jason Benetti on ESPN’s Statcast broadcasts; if Jerry Reinsdorf has Benetti vouch for Pérez, that could be enough to bring him into the bubble.
This raises the possibility of Reinsdorf repeating the gambit of hiring his TV play-by-play announcer to run baseball operations. Doing that in this instance might actually be an improvement, especially if Benetti and Pérez bring along their old colleagues Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs to bolster the analytics department. Benetti could continue Hahn’s lawyerly responses to media questions, but there’s the chance he’ll make new mistakes rather than the sadly predictable ones we continue to see from Hahn.
I heard someone bring up Perez the other day and there was some connection to Reinsdorf. I don’t remember what it was though.
How about Mike Ditka? Can you imagine Tim Anderson walking up to him and saying “I’ve played 3 days in a row and my legs hurt.”? I would pay money to see that.
Again, I’d take Bochy but it doesn’t sound like that will happen. I don’t know enough about Estrada other than he’s interviewed for other teams. Like it’s been mentioned, Alomar has interviewed so many times that it makes you wonder.
This team is so confusing that a person doesn’t know where to start with who gets fired first. If anyone does.
Honestly, my greatest hope is that Kenny really is quiet quitting. My fear is he still wont take the hint and leave like he was supposed to in 2012. In some ways he’s like Jose, I thank him for what he’s done for the Sox in the past but for this org to move forward we need someone new in his position.
I’m curious as to how many OPP’s will have Jose staying vs. walking. Several weeks ago my tea leave reading of the comments suggested a majority wanted to keep him. Now I think the tide is turning toward moving on.
3 months ago I was still very much in the keep Jose camp but as things have unfolded my doubts have risen to the top. I’d still be willing to given him a 1+ for a DH spot if there’s one available but one of the things that’s become apparent in the last 1-2 months is that Eloy is our best DH moving forward. That kind a leaves Jose with no spot on the roster. I’ll love his statue on the concourse but unless something unexpected happens I don’t expect to see the real him in the park unless it’s as a visitor.
For a few months I’ve been all for making Vaughn the 1B and Eloy the DH next year. Keeping Jose on the roster as a PH/depth piece would just cut into the PA’s for those two. I think I was in the minority. I think I’m part of the majority now.