Two managerial vacancies filled as White Sox’s process(?) plays out
If the White Sox are indeed strongly considering Houston bench coach Joe Espada as their next manager, then any official news will probably have to wait a while, because the Astros haven’t yet lost a game this postseason.
That’s all well and good if the White Sox search committee actually agrees on who should be leading the team, because then it’s just a matter of the process taking as long as it has to take.
But because the White Sox don’t have a clearly defined chain of command, and we can’t trust one member of said search committee to not pull the rug out from under any best-laid plans, then the next however many days could be spent with white knuckles.
For instance, on the same day that a tweet saying Espada will be the next White Sox manager gained traction, NBC Sports Chicago said that the White Sox will interview Ozzie Guillen next week. And because the White Sox announced their decision to hire Tony La Russa with a graphic bearing AJ Hinch’s signature, precedent says there’s no way to truly determine which idea has more validity.
While we wait it out, a few other managerial futures around the league were confirmed on Friday, and none seem to disrupt the White Sox’s plans too much.
Texas Rangers: Hired Bruce Bochy
I probably would’ve been thrilled about the prospect of Bruce Bochy managing the White Sox were he available after the team fired Rick Renteria, but having just seen Tony La Russa depart the team under a shroud of uncertainty due to multiple health concerns, a little of the excitement over three World Series rings would’ve been diminished by the three heart issues he experienced in consecutive seasons while managing the Giants. Not enough to knock the move or say the Sox should’ve looked elsewhere, mind you, but this particular team probably doesn’t take it easy on the ticker.
Anyway, it sounds like that possibility wasn’t in play, because the Rangers and new general manager Chris Young seemed to take a direct line to Bochy, with Young foreshadowing the move in his end-of-season press conference.
(I’m taking a point for saying the Rangers were a better landing spot than the White Sox in my open job rankings.)
Toronto Blue Jays: Retained John Schneider
After a painful loss to the Seattle Mariners in the wild card series, the Blue Jays wanted to do their due diligence before removing the interim label from John Schneider’s title. Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins had praised Schneider for his work after replacing Charlie Montoyo and said it’d be hard to find better, but they wanted to process the concept of Schneider as a long-term manager rather than the most sensible internal midseason candidate before committing.
That process is complete, and Schneider has a new three-year deal.
Cleveland Guardians: Still led by Terry Francona
Speaking of managers with health issues, Francona will remain in his position with Cleveland for 2023, with the intent to sign a new contract after he has “drains removed from his backside.” It sounds like he’ll continue assessing his ability to withstand a 162-game season on an annual basis for as long as the Guardians will have him, and Cleveland’s front office sounds like it’s in no rush to look anywhere else.
Why do I keep visualizing the scene of JR asking Ozzie, …convince me Ozzie.
I have a knot in my stomach.
I hope the graphics team has the announcement ready. Ozzie Guillen’s face with Espada’s autograph.
So its going to be a repeat of the last hire. Rick wants to get somebody from outside the organization and Jerry goes over his head to hire somebody he knows. I like Ozzie on TV but i dont want to see him in the dugout again.
Makes for a fun question though. Would you want to be a GM of a team with an owner that will constantly go over your head for hires and never let you truly spend or run the team in a modern fashion to the point it makes you look like an idiot, however you have endless job security as the owners jester.
Not sure where this narrative is coming from. All indications is that Jerry is the hard no on Ozzie and he would be the one needing convincing. If this isn’t coming from Hahn then its coming from Kenny.
It would not be coming from Kenny.
If you were a GM with Hahn’s track record you want the public to believe someone else runs the team.
Hahn has a high profile job, in sports, is well paid, has no accountability, job security, and in the town he grew up in. For a GM, he may have the best work-life balance in the sport.
As a forced hire, try to make a spark, maybe we get lucky perspective, I really like it.
Ozzie says that he’s not interviewing according to DVS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
DVS?
Daryl Van Shouwen from the Sun-Times
He didn’t interview when he was hired in 2004 either. They know him well enough.
That’s not true. Guillen even says that he was drunk during the interview back in ‘04.
If you’re drunk during an interview it’s not an interview.
Ozzie being unprofessional doesn’t disqualify it from being an interview.
I don’t understand why Joe Espada is the most sought after candidate. Everybody knows Dusty runs his own game, always has.
I don’t even know what you mean by “Dusty runs his own game” and I don’t think “everyone knows” that. Espada is a relatively young coach with extensive experience on highly successful teams and he’s long thought to be manager material. I can understand why teams might want experience. But if you’re okay with a fresh face, it’s difficult to do better than Espada, on paper.
Espada’ has extensive experience getting Dusty’s coffee order correct. LOL.
Yes, we should definitely value your insider knowledge on Espada’s role with the Astros over other baseball front office’s and insiders.
Even if he is only getting coffee: good teams like his coffee skills enough to keep him around in high places, so I’ll wager he’s picked up a thing or two about how teams win. That makes him as qualified to run this team than anyone else in this organization.
Based on his career being somewhat infamous for binning it in the playoffs maybe he shouldn’t.
I’ll take Dusty’s managerial record and you can have the field. He is an unquestionable HOF’er.
Of all the rmaining candidates linked to the Sox, Espada is my first choice.
Ozzie sounds about right.
When this team has a flat, they rotate the tires.
Kenny would interview Ozzie if the team was already set on hiring Espada.
I don’t understand the pro-Ozzie crowd. He quit on the White Sox and forced his way out before the season was over. The team looks like it quit last year so the Pro-Ozzie crowd thinks hiring a quitter to motivate other quitters will bring success?
At the interview, Rick needs to have a handwritten sign that says, “So sorry.”
Ozzie took a team in 2005 that the analytics crowd picked for 4th place in the AL Central to a WS win.
And what happened the next few years?
Flags Fly Forever or so they say. Ozzie is more decorated than any of the analytical crowd that wouldn’t hire him will ever be.
Ozzie’s record with the White Sox is above .500…but so is Terry Bevington’s and Tony’s. 😐
Something Dusty’s never done.
Dusty has won everywhere he has been and done so in different eras. He’s a great teacher for hitters,
Dusty has 0 rings. He’s a bum.
The “analytics crowd” run all the best teams in baseball. But, yes, we should totally pick a guy who had one good year 17 years ago.
If the Dodgers can’t be analytically managed to a World Series championship what chance do the White Sox have?
If it was going to be Washington, Grifol or Shildt, they would have the job by now.
I recall Ozzie getting interviewed before he got the manager’s job. I also recall how he left the Sox last time.
Now that the Sox can’t perpetuate the dumbest managerial hire due to LaRussa’s departure, they want to move on to the second-dumbest by re-hiring Ozzie?
Say it ain’t so!
I cannot believe that Rick Hahn is still employed and making any decisions about any baseball team.
If the Sox ran a contest last year to let a random fan run the team and they did exactly what Hahn did there would be no end to the jokes and ridicule.
I am a fan of Ozzie, but I do not think he is the right guy for this team. He does check some boxes for the White Sox, and that scares me because Hahn/Reinsdorf might buy that. If Reinsdorf and Hahn have no intentions of hiring Ozzie, then I don’t understand this interview.
I haven’t seen Mattingly’s name mentioned for any job. I don’t know if that surprises me or not.
With Guillen I feel it’s “been there, done that”. I would still be stunned in JR caves in.
Also, this Soxfest thing. I almost feel like it’s out of spite. Maybe I’m wrong but it’s how I feel.
Still hoping foe Sandy Alomar Jr. former catcher, speaks Spanish so the other half of the team could understand.