Before the White Sox opened their final series of the season in Washington, Will Venable foreshadowed some changes to his coaching staff, and in short order.
"Our process getting to some of those decisions still has to happen and will happen directly after the season, and then we'll communicate as soon as we can afterwards," Venable said. "It's not going to be weeks into the season that we have these talks and conversations. It will be immediate, but we just haven't done it yet."
Well, they did it, and it was immediate.
In the first day of their offseason, the White Sox announced a major coaching staff shakeup. The club "will not renew the contracts" of pitching coach Ethan Katz, hitting coach Marcus Thames, first-base coach Jason Bourgeois and catching coordinator Drew Butera, while offensive coordinator Grady Sizemore will be offered a different role in the organization for 2026.
That leaves bench coach Walker McKinven, assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan, third-base coach Justin Jirschele and bullpen/assistant pitching coach Matt Wise as the members of Venable's staff left standing.
In addition, the White Sox did not renew Sergio Santos' contract, so Charlotte Knights manager will be another vacancy to fill.
The White Sox said in the announcement that the search for replacements will begin immediately, and included parting sentiments from Venable ...
"Decisions about the coaching staff are incredibly difficult because these are friends and teammates who have been through all the moments and trials alongside you. I cannot thank each of them enough for the hard work and professionalism they brought to the ballpark daily. Ultimately, we have short-term and long-term goals and objectives for this organization and this team. Our responsibility is to put our players in the best position to grow and succeed, and that means always considering how our staff can best support the growth and success of our players. These choices are never easy, but they come from a deep commitment to giving our players the very best chance to reach our potential together.”
... and Chris Getz:
"While we greatly appreciate all that Ethan, Marcus, Jason and Drew have done for this organization, Will and I have agreed on the very difficult decision to make several changes to our coaching staff in 2026. Our respect for these coaches as people and as professionals made these decisions difficult, and we thank them for their many contributions. Our commitment remains to provide the best possible vision, ideas and resources to our players to support their continuing growth and development.”
Katz was the longest-serving member of the White Sox coaching staff, as he was hired as the pitching coach for Tony La Russa's initial staff in 2021, then held that role for three other White Sox managers. Thames, Bourgeois and Butera all joined the White Sox in the second year of the Pedro Grifol administration, and were held over for Venable's first year.
There's a strong reputation for Katz across the league, as well as his long working relationship with Brian Bannister. He's likely to have a couple former pupils among this year's AL Cy Young finalists, and it wouldn't surprise to see him in another MLB dugout next season. Thames usually drew specific praise for his relations with players, with Gavin Sheets going out of his way to stipulate that his strong first half in San Diego could have happened under Thames in Chicago being such an example. Simply put, it's hard to hold a major league hitting coach job for each of the last eight seasons as Thames has--across four different organizations--without being personable.
But Venable didn't get much of a chance to put his own stamp on his coaching staff when he was hired during the 2024-25 offseason, but with all of these contracts expiring after the year, the arranged marriages may have never been long-term ones. During the final weekend in Washington, some Sox assistants on expiring contacts sensed change was afoot. In speaking to James on Sunday, Venable sounded ready to assert his voice in future searches.
"Now having a year of also understanding our players, understanding what their needs are through our coaching staff and how we can support them, there's a lot of clarity in what it means for us to move forward," Venable said. "Throughout the year, there's been a ton of moments where we continue to talk about all these different ways where we can get things aligned.”
This overhaul registers a smaller headline than the blood-letting elsewhere, as the Giants fired manager Bob Melvin and the Twins canned manager Rocco Baldelli, even though both had their options for 2026 picked up during the season. On the other side of the ledger, the Mets resisted the calls to fire manager Carlos Mendoza after they missed the postseason with a $340 million payroll, while the Pirates extended Don Kelly, who took over as manager in May after the firing of Derek Shelton.
