It's mid-December, the holiday season is nearing, and most everyone reading this is fed up and just wants the White Sox to sign someone new, or trade someone old, or even just find some different way of acquiring someone mid.
But Will Venable discussed the new Sox coaching staff, so there's takeaways to be had.
More hands on deck, so that there's time for more than just gameplanning
Ever since ESPN's Jeff Passan shed a spotlight on director of leadership, culture and continuing education Brian Mahler -- former Navy SEAL, as is often mentioned -- the primary way he gets brought up by White Sox employees is his influence on the hiring process. Mentions of an essay portion of a job application, shrugging answers that a new hire just "advanced through the process," are hallmarks of Mahler's influence.
Venable's answer about the Logan's Run nature of his new staff, where 50-year-old bullpen coach Matt Wise is the oldest member, is very much in that vein, though it's worth noting that Venable also credited assistant general manager Josh Barfield as a big influence on the process as well.
"We were very intentional about what we wanted from our entire staff structure, what we were looking for," Venable said. "As we went through our process and were narrowing down candidates, we just kind of ended up with the group that we ended up with and it ended up, yeah, being a little bit of a younger group."
A more specific goal that Venable stated is reducing the gameplanning burden on the primary hitting and pitching coaches. An astute viewer could see the burden of trying to find 27 outs later that night building on Ethan Katz's shoulders by pregame stretch during the past few years, and with Zach Bove's skillset in pitch grips and biomechanics, Venable is hopeful that a three-pitching-coach setup will free up Bove for more player development work. While there are officially only two hitting coaches, Venable shed light on major league assistant Tony Medina's role, explaining that he will be focused on a lot of game-planning, practice design, and running one of the organization's most valuable assets: the Trajekt machine.
"There’s a lot of different things we need to pull together. Game-planning and sitting down and hammering out hours and hours on the opponent is not one of the things that we want them to be doing, so we want to take that off that plate. The biggest part of this structure was take that off their plate, allocate that to other people and make sure these guys were able to be at the forefront of the development of our players."
In a similar thrust, Venable said that one of assistant pitching coach Bobby Hearn's big responsibilities will be collaborating with the club's sports performance team led by Geoff Head, as well as the medical team. In general, it seems like he wants the different departments to talk to each other as much as possible, which has been an organization-wide emphasis for a while now.
Chris Denorfia's major league field coordinator role
Venable admitted feeling "some sensitivity" initially about hiring one of his best friends to a coaching staff that has otherwise been notably light on familiarity, but his description of the role certainly shows why trust would be a vital qualification.
"He’s going to be somewhat of an extension of me," Venable said.
Denorfia will take over scheduling for spring training practices, which former catching coach Drew Butera handled last year. Denorfia will also be tasked for keeping pregame practices on task during the season, and Venable affirmed that the new fielding coordinator will be the primary person focused on all forms of pitch-tipping or other tells. There's a prevailing sense that Venable felt that coaches got bogged down and siloed by their individual work responsibilities, and Denorfia's wide-ranging role, a third pitching coach and a hitting-minded major league assistant are all aimed at easing those burdens.
"It wasn't necessarily like, 'Oh, I need to bring my guys in' or anything," Venable said. "We just needed to kind of hit the reset button a little bit on the efficiency of our staff, on the structure. And then as a group, be collaborative and get the right people in place that can give our players the best chance to be at their best."
There's an easy retort that the Sox simply need to make more progress on adding players whose best is better than the last three years of results, and Venable affirmed that he expects the club to make "a lot of moves" before pitchers and catchers report in February.
An obvious, but relevant José Leger dynamic
Multiple White Sox staffers at Winter Meetings alluded to how much of their offseason to date has been spent in the interview process for filling jobs. Leger's hire from the Cardinals organization is clearly a product of that process, as Venable discussed being initially impressed by his resume and then learning more about him as they talked.
"I don’t know how many interviews we did this offseason, he was as articulate and presented his ideas as clearly as anybody," Venable said. "And English is his second language; just a really impressive guy when you start adding that all up."
Leger not only is currently managing in the Dominican winter league, but some of his past roles with the Cardinals were specifically focused on the development of Latin American players. Even if it takes more than a shared language to forge a connection, it's not lost on Leger that building relationships with Spanish-speaking players on the roster is part of the dynamic he is expected to enhance.
"Definitely something that we talked about and something we’re going to try to establish that connection with the Latin players and help them feel comfortable," Leger said. "The players need that comfort. And any challenge that they may have that I can help, I’ll be open to do that. I’ve done it in the past, and sometimes you’ve just got to close that gap. And to have a better culture inside of a clubhouse, that connection is needed. And when you have a bilingual coach, it definitely helps."
Hire of new assistant general manager Carlos Rodriguez made official
The White Sox officially announced what Sox Machine reported Wednesday night: Chris Getz now has a third AGM. His statement on the hire reflects the appeal that Rodriguez's varied set of experiences had for the organization.
“I’ve known Carlos for many years and have followed his career and impact within the Rays organization,” said Getz. “He is an intelligent, thoughtful, and experienced leader who has contributed meaningfully across nearly every area of baseball operations. From major league season support and research and development to international operations and the execution of a new stadium build, Carlos brings a broad, operationally diverse perspective that will strengthen the White Sox at every level.”
The team release specified that Rodriguez reports to Getz.
