Paul Sullivan: Picking the next Chicago White Sox manager will be the biggest decision of Rick Hahn's career. So who will it be?
CHICAGO — Everyone is throwing his hat into the ring to manage the Chicago White Sox.
Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, who hasn’t worn a baseball uniform since 2011, apparently would be willing to re-enter the grind if the Sox are interested in hiring a 76-year-old, according to a USA Today report.
Former Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who has been a TV analyst since his retirement four years ago, told WMVP-AM 1000’s David Kaplan he would “absolutely be interested” in the opening.
No word yet from former first baseman Paul Konerko, but what Sox fan wouldn’t want to see Paulie back on the South Side with a push-button team to manage?
Suffice it to say the Sox will have plenty of candidates to choose from, and they already have narrowed the list to anybody but Ozzie Guillen, the only man alive to have managed the franchise to a title.
It makes perfect sense if general manager Rick Hahn suddenly is being deluged with texts from those interested in taking over the team he built. Walking into the Sox vacancy seems as foolproof as becoming the CEO of Zoom during the pandemic.
The hard part of the rebuild is over. The core will be around for several years. And the team needs only minor tinkering this offseason to improve on its 2020 regular-season performance. Hopefully the Sox will have more than two starters available for a postseason run in 2021 and won’t have to use nine relievers in a do-or-die game.
This Sox team is built for the long haul, and the only thing that seemingly could derail it is a slew of untimely injuries or inept managing.
Hahn can control only one of those factors, so this pick will be the biggest decision of his career.
What could go wrong?
Just ask A.J. Hinch, the former Houston Astros manager considered the consensus favorite.
Hinch took over in Houston for the 2015 season after Bo Porter fulfilled the Rick Renteria role as designated coat-holder of the rebuild. The Astros went from 92 losses in 2014 to 86 wins and beating the New York Yankees in the wild-card game before losing to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series.
Like the 2020 Sox, the Astros’ future looked exceedingly bright even after their playoff exit.
But the path to sustained success is not always linear, to paraphrase Cubs President Theo Epstein, and the 2016 Astros finished in third place in the AL West and missed the playoffs. It wasn’t until 2017 that they finally put it all together, thanks in no small part to the Aug. 31 acquisition of Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, who actually wanted to be traded to the Cubs.
Unfortunately for Verlander, the Cubs had already dealt prospects Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease to the White Sox for Jose Quintana on July 13, so they passed on Verlander in August. General manager Jed Hoyer later told WSCR-AM 670: “There’s ones that you beat yourself up over because you think, ‘What could we have seen differently? Could we have predicted this?’
“Obviously, we didn’t. (Verlander’s) late-career resurgence has been amazing.”
Verlander went 5-0 with a 1.06 ERA in five starts down the stretch and was named MVP of the American League Championship Series after winning two games against the Yankees. The Astros went on to win the World Series, only to get nabbed in the sign-stealing scandal that led to MLB’s suspension of Hinch and his former coach, Alex Cora, last January.
Was Hinch a great manager as his reputation suggested or simply the beneficiary of an ingenious plan by his players and Cora to cheat the system through modern technology and trash-can beating?
Obviously if he gets hired, the Sox believe the former was true. Hinch would thus be able to restore his reputation with a playoff-ready team, and the Sox’s decision to replace Renteria with a Joe Maddon-esque hire would be validated.
It would be a win for Sox fans who were frustrated by Renteria’s decision-making and for Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who had to approve the Renteria firing or it would not have happened.
The key to all this is Reinsdorf, who has run out of patience at the age of 84 and wants to see the Sox win now.
It was Reinsdorf who gave Guillen an opportunity to manage in 2004 and who approved Robin Ventura in 2012 despite the lack of prior managing or coaching experience. The Sox have not conducted a real managerial search since 1997, when former GM Ron Schueler drew up a list of 60 candidates, interviewed 15 personally and eventually chose Jerry Manuel over a group of finalists that included Tigers bench coach Larry Parrish and Texas Rangers bench coach Bucky Dent.
With the Sox, it’s usually not what you’ve done but who you know. That’s why you can’t really exclude anyone from speculation, no matter how crazy it sounds — including Reinsdorf’s close friend, LaRussa, and one of his favorite ex-Sox players, Pierzynski.
I’ve always believed Pierzynski would make a good manager, though I told him in 2015 when he was still playing that he probably was too outspoken.
“Yeah, I think Ozzie learned that lesson, didn’t he?” Pierzynski replied. “That you can’t be too honest.”
The Sox could use some of A.J.’s bluntness, but they also need someone with experience.
Someone who can tell Jimenez he needs to get serious about his defensive play in left field or else become a full-time designated hitter. Someone to inform Cease he needs to learn to throw strikes consistently or else go to the bullpen. Someone to let Michael Kopech know he needs to prove baseball is his career and not just part of his journey through this thing called life.
The White Sox are going places, but they’re still an unfinished product. They need the right person to mold them into a championship team.
And after sticking with the team through all those lean years, Sox fans deserve someone they finally can believe in.
It’s up to Hahn to get the right guy — and for Reinsdorf to let him make the call.
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