Entering final year of contract, Ventura not sweating job security
He's been the Chicago White Sox' manager for three straight losing seasons, and he's entering the final year of his contract.
His new bench coach, Rick Renteria, managed the Chicago Cubs in 2014 and would eventually like to return to the top step of a major-league dugout.
Anyway you look at it, Robin Ventura is in a tenuous position as Sox manager, but he's not showing any signs of stress.
"I have one year on my contract, that's not a secret," Ventura said. "But regardless of that, I would want to win just as many games early on, whether it was 10 years, it doesn't matter. The competitive part for everybody is we all want to get off to a good start. That much is for sure."
The White Sox have posted losing April records in each of the past three years, setting the stage for unsuccessful seasons.
If it happens again this year, Ventura could be out of a job early.
"Regardless of what people think of the outside pressures, you want to win just because you want your team to get off to a good start, you want to make a good run at it," Ventura said.
Managers are typically the first to fall when expectations are not met, but center fielder Adam Eaton said the recent run of failure is on the players.
"Robin's had a lot of pressure throughout his life," Eaton said. "I don't think this is the most, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think he's too worried about it. As I've said a million times, Robin has a huge influence on how we play but at the end of the day it's up to us. The last two years that I've been here, it's our fault.
"I've said that a million times and I'll continue to say it. When we put our big boy pants on and come ready to play and get the job done, you guys are all going to see what a great manager Robin is. He's a great manager and I stand behind that. He's a good manager and he's going to put guys in the best position possible to win. It's our job to make him look good."
Big Hurt's back:
After working full-time as a baseball analyst on Fox Sports last year, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas is back with the White Sox.
While he doesn't have an official title, Thomas will work as an ambassador and help out Brooks Boyer, the Sox' vice president of sales and marketing.
"There will be a corporate hospitality piece to this, where he'll be Frank Thomas," Boyer said. "But he's talked about going on sales calls. He has talked about entertaining at the ballpark. He's going to sign stuff for charities and a lot of stuff the ambassadors do. But he's going to talk to season-ticket holders, and to be able to put him in front of what's going on out on the field, there's no one better than Frank Thomas to talk about what's going on there. He's going to be a significant part of the marketing department."
Thomas played for the White Sox from 1990-2005 and is the franchise leader in home runs (448), RBI (1,465), doubles (447), walks (1,466), runs (1,327) and OPS (.995).
He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2014.
"I'm really happy to be back here and to come back with a role with the team, a place that I spent my entire life it seems like, and to be a help anywhere I possibly can," said Thomas, who lives in Libertyville. "It's a good role for me because I'm back and forth still with the TV stuff. So when I'm not in L.A., I'll be here at the ballpark helping out and doing things. I always want to be around this team. You guys knew that and I never wanted to leave this place."
Draft dodging:
When it comes to adding another bat to spark the offense, the White Sox are in a tough spot.
They could make a trade for an outfielder like Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez or Houston's Carlos Gomez, but that would cost the Sox young talent and they already moved Trayce Thompson, Frankie Montas and Micah Johnson to get Todd Frazier.
If they want to sign one of two available free agents - outfielder Dexter Fowler and shortstop Ian Desmond - the White Sox would lose the 28th overall draft pick they got when the Giants signed Jeff Samardzija because both Fowler and Desmond received qualifying offers from the Cubs and Nationals, respectively.
"The draft pick has real value," general manager Rick Hahn said. "A couple of million dollars worth of pool money, which allows you to be flexible with that draft pick or pay some forward or pay some back, at some level you balance the ability to improve this club versus the long-term impact that losing a pick like that would have."