With Renteria in place, more changes ahead for White Sox

The Chicago White Sox keep on losing, and that makes general manager Rick Hahn's job much more difficult.

"As we'll talk about more in the coming weeks and months, this organization has a lot of work to do," Hahn said Monday, a day after the Sox (78-84) ended the season below .500 for the fourth straight year.

The feeling here is the White Sox finally are going to stop trying to build around top starting pitchers Chris Sale and Jose Quintana with veteran players who fail to meet expectations.

The feeling here remains that Sale is definitely going to be traded for a package of young players who have impact potential, with Quintana, Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton and everyone else available for the right return.

It was Sale who called for change after Sunday's season-ending loss to the Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field.

"What year is this, eight, that we haven't made the playoffs?" Sale asked. "It's not good. We want to change that; we've tried to change that. Don't get me wrong, we're as frustrated as anyone in the world. We're the ones doing it. So we're probably more frustrated.

"Shake things up and change the name, change the tone of the Chicago White Sox. Just be a better team, be a better organization, get to the promised land, to the playoffs to show what we've been working for the last X amount of years."

Sale says he wants to stay with the Sox, the team that drafted him in 2010. But his actions this season - he aired out vice president Kenny Williams in March and destroyed throwback uniforms in July - strongly suggest he wants to be traded.

Sale's future undoubtedly is on Hahn's to-do list this winter, but at least the new manager is in place.

A day after Robin Ventura said the White Sox "need a new voice" and exited after a disappointing five-year run in the dugout, bench coach Rick Renteria was promoted to manager.

"I'm extremely excited," the 54-year-old Renteria said after becoming the 40th manager in White Sox history and the only current Latino manager in major-league baseball. "It's a little bittersweet because I became good friends with Robin.

"I'm glad at this point this opportunity has arisen, and I'm glad that he was a person that was encouraging me to be a part of it."

Renteria is best known for managing the Chicago Cubs to a 73-89 record in 2014 and then being abruptly fired when Joe Maddon became available.

"After I left the North Side, you get a chance to take a step back and see what's going on," said Renteria, who was out of the game and back home in California in 2015 before returning as the Sox's bench coach this year. "I think the biggest thing is change many times is inevitable. Things happen. It's nobody's fault. Things occur.

"I think that you always must be prepared on a daily basis to not take anything for granted.

"This opportunity, as any, is a great opportunity. I think that when you give yourself to a task, if you really appreciate the importance of it, without at the same time taking yourself too seriously, you can accomplish a lot of things."

On Sunday, Eaton already was excited about Renteria becoming the White Sox's next manager.

"I think he's a got a lot of qualities that Robin has," the outfielder said. "Maybe a little more vocal. He definitely will get his point across a little more, vocally. Not that he has more passion than Robin or anything like that, but he's a little more upbeat, a little more bouncy. He's kind of a bundle of baseball joy."

Hahn wasted little time naming Renteria manager, but he knew for more than a month that Ventura was not returning.

"I never tried to talk (Ventura) out of the decision after he expressed his preference to me," Hahn said. "The fact of the matter is we all know this is a results-based business, and the fact of the matter is none of us are pleased - front office, ownership, Robin and the players all included - with what the results have been over the last few years."

As for Renteria, he made a positive enough impression that Hahn didn't need to interview any other managerial candidates.

"With regards to Ricky and his qualifications, it's rare that you find an individual who has the combination of his experience, his work ethic, his communication skills, his commitment to detail and something that may not necessarily be evident from the bench-coach role, or at least evident to the outside through the bench-coach role, is his fire and competitiveness," Hahn said.

"This is a high-energy guy, and he's extremely driven to achieve the same goals the organization has in mind for ourselves."

Recent White Sox managers

Rick Renteria becomes the 40th manager in White Sox history. Here's a look at the records of the past five men in the job.*

Gene Lamont (1992-95): 258-210 (.551 win percentage) Made only 1 playoff appearance, going 2-4

Terry Bevington (1995-97): 222-214 (.509) No playoff appearances

Jerry Manuel (1998-2003): 500-471 (.515) Made only 1 playoff appearance, going 0-3

Ozzie Guillen (2004-2011): 678-617 (.524) Went 12-4 in 2 playoff appearances; World Series title in 2005

Robin Ventura (2016-16): 297-351 (.458) No playoff appearance in five seasons

Note: * Don Cooper was 1-1 in 2011 as manager

Source: chicagowhitesox.com