Looking back at Renteria's quick fall from grace as Sox search for new manager
Right after the White Sox clinched their first trip to the playoffs in 12 years, Rick Renteria appeared to be 100 percent secure in his job as manager.
"His history in this town is not a secret," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "He hasn't had the smoothest path to the postseason, at least not as smooth as perhaps it could have been had he stayed in the first chair he was in. So I'm just really happy he's getting an opportunity to be part of this."
Renteria managed an up-and-coming Cubs team for one season (2014) and was fired. His replacement, Joe Maddon, led the Cubs to four straight trips to the playoff and won the 2016 World Series.
Renteria returned to Chicago, took over for Robin Ventura as White Sox manager in 2017 and was a good soldier through a three-year rebuild heading into this year.
Finally managing a capable team, Renteria's good standing with the front office quickly crumbled after the Sox became the first American League team to clinch a postseason spot.
Some serious gaffes handling the pitching staff ultimately cost Renteria his job.
Remember the Sept. 24 loss at Cleveland? With the White Sox leading 4-1 in the seventh inning, the Indians loaded the bases with two outs.
Renteria called on Carlos Rodon to end the threat even though he had been out since early August with a shoulder injury. Even worse, Rodon hadn't pitched relief since May 2015.
He wound up giving up a 2-run single and 2-run double and the Sox lost to Cleveland 5-4.
Renteria also made some questionable decisions in the deciding Game 3 of the playoffs against Oakland, which the White Sox lost after jumping out to a 3-0 lead.
He was out of work 10 days after the Sox were knocked out of the postseason, and Hahn is now looking for a replacement.
Stressing a strong preference for a manager that has "experience with a championship organization in recent years," AJ Hinch makes sense being at the top of the White Sox's wish list.
Hinch won the World Series as Houston's manager in 2017. Another qualified replacement, Alex Cora, won a ring with Boston the following year.
Both candidates were fired for being involved in the Astros' cheating scandal, so Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf might be instructing Hahn to look elsewhere.
Reinsdorf has to be the one pushing to put 76-year-old Tony La Russa back in the dugout after a nine-year absence, but that would be a shocking hire and one highly likely to fail.
Bruce Bochy is a name to keep an eye on, and he is interested in managing again after leading the Giants to three World Series championships in five years (2010, '12 and '14).
The 65-year-old Bochy retired after the 2019 season but he expressed concern about returning if the coronavirus pandemic is still an issue.
"I would like this COVID thing to go by and things are back to normal (before coming back)," Bochy told the New York Post's Joel Sherman.
In addition to needing a new manager, the White Sox have a vacancy at pitching coach.
Don Cooper was a fixture in that job for 19 years before being removed the same day as Renteria.
The Sox's new manager would likely get to pick his pitching coach, but Matt Zaleski is a strong in-house candidate.
Born in Arlington Heights and a 2000 Driscoll Catholic High School graduate, Zaleski worked with Sox pitchers in Schaumburg this summer.
After pitching in the White Sox's minor-league system for 11 seasons, Zaleski started coaching in 2016 and was originally scheduled to be at Class AAA Charlotte this year.