Evaluating Robin Ventura

Year one of Robin Ventura’s managerial career was an interesting one. The White Sox weren’t picked to do much by many, but they competed all summer long. So how do we sum up services rendered for the rookie skipper? I’m not entirely sure, but I took some time to try to sum it up in the latest issue of

Big Leagues Monthly.

He’s a real cool cat. (Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE)

I gave him some grief:

"Two major faults exist in Robin Ventura’s in-game managing philosophy. He loves the sacrifice bunt, and he loves to send runners. The latter is not a fundamentally detrimental stance. Obviously, if one is successful stealing a base then nothing is lost, but there is a risk/reward to look at. How successful are your potential base stealers?"

And I also gave him some due:

"Robin Ventura is more than capable, and getting performances out of the players he was given is huge, looking at WAR as a guideline or just seeing with your eyes that the performances increased. Ventura did not inject these men with performance enhancers, but I have little doubt that the job performed by many of the White Sox players exceeded what we would have seen if still being run by the 2011 regime."

Have a look at

Big Leagues Monthly and give a read. While you’re there check out some of the other MLB wide news provided. Good reads throughout!