The Chicago White Sox might be wise to move on from Rick Renteria.
The Chicago White Sox made some really nice strides in 2020. They didn’t get to play a full season because of COVID-19 but they made the best of it and finished over .500 for the first time since 2012. They made it to the postseason for the first time since 2008 so there is no doubt that there was a whole lot of good this year. One thing that was apparent is that the future of this organization is so bright. They have a long way to go but the talent is absolutely there.
The problem is, towards the end of the season, it became apparent that Rick Renteria isn’t the guy that is going to be able to take this young talent to the next level. He did a good job building a winning culture and getting some of these young players confident in their abilities but it is time for them to take the next step as a team.
This squad needs a manager that is going to construct big league lineups ready to win and do a better job of handling pitching. Some of the decisions made with the starting lineup during the season were mind-numbing. It was clear after a while that whichever catcher wasn’t behind the plate that day should be the designated hitter but Edwin Encarnacion still found his way into the lineup with his sub-.200 batting average.
The same can be said for Nomar Mazara. He hasn’t panned out while Adam Engel was playing much better when he did get the chance. Mazara has a much higher ceiling but Engel was just much better in 2020 but the coach couldn’t see it.
There was also some bad mismanagement of pitching. Of course, Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel were the locks to be the first two starters in the rotation but they looked lost after that. In the winner take all game three against the Oakland A’s, they were forced to have a “bullpen day” and it was brutal. Once Garrett Crochet came out with an injury, it was bad management from there. He let Matt Foster walk in the tying and lead run which was just brutal to watch.
All of these things should force Rick Hahn’s hands. They can’t go through another year of bad decision making with this roster. As wide open as the window looks right now, it will close quickly if they aren’t able to take big steps each season. If they make some big roster moves this offseason, there is no reason that they shouldn’t be able to consider themselves a World Series team. To get to that point though, they need a manager who can get it done and it likely isn’t Rick Renteria.