It won’t be shocking if the Chicago White Sox hires their next manager relatively soon. The first manager domino already fell when the Texas Rangers hired Bruce Bochy on Friday. Now, you can expect the other vacancies to start filling up soon.
Certainly, it would make it easier to conduct business during the offseason if you know who the manager is. That should always be the first thing settled. We are a couple of games into each Championship Series so there isn’t that much time left before the offseason officially begins.
Out of all the candidates that have been interviewed by the White Sox, Joe Espada seems to be the right choice. He is currently serving as the bench coach for the Houston Astros who are in the American League Championship Series.
For one, he has been with this winning organization for a few years now. Make no mistake about it, the Houston Astros are a top team in the league despite what happened with the scandal. They do everything right in the year 2022 which you’d think rubbed off on Espada.
The Chicago White Sox should absolutely make Joe Espada the manager.
The last time a bench coach was hired from Houston, he went on to win the World Series the following year with the Boston Red Sox. Now, Alex Cora is one of the best managers in the league. Joe Espada can be the next person to have success like that as a first-time manager.
He isn’t the type of “first-time manager” that hasn’t paid his dues either. He has been a bench coach amongst many other things before this offseason. He has interviewed for other managing positions in the past as well but nothing ever came of it. Now seems to be his time.
There is a lot of talent in this Chicago White Sox organization. People might not be as confident in it as they once were but recency bias is a powerful thing. You’d be surprised what a good manager can do for a baseball team.
If Espada was hired, you’d see a lot of these guys turn it around right away. You’d also like to think that different strategies are put in both on and off the field to help players hustle hard while also staying healthy. It should be interesting to see what direction they go with that but this feels right.