3) Define the brand of baseball the team should be playing that eventually wins.
Getz is viewing Venable as a partner in this monumental rebuild.
It makes sense, given Venable does have some front-office experience. Venable's first post-playing career was working for Theo Epstein and the Cubs in 2017. He should be leveraged in helping construct the roster.
What Venable pointed out that he must do with the roster is set clear expectations of what is expected out of the players. Then he said he must hold the players accountable to those standards.
That means Venable must define what the team's brand of baseball will be.
Hopefully, Venable brings the Texas Rangers way that they used to win the 2023 World Series. That was hitting home runs, pitching well, and playing good defense.
Those are three things that play well at Guaranteed Rate Field that this organization has gotten away from. Also, whatever his principles are, it needs to be preached from the Complex League all the way to the Major League roster.
The team has a pitching guru in Brian Bannister to oversee how the pitching is being developed at all levels of the organization. It would be nice if Venable helped Getz identify the same when it comes to the hitting and field.
4) Players get better under Venable.
Developing talent should actually be something the entire organization does. The Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Brewers value development that way.
So, when it comes to assessing Venable as a developer of talent, it really should be more of an assessment of whether players are getting better once they reach the big-league level.
Also, players the Sox acquired in free agency and trades always seemed to get worse once they put on a White Sox uniform. So, it would be nice to see players start to thrive under Venable.
One litmus test would be to see if Venable can get Miguel Vargas, the centerpiece acquired in the three-team deal at the trade deadline, to play even replacement-level baseball after being awful coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Luis Robert Jr. getting back to playing at MVP level would be another indicator of players getting better under his regime.