For the past few years, the Chicago White Sox have been in the proverbial doghouse. The team has not been fair or even above average; they were not playing their best. The past few years have given some glimpses of hope for White Sox fans, though, most notably in their minor league system. After the 2019 season, the team realized that they had the pieces to make some noise and decided to go all in. They started by signing two hard-hitting players in Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnacion. The team then traded for the powerful Nomar Mazara and wrapped up their signing spree by signing the hard-throwing Dallas Keuchel to bolster their pitching rotation. The White Sox went into 2020 with high hopes, but the COVID-19 pandemic stopped everything before anything could happen.
After a four-month layoff, the White Sox finally took the field in July for a shortened 60 game season. Chicago started well, but it was not until early September that the team would hit their stride. The team won 11 out of their first 16 games to kick off September, but they would fall apart near the end of the month. Chicago went from leading their division to third place in just a week as they only won one out of their last eight games in the regular season. They did manage to secure a playoff spot, though, and played the Oakland Athletics in the first round.
The series started off well, as the White Sox beat Oakland 4-1 in game one. However, Chicago lost the next two games and was eliminated from the playoffs as a result. The team knew they had to make some tough decisions after their late-season skid and poor playoff performance. As a result, the team fired their manager, Rick Renteria, shortly after their playoff elimination. Renteria had led the team through their rebuilding years but just kept making mistakes that cost the team plenty of games throughout the regular season. Now Chicago has an opportunity to hire a manager that can genuinely take this team to the next level.
Two big names have already emerged in Chicago’s managerial search: A.J. Hinch and Tony La Russa. Hinch is most known for managing the Houston Astros from 2015-2019 until he got fired after being implicated in the team’s cheating scandal. Despite that, Hinch was very successful in his five years of managing the team, posting a winning record in all five seasons. La Russa would be an interesting choice as he was Chicago’s manager from 1979 to 1986 and has won three World Series titles. Whoever the White Sox pick to be their next manager will inherit an exciting core group of players. The team is very young and does not have any big-time veteran leadership. Whoever becomes the next manager will have to show leadership skills and good managerial handling. If they can, the White Sox may finally be able to take that next step and make a deep run in the playoffs.