White Sox Hiring Will Venable as Manager After Historic 121-Loss Season

The Chicago White Sox are hiring Will Venable as their new manager, according to a major-league source. Venable comes to Chicago from Texas, where he worked as the associate manager to the Rangers’ Bruce Bochy for the past two years, winning a World Series title in 2023. Venable played nine MLB seasons for the Rangers, San Diego Padres, and Los Angeles Dodgers as an outfielder from 2008 to 2016.

The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol in August after a franchise-record 21-game losing streak. Grady Sizemore took over in the interim, finishing 13-32 at the helm, but general manager Chris Getz said in August that current team staffers would not be considered for the full-time manager job.

“I think it’s important to bring in a new voice, a fresh voice; perhaps that’s been exposed to areas of this game that we don’t currently have in our organization,” Getz said at the time. “I’m eager to delve deeper into the backgrounds of some of these individuals, and once we complete the process, we’ll appoint the next manager.” The White Sox finished the 2024 season at 41-121, setting the record for the most defeats in modern baseball history.

MLB Rumors: Will Venable Name a White Sox Manager After the Historic 41-121 Record?

The Chicago White Sox have a new manager after a historically disappointing 2024 season. Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers, the White Sox plan to hire Will Venable as their next manager.

The White Sox finished last season with Grady Sizemore as their interim manager after firing Pedro Grifol and three coaches from his staff on Aug. 8. The move came two days after the team snapped its American League record-tying 21-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Chicago was playing at a historically inadequate pace under Grifol prior to his dismissal. Its 239-win percentage (28-89) at the time of his firing was on pace to be the second-worst by any team since 1900. The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics won at a.235 clip (36-117).

The White Sox finished 6-6 over their final 12 games to finish with only the fifth-worst winning percentage since 1900, but their 121 losses were the most by any team in the modern era.

Before joining the White Sox as an intern in 2023, Sizemore held a 13-32 record in his 45 games as manager. Venable, whose final season of his nine-year MLB career came in 2016 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, joined the Chicago Cubs staff as a special assistant to team president Theo Epstein in 2017. He took over as first base coach for the Cubs in 2018 and stayed in that position in 2018 and 2019 before moving to third base coach in 2020.

He joined the Boston Red Sox as a bench coach ahead of the 2021 season and became the associate manager for the Texas Rangers in 2023, helping them win the World Series later that year. The 42-year-old now has his first gig as a manager and has the tall task of leading Chicago in a rebuild after last season’s disaster.

While the on-field results at the MLB level were humiliating for everyone with the White Sox organization in 2024, there are signs of hope for the future. They have an improving farm system with five top-100 prospects, led by left-handed pitcher Noah Schultz at No. 10 overall. Venable will play to Chicago’s strengths in his first year as manager.

White Sox To Name Will Venable Their Next Manager

The Chicago White Sox are hiring Texas Rangers coach Will Venable to be their next manager, sources familiar with the situation confirmed to ESPN. Venable, 42, played nine years in the big leagues before transitioning to an off-the-field role as a special assistant with the Chicago Cubs in 2017 and then as a base coach for them from 2018-20. In 2021, Venable served as the bench coach for Boston before joining Texas, where he has been an associate manager alongside Bruce Bochy for the past two seasons.

Venable spent the majority of his playing career in San Diego before the Rangers traded him in 2015. He played for the Dodgers in 2016 before retiring. Venable replaces interim manager Grady Sizemore, who was also a candidate for the permanent job. The White Sox fired former manager Pedro Grifol in August as the team broke a modern-day record for losses with 121 this past season.

Venable becomes the 42nd manager in franchise history. A long list of candidates, including Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz, Padres special assistant A.J. Ellis, Dodgers first-base coach Clayton McCollough, and Sizemore, who was popular with players during his short interim stint, made Venable the choice.

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