The general thought in baseball circles was that Rick Renteria got a bit of a raw deal when the Cubs cut him loose following the 2014 season.
Now he'll get another chance to prove himself as a major league manager, taking over the helm of the White Sox on Monday after Robin Ventura's resignation the day before.
OFFICIAL: Rick Renteria has been named the new manager of the Chicago White Sox. pic.twitter.com/cRv7or3Icf
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) October 3, 2016
As was the case his first time around with the other Chicago team, Renteria takes over a group that has been a recent disappointment. The White Sox fan base doesn't tend to be patient in the best of times, but the blend of four consecutive losing seasons and the Cubs' ascent to the best record in baseball this year only ratchets up the level of expectation at U.S. Cellular Field.
The question now is how much rope Renteria, who had been serving as Ventura's bench coach, will get from management as he attempts to shake things up. He can only hope it will be more than in his brief stint in charge at Wrigley Field.
After leading the rebuilding Cubs to a 73-89 record in the first season of a three-year deal, Renteria got the ax when Joe Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays and the Cubs decided to make a big splash by bringing in one of the game's most well-regarded managers. Renteria was merely collateral damage in that effort, and it's difficult to argue that Theo Epstein and Cubs management made the wrong call given what has transpired on the north side since then.
Renteria sat out the 2015 season before joining the White Sox staff this year. The 54-year-old Californian is a baseball lifer in every sense, scrapping his way through a 13-year playing career that included appearances in just 184 major league games before moving into coaching. He eventually served as manager for Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A teams in the minor leagues before joining the Padres' major league coaching staff in 2008. He also managed Mexico in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
