Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura sees his team's 99-loss 2013 season as a steppingstone. How's that for putting a positive spin on a disaster?
Ventura, given a contract extension this week, says Sox players can expect changes when they report to spring training.
"There are things that will be a little different," Ventura told CBS Chicago. "I am not going to have them come out at 6 a.m. to run four-minute miles. There were some things that we missed on defense the first year compared to last year."
The operative word, it appears, is drills. Ventura will want his players to bone up on fundamentals skills.
The Sox face a challenging season in a strong AL Central, with the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals expected to contend for the division title or wild-card berths.
Ventura's new deal carries him through 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed. He was a manager of the year candidate in his first season, and the team wanted to extend his pact after 2012. He deferred.
"A lot has been made of me not accepting the extension a year ago," he said. "That was me just wanting [GM Rick Hahn] to have a full year on the job. Also the way I got my job was different, so I just thought it was only fair to him to have a full year of being the GM and running it the way he wants. Then if he wanted me to continue we would have the discussion."
Questions were answered despite a lousy 2013.
"You lose 99 games, there are going to be questions like that, about where this organization's headed and why they think the people in charge are the right people to get them through their end goal," Hahn told The Associated Press. "I would say we saw in 2012 and 2013 two extremes in terms of being a first-place club and being a club that was a disappointed in terms of performance. Throughout each of those extremes, Robin's leadership was unwavering."
The White Sox hit just .249 as a team and their home run total dropped from third in the majors at 211 to 19th at 148. With little speed, there was no way to make up for the drop in power, and compounding the problem was the poor play on defense.
They went from leading the majors in fielding percentage to ranking 29th, with Alexei Ramirez committing 22 errors and tying the Chicago Cubs' Starlin Castro for the major league lead among shortstops.
"It's imperative that we show improvement," Hahn said. "It's imperative that we show growth, especially on the position player side. We feel we have the ability to contend. But the most important thing for us is going to be allowing these young guys room to grow."