White Sox want to retain Robin Ventura as manager

The White Sox have decided to keep Robin Ventura as the team’s manager if he chooses to stay, according to Bob Nightengale at USA Today. Nightengale also reported that the White Sox front office refuses to blame Ventura for the team’s dismal play.

Ventura has been the White Sox’s manager since 2012, in a season where they went 85-77 with a .525 winning percentage and second place in the AL Central. They’ve since gone downhill starting in 2013, where they went 63-99 with a .389 win percentage and ended in fifth place, 30 games back of the lead. As of writing, the White Sox are 76-81 with a .484 win percentage and sit at fourth place in the AL Central.

This is not to say that Ventura will take the contract offer. Per the Nightengale report, Ventura has yet to tell the White Sox if he plans to stay; a Chicago Tribune report by Colleen Kane stated that Ventura said he “won’t address his status until the end of the season.”

It’s certainly possible that Ventura might recognize that if the team wants to move forward and have a hope of playing in a postseason game, he might not be the man to lead them to said postseason. The fact that the White Sox are not blaming Ventura for the team’s losing seasons seems to indicate that the blame might be shifting to the product on the field.

The White Sox have not appeared in the postseason since 2008—five seasons before Ventura—despite having talent like Chris Sale on the team more recently. However, it also remains to be seen if a true rebuild will ever actually happen.