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The Chicago White Sox have a new manager after a historically bad 2024 season.
The White Sox finished last season with Grady Sizemore as their interim manager. firing On 8 August, Pedro Grifol and three coaches of his staff. The move came two days after the team snapped an American League record 21-game losing streak with a 5–1 win over the Oakland Athletics.
Before his departure, Chicago was playing at a historically poor pace under Grifol. At the time of his firing its winning percentage was on pace to be .239 (28-89) second worst by any team since 1900. The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics won at a .235 clip (36–117).
The White Sox went 6–6 in their final 12 games and finished with only the fifth-worst winning percentage since 1900, but their 121 losses were the most by any team in the modern era.
Sizemore, who was the first Work As an intern for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023 before being hired by the White Sox, posting a 13-32 record Records in his 45 games On the manager’s chair.
Venable, whose final season of his nine-year MLB career came with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, joined the Chicago Cubs staff in 2017 as a special assistant to team president Theo Epstein. He took over as first base coach for the Cubs in 2018. and held that position in 2018 and 2019 before moving to third base coach in 2020.
He joined the Boston Red Sox as a bench coach before 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 job as a manager and the huge task of leading Chicago’s rebuild after last season’s disaster.
While the on-field results at the MLB level were disappointing for everyone with the White Sox organization in 2024, there are signs of hope for the future. they have one Improvement in with farming system five top-100 The prospects are led by left-handed pitcher Noah Schultz at No. 10 overall.
Venable will look to make the most of Chicago’s talent as he begins his first year at the helm.