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MLB Rumors: Will Venable Named White Sox Manager After Historic 41-121 Record

Adam WellsOctober 30, 2024

ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 20: Will Venable #83 of the Texas Rangers looks on from the dugout during a game against the Boston Red Sox at Globe Life Field on September 20, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Hayden Carroll/Texas Rangers/Getty Images)
Hayden Carroll/Texas Rangers/Getty Images

The Chicago White Sox have a new manager after a historically bad 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 bad pace under Grifol prior to his dismissal. Its .239 winning 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.

Sizemore, who previously worked as an intern for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023 before getting hired by the White Sox, recorded a 13-32 record in his 45 games in the manager's chair.

Venable, whose final season of a 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 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 look to make the most of Chicago's talent as he begins his first year at the helm.