Levine: White Sox Looking For Spanish-Speaking Bench Coach
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago White Sox fired bench coach Mark Parent this week after declaring that there was a difference of styles that couldn't be resolved.
General manager Rick Hahn will look for a coach or coaches who have the ability to speak Spanish as one of the major requirements for the new bench coach position.
"Mark is good baseball man, and it's unfortunate that how we have played on the field is having these repercussions for him personally and professionally," Hahn said during a half-hour pregame press gathering Friday. "We did get to the point where we felt we needed to add a different voice to our coaching staff."
The team has four position players who prefer to speak Spanish as their first language. That extra communication between the coaching staff, front office brass and foreign players will be a focal point moving forward.
Parent's a solid baseball man with a deliberate approach to the game and the people in it. Hahn said more direct attention to advanced metrics will be a bigger part of the baseball day for the team and coaching staff next season.
"There is a great deal of information available now, more so than there ever has been," he said. "You have to decide as a team what's the best use of that information. That will put you in the best position to win. You can use too much. At the same time, there are certain things that we may be able to use to our advantage. We have had open dialogue about that over the past weeks and months. We are going to continue that over the next few months."
Translation: The battle between old-school approach and the analytics world must learn to coexist on the South Side of Chicago.
Manager Robin Ventura will return for a fifth season, apparently with no guarantee beyond next season. He has had three consecutive losing campaigns.
"You want more wins," Ventura said when asked on what he wants to improve. "You must grind on the fundamental things you win games with. We continue to push on that."
Ventura hated the idea of firing Parent, who was the manager's first hire, in 2011. Tension between the front office and Parent helped escalate the eventual dismissal of the bench coach.
"There was no easy way to handle it, especially with a friend," said Ventura, who insisted on being the bearer of bad news.
Possible candidates to be bench coach are Ron Washington, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Manny Crespo. The Latin influence could come by way of an assistant hitting coach. Harold Baines will give up that role to become a team ambassador in 2016. The name of Raul Ibanez could be in the mix for that position.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
