Levine: Rick Renteria Would Be Perfect Choice For White Sox Bench Coach
By Bruce Levine --
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The White Sox will soon complete their coaching staff, and a valuable addition to that group would be former Cubs manager Rick Renteria.
The hard-working and affable Renteria has been on the sidelines since getting fired in late October 2014 by the Cubs. A 53-year-old California native, Renteria was bumped from the Cubs job due to the unique availability of Joe Maddon. Renteria was coming off of one year on the job and a record in which his team had improved on the field by seven games from 2013. The Cubs played over .500 for the last 100 games of Renteria's only season in charge. The franchise had lost 197 games combined over the two previous seasons.
The White Sox almost lost a chance to consider Renteria for their vacant bench coach job late last week. He would have been the bench coach in Washington if Bud Black had gotten the manager's job. Instead, that situation fell apart between Black and Nationals management over the weekend. Dusty Baker was named the head man on Monday.
Much like the Cubs did before hiring Renteria, the White Sox want a baseball man who has a great resume. Part of the requirements would be a bench coach who would speak fluently to both the English- and Spanish-speaking players in the organization. The White Sox have used translator-media relations assistant Billy Russo to help with communication with Spanish-speaking players over the past two seasons.
The front office finally came to the conclusion that a top Spanish-speaking figure was needed. The new bench coach will help with the day-to-day communication with all the players and members of the staff.
The White Sox interviewed former player Raul Ibanez near the end of the 2015 season for a coaching position. They also reached out to Indians first-base coach coach Sandy Alomar Jr., who thanked the White Sox but declined an interview.
Renteria has a wealth of experience as a bench coach and big league coach in other areas. He also was in player development and coaching in the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padre organizations for more than 20 years.
The young Cubs players all flourished under Renteria in his one season as manager. Starlin Castro went from a .245 hitter to a .291 average. First baseman Anthony Rizzo became an All-Star-caliber hitter, slugging 32 home runs in 2014.
The White Sox are expected to talk to Renteria again this week about the vacant bench coach position. Mark Parent was fired from that job a few days before the end of the 2015 season. An assistant hitting coach position will also be filled after the retirement of Harold Baines.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
