White Sox hire Robin Ventura as manager

Might get awkward when they play the Rangers. Hopefully for Robin's sake, Nolan stays in the stands.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zwDkrGKlCg]Nolan Ryan Brawl with Robin Ventura - YouTube[/ame]
 
Sox fan here. Reinsdorf and Williams really hired a company man in Ventura. That is, someone who will probably tell them what they want to hear and won't have any sort of public controversy with the front office. Plus it's a move to bring the fans back that were turned off the past couple of seasons by Ozzie's antics. I like Robin and obviously hope that he has success but he was definitely a company hire. Especially with guys like Sandy Alomar Jr., Dave Martinez, Joe McEwing, Buddy Bell, and Tony Francona sitting out there who all have ties to the Sox and have better resumes.

Anyway you look at it though, whoever the hire was, they would have a tough time with the mess that Kenny Williams has created on the south side.
 
Also as a ChiSox fan, I am going to have to respectfully disagree (we Sox fans are civil with each other). I don't think people were turned off with Ozzie. I would take Ozzie over anybody on the team right now and that includes PK. That team was full of whiny babies who didn't like the attention but sure loved being overpaid; looking at you Dunn, Rios, Peavy, and Thornton. Ozzie always had their backs and whenever he felt the pressure was getting to0 much, he tried to direct the attention to himself.

With that said, this hire is freaking horrible. Any true Sox fan loves Ventura, but when you have Francona sitting there (he was a coach in the Sox system), how do you pass him up? I'll tell you why, expect a drastic payroll reduction next year. Jerry gambled big time that Williams could bring him a winner this year to bring the fans back and both backfired. Williams loved the long ball and Ozzie wanted OzzieBall: defense, situational hitting, and long ball. The Sox had neither of the three.

Welcome Ventura, you went from being a "special advisor" to the director of player personnel to manager of a big league ball club with no coaching experience. Nice move White Sox.
 
pumpdog20 said:
Also as a ChiSox fan, I am going to have to respectfully disagree (we Sox fans are civil with each other). I don't think people were turned off with Ozzie. I would take Ozzie over anybody on the team right now and that includes PK. That team was full of whiny babies who didn't like the attention but sure loved being overpaid; looking at you Dunn, Rios, Peavy, and Thornton. Ozzie always had their backs and whenever he felt the pressure was getting to0 much, he tried to direct the attention to himself.

With that said, this hire is freaking horrible. Any true Sox fan loves Ventura, but when you have Francona sitting there (he was a coach in the Sox system), how do you pass him up? I'll tell you why, expect a drastic payroll reduction next year. Jerry gambled big time that Williams could bring him a winner this year to bring the fans back and both backfired. Williams loved the long ball and Ozzie wanted OzzieBall: defense, situational hitting, and long ball. The Sox had neither of the three.

Welcome Ventura, you went from being a "special advisor" to the director of player personnel to manager of a big league ball club with no coaching experience. Nice move White Sox.
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Don't get me wrong, I loved having Ozzie around. The White Sox, in fact, just got a lot more boring in the past week. But you can't deny that there was a significant portion of the fanbase that thought Ozzie was a tired act. Example: his talk about getting a new contract in the heat of a divisional race, his son's antics, and simply the battles between him and Kenny. I'll agree Ozzie had a great relationship with his players and that's really what you want out of a manager, so I was definitely sad to see him go. I think this hire was meant to do things (1) bring in someone who won't be contentious with Kenny, especially publicly, and (2) try to appeal to the fans who were turned off by Ozzie. I completely agree that they should have hired someone with a better resume, but the Sox wanted a company man and got it with Ventura.
 
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CHShawk said:
Don't get me wrong, I loved having Ozzie around. The White Sox, in fact, just got a lot more boring in the past couple of days. But you can't deny that there was a significant portion of the fanbase that thought Ozzie was a tired act. Example: his talk about getting a new contract in the heat of a divisional race, his son's antics, and simply the battles between him and Kenny. I'll agree Ozzie had a great relationship with his players and that's really what you want out of a manager, so I was definitely sad to see him go. However, I think this hire was meant to do things (1) bring in someone who won't be contentious with Kenny, especially publicly, and (2) try to appeal to the fans who were turned off by Ozzie. I completely agree that they should have hired someone with a better resume, but the Sox wanted a company man and got it.
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Completely agree. Still sucks and it looks like they will lose Buerhle, Danks, and Quentin next year due to downsizing. Maybe Dunn will decide to swing a bat in the offseason.
 
There is no way they have any shot at Francona, no decent manager is going to find the Sox position appealing. The Sox have a ton of money tied up in bad contracts and they are hoping to catch lightening in a bottle in reaching for Ventura. They are really gambling with nothing to lose and everything to gain with Ventura as coach. Perhaps he comes in and figures out how to get Dunn to hit again, idk. But if he comes in and fails then they blame it on inexperience, tear the whole thing apart, and start over.

It is to bad Ozzie bolted for Florida. IMO they chased the wrong guy out of town.
 
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