White Sox, Rick Renteria ‘part ways’

Rick Renteria, whose one-year tenure as Cubs manager ended when the team hired Joe Maddon in the fall of 2014, has now ended his tenure as White Sox manager in a mysterious way:

As noted in the tweet, Renteria managed the White Sox for four seasons, with their 35-25 record in 2020 giving them a postseason spot for the first time since 2008. They lost a Wild Card series to the Athletics two games to one.

It’s not clear from the tweet whether the decision was Renteria’s, the team’s, or mutual. It should be noted that in November 2018, the Sox gave Renteria a contract extension of “unspecified duration” past the original expiration date of 2019:

It appears that White Sox manager Rick Renteria will be at the helm for the White Sox beyond the final year of his original three-year contract, which was set to expire after the 2019 season.

”I will say Ricky has on purpose created a culture of accountability in that clubhouse, and one that we think is important,” said GM Rick Hahn told reporters Tuesday at the General Managers Meetings in Carlsbad, Calif. “It’s going to continue going forward.”

It’s also unclear whether this is a Maddon-type situation where Hahn has someone else in mind for the post, or whether this is simply one of those “differences in philosophy” that often take general managers and managers in different directions. You know, like Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon.

Overall, in his five years as a major-league manager, Renteria posted a 309-398 record. The 2020 season was his only postseason appearance.

Thought that all of you would like to discuss this, given Renteria’s time with the Cubs.