White Sox Fire Renteria Despite Leading Team to Postseason For 1st Time Since 2008

In something of a surprise, the Chicago White Sox have fired manager Rick Renteria despite leading the team to its first post-season appearance since 2008. Indeed, it was the team's first winning season since 2012. The Chisox were eliminated in their AL Wild Card matchup with the Oakland A's losing two out of three games. 

This is the second time Renteria, 58, has been given a raw deal in Chicago. Hired to manage the Cubs in 2014, he would be dismissed by the Cubs after one season when Joe Maddon became available. Of course, the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 so that injustice has been overlooked. Brad Ausmus found himself in the same situation when the Angels hired Maddon this past off-season but in this case Halos would be tarnished.

Renteria was hired by the Chisox in 2017 after five years under Robin Ventura. Three consecutive losing seasons would follow including a 100 loss season in 2018. But the Chisox had a lot of raw talent and had acquired veteran players in the off-season and were expected to contend in 2020. On September 15th, the White Sox had the best record in the AL, had won six in a row and 9 of their last 10 games. They would lose 9 of their last 12 games and were the number 7 seed in the post-season just ahead of the hated Houston Astros. Renteria's use of the bullpen was questioned during this period. But this is the case of any manager when a team struggles for any extended period of time. Still, the White Sox were going in the right direction.

Chisox GM Rick Hahn is calling Renteria's departure "a mutual decision". But let's be clear. Renteria was shown the door despite the best season of baseball on the South Side in a dozen years. 

Perhaps the third time will be the charm. In light of this development, I wonder if their AL Central rival Detroit Tigers would be interested in Renteria's services. If Renteria could lead the Tigers past the Chisox in the AL Central that would be a just reward. The question remains if the Tigers will make a leap of faith. And if the White Sox win a World Series in the next year or two, Renteria's unceremonious departure will be yet another footnote to gather dust.