Because the White Sox don't hire and fire managers like a normal organization, it's easy to forget about contract years. The Sox themselves wouldn't even give the length of Rick Renteria's deal when he signed on to replace Robin Ventura. Jon Heyman was the one who fleshed it out at three years, which means the White Sox will theoretically have a decision to make before, during or after the 2019 season.
Credit the Sox for waiting until a second year this time. With Robin Ventura, they offered him an extension after his first season, which Ventura rebuffed. Maybe Renteria also shot down an extension after the height of "Ricky's Boys Don't Quit," but that doesn't strike me as likely considering he has first-hand knowledge about the limits of loyalty.
Whether Renteria manages in 2019 without a new deal will have to wait until SoxFest, because that's where the Sox extended both Ventura and Ozzie Guillen. A big developmental step back should give the Sox pause about their next move, but that didn't stop them with Ventura after going from 85 to 63 wins.
Another thing that could complicate the picture: Joe Girardi's wandering eyes.
"Chicago" theoretically opens the possibility of both clubs, although the ties to the Cubs are obvious. Girardi got his start with the Cubs as a player, and he was supposedly high on Theo Epstein's list is 2013, when Girardi's fate with the Yankees was unclear. Girardi ended up signing a four-year extension to stay in New York, and the Cubs had to wait a year for a marquee manager, yoinking Joe Maddon away from the Rays. In between, Renteria worked one year for the Cubs, but got paid for three.
Girardi is one of the few managers out there with a track record that can match Maddon's, so if the relationship on the North Side continues to fracture due to frustration, Girardi can step in with no loss in gravitas.
But if "Chicago" -- not just "Cubs" -- is truly the approach Girardi is taking with his wish list, he'll be a fascinating presence on the market over the next season. He was born and raised in Peoria and played college ball at Northwestern, so I can see the combination of geography, a promising situation and loyalty making the White Sox attractive enough. And as long as the White Sox job looks like a decent one, I can see it being used as leverage to pressure Epstein into being more aggressive.
That could only go so far, because a Jerry Reinsdorf team isn't likely to get into a bidding war over a manager. That said, watching Terry Francona post winning season after winning season and capture pennant after pennant in the AL Central should make the Sox reconsider their stance on paying for the guy they want. Francona was unemployed when the Sox were conducting the "process" that resulted in Ventura.
Girardi isn't as warm and amiable as Francona, but his track record is damned good, especially with a bunch of expensive, old and injured Yankees teams. He supposedly didn't connect with young players, but the "Baby Bombers" took flight under his watch, and I can't find any counterexamples of rookies that Girardi meddled with or blocked. If I had to guess, I'd imagine that's Brian Cashman played up Girardi's impersonal nature to paper over a more ordinary kind of disintegrating personal relationship.
(For what it's worth, when thinking about Girardi with young players, I think of him fighting back tears down the right field line at Guaranteed Rate Field after Dustin Fowler busted his knee on the sidewall in the first inning of his MLB debut.)
If the Sox extend Renteria during SoxFest, then it's pretty much case closed. But then I'll be watching to see how receptive fans are to the idea. Renteria received a hero's welcome at SoxFest this past January, but a year of accelerated bunting, random benchings and an overall product that felt every bit as bad as its 100 losses took a lot of the shine off him. The 2019-20 offseason will be a crucial one for the rebuild, and a healthy, thorough evaluation of managerial needs should be a big part of it.
