In most organizations, the news of the manager's firing would lead the proceedings when it comes to sea changes with the coaching staff.
But because Rick Hahn is the general manager of the White Sox, he actually buried the lede when he announced the firing of Don Cooper minutes into his media conference about the dismissal of Rick Renteria.
Renteria's departure is still a big deal, but Cooper took over as pitching coach in the middle of Jerry Manuel's term as White Sox manager, then stayed on the staff for the entirety of the next three managerial tenures. The entrenched nature of Cooper's job security first rose to the surface during the team's messy divorce with Ozzie Guillen, and it also seemed to factor into the White Sox's next two managerial decisions. A more proven candidate probably would have wanted the freedom to bring other coaches in tow to Chicago. The White Sox didn't even entertain them.
Cooper had deserved such security for most of that time. He had been with the White Sox since 1988 and the pitching coach since 2002, when he replaced Nardi Contreras midseason. He notched one victory after another, and the stability and health of White Sox pitching staffs became the team's selling point. Farm products like Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland became stalwarts, but the White Sox also had success in rehabbing veterans like Estaban Loaiza, who was flipped for another successful project in Jose Contreras. The Sox turned Freddy Garcia into Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez, and then re-signed Garcia to get his last useful innings. He had a hand in getting Chris Sale to stick in the majors after just 10 minor-league innings, and Jose Quintana came out of nowhere to turn into an All-Star.
But over the last several years, the White Sox have slid to the middle of the pack with injuries, and the notable flops started to outnumber the big wins. The trades for Jeff Samardzija and James Shields hurt way more than they helped, Carlos Rodón couldn't replicate Sale's success on the fast track, and Carson Fulmer's White Sox career was a disaster from almost Day One. Lucas Giolito had to go outside the organization to become the pitcher he is today, and while that's not a knock on Cooper, the stumbles in the ascents of Reynaldo López and Dylan Cease suggested that the in-house pitching apparatus hadn't been up to the task. If you feel like Renteria shouldn't have been to blame for the shortage of feasible Game 3 starting options, he's at least not alone in getting the boot.
Cooper's absence changes everything about how we perceive the White Sox's next move, a point Rick Hahn underscored by admitting the Sox had been "insular" for previous coaching changes. The way he described what he wanted from the next White Sox manager had everybody drawing the same conclusions.
(Photo by Eddie Welker)
