Will Venable will have his proper Chicago introduction as the newest White Sox manager at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday, but based on the background of his MLB Network segment with Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds on Wednesday, it looks like he might already be in town.
Just like his introductory call with Chicago reporters, Venable comes across as a pleasant guy who doesn't overtalk. That might've been part of the reason why he fielded so many so questions about the size of the task last Thursday; perhaps a slightly different wording would elicit something more visceral.
He stuck to the same script on Wednesday, but credit Reynolds for asking him as directly as possible about Venable's rumored status with the Rangers: "We'd always heard you were the next in line after Bruce Bochy in Texas. Is that true? And if so, what happened? Why are you in Chicago now, and you didn't wait that out, so to speak?"
Again, Venable handles it well. He said Bochy has plenty of energy and wouldn't make any assumptions about a line of succession in Texas, before pivoting back to his current employer by saying, "But this really about the White Sox for me...", and sticking the dismount with all the things he likes about the course he's chosen.
But later Wednesday, Buster Olney filled in some blanks with Venable's old team. Skip Schumaker, hired by Texas as a senior adviser as he takes a gap year from the dugout, looks like the new manager-in-waiting ... but with a special emphasis on that last word.
The hiring of Skip Schumaker as a senior advisor may mean that the Texas Rangers have their future manager under contract.
But if current manager Bruce Bochy, who is likely to be inducted into the Hall of Fame once his career is over, wants to continue beyond 2025, the Rangers will enthusiastically welcome that.
According to one source, Bochy will have the latitude to continue if that's what he wants.
"If [Bochy] wants to manage beyond 2025, [the Rangers] are good with that," a highly ranked source told ESPN.
So that potentially explains half of Venable's decision to leave Texas. As for the other half, MLB Network showed a graphic of high-ranking Princeton alums in Major League Baseball, including three different shot-callers -- Texas' Chris Young, Arizona's Mike Hazen and Cleveland's Mike Chernoff. If Ivy League rules apply to MLB like they do in every other industry, Venable is going to get multiple chances no matter what happens with the White Sox.
PODCAST: Learning more about Will Venable with ex-MLB player Ian Miller
Speaking of Olney, he said on his Baseball Tonight podcast that he's watching the Mets and Red Sox when it comes to Garrett Crochet's market. Jeff Passan, who was in on that segment, added the Phillies, because Dave Dombrowski isn't afraid to trade a prospect like Andrew Painter.
Getz might've undermined the last point at the GM meetings in San Antonio on Wednesday, per Daryl Van Schouwen:
“We are focusing on position-player return,” Getz said at the GM meetings. “That is our primary focus in any trade talks. We need to improve our offense.”
But Passan added that every team should be in on Crochet, and that his desire to sign an extension -- which complicated last year's trade market -- could work in the White Sox's favor this time around.
"I think that Chris Getz, if he wanted to, could theoretically wait until July, at which point there are going to be no self-imposed restrictions on Garrett Crochet this year," Passan said. "But I think teams that are acquiring, or are trying to acquire Crochet -- they know that he will sign an extension. And so the fact that that extension is potentially on the table I think allows the White Sox to ask for even more than they would for a guy who showed himself to be a front-line starting pitcher last year."
Getz also indicated to reporters in San Antonio that the Sox would be on the hunt for veteran innings to lighten the workload burden from the less experienced young rotation core of Jonathan Cannon, Drew Thorpe, Davis Martin and Sean Burke. So don't dedicate all your attention to the looming departure of Crochet when the hunt for the next Chris Flexen is also afoot.
