In 2020, the Chicago White Sox had their best season in almost a decade. They finally made it into the postseason despite a late-season stumble. The White Sox had a 2-8 record for the final ten games and an early exit from the playoffs. With their 2-1 series loss to the Oakland Athletics, the need for change was palpable.
Manager Rick Renteria was brought on to get the young White Sox team playing hard; to pull the team through the rebuild. He was never meant to be in the picture once the team was ready to win. In those last ten games and the postseason, it wasn’t hard to see that Renteria wasn’t up for the big moments. It wasn’t long after the White Sox returned to Chicago with their heads hung low that they announce Ricky and the Sox were parting ways.
The announcement didn’t stop there. The White Sox were also parting ways with Pitching Coach Don Cooper. Cooper had been the coaching staff’s rock since 2002, but it was hard to ignore that pitching was one of the biggest problems in the late-season and postseason. After being with the organization for 33 seasons, Cooper got thrown out with the bathwater. Both Renteria and Cooper were let go, leaving an extremely talented team with two huge gaping holes. It did’t take too long before their replacements were announced, Tony La Russa and Ethan Katz.
Tony La Russa, Chicago White Sox Manager
The White Sox had one of the most coveted jobs in baseball to fill, and every available manager was linked to the White Sox at some point during the offseason. In the end, it was former Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa who snagged the job.
Tony La Russa is one of the best managers in baseball history, but needless to say, this signing was met with mixed feelings. At the ripe age of 76, La Russa will be the third oldest manager in the MLB, ever. La Russa has also been out of the game for the past nine seasons, and the game has changed quite a bit from the last time he was the manager of a ball club. Many will point to the fact that he has been consulting with the Angels during his retirement but consulting doesn’t quite have that same pressure as making calls on the field.
The promise that La Russa holds is the understanding of what it takes to win in baseball, which was the one thing missing from the White Sox in the 2020 season. LaRussa is being sold as the one who has the ability to make the tough decisions it takes to win big games. Someone who can make sound decisions under pressure. Renteria did a fantastic job, but now the White Sox need a coach to win a World Series.
Are the White Sox are taking a risk with La Russa? Maybe. Will La Russa be under a ton of pressure? Absolutely. The only reason you bring in a manager of his stature is to win a championship. He has 2,728 wins and three World Series titles with two different franchises, and the 2021 White Sox has the best roster that La Russa has ever had in his baseball career. The nation will definitely be watching.
Ethan Katz, Chicago White Sox Pitching Coach
At 37 years old, Ethan Katz will hopefully bridge that age gap between the players and La Russa. Katz has only been coaching in the major’s one year as the assistant pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants in 2020, but overall, he has been coaching since 2009.
From 2009-13 he was the pitching coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in North Hollywood, California. During his time at Harvard-Westlake, he helped develop future major league starting pitchers Max Fried (Atlanta Braves), Jack Flaherty (St Louis Cardinals), and the White Sox pitching ace, Lucas Giolito.
After that, Katz moved to the Anaheim Angels minor league’s as a pitching coach from 2013-15. In 2016, he made a lat move to the Seattle Mariners’ minor’s where he was named the Calfornia League Coach of the Year for the Class A+ Burlington Bees.
Katz stayed with the Mariners through 2018 when he was offered a position as the assistant minor league pitching coordinator by the San Francisco Giants. By December of 2019, he was promoted to the Giants’ assistant pitching coach. Katz had finally made it to the majors and with a nudge from one of their stars, the White Sox provided him the next rung in the ladder.
Lucas Giolito, who came off his best season, made a case for Ethan Katz as the new pitching coach, and apparently GM Rick Hahn listened. The White Sox signed Katz and student and teacher have been reunited. With much more to prove and a Commisioner’s Cup to bring back to the south side, Katz will bring a new-aged sense of how pitching has evolved in the MLB and be a perfect balance to what La Russa brings to the team.
The White Sox have no shortage of great arms on their roster with Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Garret Crochet, Aaron Bummer, and Liam Hendricks. But the true test will be getting the best out of SP Reynaldo Lopez and SP Carlos Rodon. Two pitchers that Cooper was never able to figure out.
It’s not the norm for a team to fire the manager and the pitching coach that got them to the playoffs, but in this case, I think the White Sox are stronger for it. Now the pressure is on for the White Sox. It’s World Series or bust.