White Sox general manager Rick Hahn renewed his vote of confidence in manager Robin Ventura Friday, saying he has “met the challenge this team has put in front of him over the last two years, both the good and the bad, extremely well.’’
But the same endorsement didn’t come for Ventura’s coaching staff, which could see changes.
“”I think at the end of the day, all of us, myself included, are evaluated based upon the players’ performances,’’ Hahn said Friday. “Now, fundamentally that may seem unfair at times, because we’re not the ones in between the white lines.
“But as a front office executive, as someone who puts the players in the uniform, as a coach, the one who tries to put them in a position to succeed, ultimately there needs to be accountability for how that performance–where we go with that performance or how that performance plays out on the field.
“I don’t want to get into coach by coach or going through and evaluating each guy just as I wouldn’t sit here and go through each player and say, ‘This player had a good year,’ or ‘This one will be back or that a player won’t be,’
“But certainly we’re all accountable for the performance at the end if the day on the field, even though it’s the players ultimately that are doing the performing.”
The Sox can trace their poor season to lack of run production, poor base running and terrible fielding, with 121 errors.
“We’ll address all of that after the season’s over,’ Hahn said. “I don’t think it’s fair [to] anyone in uniform for me to single out individual coaches or individual players at this time, while we’re still playing, and say, ‘This guy fits going forward,’ or, ‘That guy doesn’t fit going forward or, ‘We’re looking to trade this guy.’ I would never do that. I don’t think that’s professional.”
Ventura endorsed the work of his staff, which includes bench coach Mark Parent, hitting coach Jeff Manto, base coaches Daryl Boston and Joe McEwing, assistant hitting coach Harold Baines, pitching coach Don Cooper and bullpen coach Bobby Thigpen.
“ I’m happy with the work everybody has done here,’’ Ventura said. “Regardless of the record, I know the kind of work and what went into it and that’s one of those, that (decision) comes from somewhere else.’’
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