Time is right to look outside organization for next White Sox manager

Not since they hired Jerry Manuel in 1997 have the White Sox gone outside their family to find a manager.

Since Manuel was fired in 2003, former Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen, former Sox third baseman Robin Ventura, Sox bench coach Rick Renteria and former Sox manager Tony La Russa have managed the team. Those hires produced a World Series title under Guillen in 2005 but only three postseason appearances since then with a total of one victory in each one.

The same leadership team of chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn has remained firmly in place since 2002, when Hahn became assistant GM under GM Williams. Hahn was promoted to GM and Williams to VP in October 2012, and the decision-making dynamic is much the same.

“Similar to probably just about every major decision since I’ve been around here for over the last 20-odd years, in the end, it’s a collaborative process and ideally, Kenny, Jerry and I come up with a consensus,” Hahn said of the next managerial hire the day La Russa stepped down for health reasons. “I’ll be leading the process. I’ll be the one having these initial conversations here, over the coming weeks. A number of people being part of these conversations.”

The Sox are keeping the process close to the vest, in typical Sox style, although it’s known that Astros bench coach Joe Espada, one of the first candidates interviewed by the team, is high on their list, if not at the top. Bruce Bochy came off the market when the Rangers hired him Friday.

“They are doing some serious due diligence with this,” a club source said Wednesday.

Hahn two weeks ago said “it’s really a matter of getting the best opinion of someone and in the end, making a recommendation and all being on the same page.”

They were on the same page for a complete overhaul and rebuild in 2016 that produced consecutive playoff appearances in 2020 and ’21 but went off the rails in 2022, going 81-81 under La Russa in the franchise’s most disappointing season in recent memory.

After making every hire a family affair since Manuel, it may be time to go outside an organization many in baseball circles view as dysfunctional. There is something to be said for a fresh view and ideas.

Hahn suggested it could happen.

“One thing that perhaps breaks from the mold of at least the last few hires, having a history with the White Sox, having some sort of connection to White Sox DNA, is by no means a requirement,” he said.

Outside of bench coach Miguel Cairo, who guided the Sox to an 18-16 record after La Russa stepped away, “having that history with the White Sox is not necessarily a characteristic that we’re looking for this time,” Hahn said.

And yet, as the Sox’ interview process approaches three weeks, numerous longer-shot possibilities from within, including pre- and postgame TV analyst Guillen and former Sox star Jim Thome — a special assistant to Hahn who in the past expressed interest in managing but might not be looking to now — are popular talk-show and rumor-mill fodder.

Guillen said he’s interested in returning.

“I know this team is very good,” he said.

But he told the Sun-Times that, as of Friday, he wasn’t interviewing for the job, contrary to reports he already had or will next week.

Reinsdorf said five years ago that a reunion with Guillen, whose tenure on the South Side did not end well, “can’t happen.” Then again, no one saw La Russa coming back — except for Reinsdorf — two years ago.

Stay tuned.