Building a functional baseball club is not easy.
You need a lot of people behind the players, manager, and coaches.
However, in the end, the players will be the most important elements because they are the ones out there making the plays, taking the at-bats, and making the pitches.
A Chicago White Sox former manager discussed the organization’s current state and said that replacing the outgoing Tony La Russa as the skipper won’t be as tough as figuring out what to do with the roster.
The team is 80-80, and returning to the postseason next year will require fixing the roster.
“Ozzie Guillen just said the smartest thing: Hiring the next manager will be the easiest thing the White Sox front office does this off-season. Plenty of good candidates. What they do with the roster is the tough part,” ESPN reporter Jesse Rogers tweeted.
Ozzie Guillen just said the smartest thing: Hiring the next manager will be the easiest thing the White Sox front office does this off-season. Plenty of good candidates. What they do with the roster is the tough part.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) October 4, 2022
Indeed, there are several potential candidates to take the White Sox’s gig.
Fixing The Roster Is A Tall Task For The Sox
Guillen himself could be one of them: he was the last manager to win a World Series championship with the White Sox in 2005.
Miguel Cairo, who acted as the interim manager at some point in September, could be another.
Sandy Alomar Jr., Will Venable, Joe Espada, Joe Maddon, and Pedro Grifol could be options too.
That would be the easiest part of the puzzle: the roster, though, needs several upgrades.
With a 99 wRC+ (league average is 100), the White Sox’s offense is ranked 17th, in the middle of the pack.
Their pitching is 16th with a 3.90 ERA.
Clearly, no team can challenge for the playoffs with numbers as mediocre as those.
The White Sox appear to have fallen behind in the player development department, too.
In any case, fixing the roster is much more difficult than appointing a new skipper.
NEXT: Lance Lynn Comments On The Tony La Russa News
