The Chicago White Sox on Thursday announced that Robin Ventura has been named the teams new manager after Ozzie Guillen left the organization last week.
The 44-year-old former player agreed to the multiyear deal with the club after working over the last season as a special advisor to director of player development Buddy Bell.
In a statement about the decision team GM Ken Williams said:
“When I met with the media as our season ended, I identified one person at the very top of my managerial list.” Williams went on to add, “I wanted someone who met very specific criteria centered around his leadership abilities. Robin Ventura was that man. His baseball knowledge and expertise, his professionalism, his familiarity with the White Sox and Chicago and his outstanding character make him absolutely the right person to lead our clubhouse and this organization into the seasons ahead.”
Ventura actually wasn’t sold on the idea until he met with Williams:
“There was a lot of (apprehension) when I first went home to talk to my wife about it,” Ventura said. “It turned us upside down. I have a good thing going and it was easy getting back into the game doing what I was doing. I had the freedom to coach and come back home. I think there was a lot of comfort in talking to the family that this was the White Sox, which for us is an extended family.”
A former Chicago White Sox player from 1989-1998, Venture played in the Bigs for 16 seasons including the 1999-2001 season with the New York Mets, a season with the New York Yankees and a career finishing stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he ended his player career in 2004.
Do you think Ventura is the right decision for manager of the Chicago White Sox?