CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox reached the playoffs for the first time since 2008. They will try to take that next step with a new manager.
The White Sox and Rick Renteria agreed to part ways, General Manager Rick Hahn announced Monday.
"This is not how we wanted this to end. … It became evident that it was time to make a change," Hahn said in a conference call with reporters.
Don Cooper, the former Twins righthander who had been White Sox pitching coach since July 2002, also was let go. He had spent more than three decades with the organization.
Renteria went 236-309 over four seasons, including 35-25 in this pandemic-shortened season, while guiding the team through the first phase of its rebuild.
Chicago led the AL Central by three games before losing eight of its final 10 games to finish in a tie for second with Cleveland, a game back of the Twins. The White Sox won its first wild-card series opener at Oakland before losing the final two games to get knocked out of the first-round series.
Renteria fostered a culture that allowed young players to develop into stars, but he drew criticism for his lineups as well as his handling of pitchers, particularly down the stretch. Chicago used nine pitchers in its 6-4 loss in Game 3 to the Athletics.
"This isn't about any of the decisionmaking in Game 3 of the wild-card series," Hahn said. "This isn't about anything that happened over the last couple of weeks after we clinched our position into the playoffs."
