Chicago Cubs happy that Rick Renteria is back

The Chicago White Sox announced that Rick Renteria would be their new bench coach. The Chicago Cubs are happy that Renteria is back in baseball.

Rick Renteria is back, and is back in Chicago. The former Chicago Cubs manager, who was dumped in favor of current manager (and probable Manager of the Year) Joe Maddon, will be the Chicago White Sox new bench coach.

Renteria had just completed his first season with the Cubs after the 2014 season. The team finished in last place (again), but they showed promise with the young players on the roster late in the season.

The youngsters felt comfortable with Renteria, seeing that he was moving up the organization with them. He helped their development, and he had the right temperament to deal with them at the major-league level.

Then Maddon opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Cubs, even with Renteria under contract, went on an all-out blitz to get him. In the end, the Cubs got their man, and they had to give Renteria the boot.

Now, after taking a year off, Renteria returns, and the Cubs are happy about it.

General manager Jed Hoyer congratulated Renteria on his new job, and again expressed sorrow over how he left the Cubs.

"I don’t feel like we treated him entirely fairly,” Hoyer said Tuesday from the GM meetings. “Ricky deserved better. I’m glad he gets a chance with the White Sox…What happened was unexpected. Obviously we’re thrilled with Joe, we had a wonderful year, but Ricky deserved better…After our wins (in the playoffs) he would always text congratulations and stuff. They got a great guy for them, a great fit for them. I hope this starts his path back to being a manager."

For his part, Renteria says he has no hard feelings. He understands the business of baseball and expressed gratitude for being given a chance.

"I’m totally, completely happy with the opportunity that the Ricketts family and Jed (Hoyer) and Theo (Epstein) and everybody in the organization extended to me to get on the field as a manager with the Chicago Cubs. It was a great experience. Obviously, anybody that’s been in that arena knows that change sometimes occurs, even as abruptly as it might have seemed. Things happen. There were a lot of kids that were over on that club this year, and a lot of people I worked alongside over there that deserve to have as much success as they possibly can. No, there are no hard feelings. When you step away from it a little bit and you reflect, it’s just a business. It’s just baseball. It doesn’t take away from anything that I believe we brought to the table at the time."

The way Renteria left the Cubs organization was messy, but in the long run it was the right move for the team. Maddon led the Cubs to a 97-win season and a playoff run that ended in the National League Championship Series, where they fell to the New York Mets.

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Now, Renteria has another shot to manage. The White Sox have struggled with Robin Ventura as the manager. If they start slow again in 2016, I don’t see him surviving the season. After firing a manager, the first man a team usually look to as a replacement is the bench coach. Renteria showed in his season as manager that he can handle the job.

It is good to see Renteria get a second chance. A lot of managers who are not a big name get a shot with bad teams, then have their losing records held against them. With Renteria, people acknowledge how good of a job he did, even if the team finished 73-89 and in last place.

Next: Chicago Cubs No Longer Have To Sell Winning To Free Agents

Renteria is one of the good guys in baseball, and should be a manager again soon.

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