White Sox: Will Rick Renteria find himself on the hot seat in 2020?

If the Chicago White Sox fail to take that next step in 2020, manager Rick Renteria could potentially find himself on the hot seat.

Around Major League Baseball, there is no shortage of managerial vacancies for teams looking to move in a different direction. Several teams have already locked up their next skipper including the Angels (Joe Maddon), Cubs (David Ross), Phillies (Joe Girardi), and Padres (Jayce Tingler). With the Chicago White Sox underwhelming for yet another season, it raises the question if Rick Renteria will shortly find his name on the hot seat.

Renteria, 57, spent a year at the helm across town before Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays. While the Cubs were still in a rebuilding mode, managers like Maddon do not become available all that often and Renteria was suddenly tidying up his resume again. He landed with the White Sox during the 2017 offseason after a failed Robin Ventura experiment and has produced 95, 100, and 89 loss seasons in his first three years, respectively.

A good argument could have been made that the Sox should have finished closer to 0.500 with all of the budding talent on this team but their pitching took a step back. And while Michael Kopech‘s injury was not the fault of Renteria’s, Giolito essentially replaced what was expected of Kopech last season.

Renteria has come under a tremendous amount of scrutiny for his lineup construction because he often goes with his gut instincts rather than what the statistics indicate he should be doing.

"“I don’t discount numbers. Never have, never will. But I’m a balance guy. I’m not going to appeal to the sabermetrician on a daily basis. Never will, never want to. Not my intent. If they don’t like it, I don’t really give a sh**.“I do things because I think it’s the right thing for me to do. I know everybody has their opinion. Maybe it puts me on the outs. That’s fine. But I’m going to do what I think I need to do with the guys I have. – NBC Chicago"

The Sox could potentially lose the American League leader in RBI’s this offseason in Jose Abreu and that production will need to come in the form of someone on the current roster or help from outside the organization. Certainly, the highly-anticipated callup of Luis Robert next season should help but the starting pitching will need to take that next step with a presumably healthy Kopech.

Should the Sox finish with another 72-89 season in 2020, don’t be the least bit surprised if they start looking for a new skipper.