Chicago White Sox: 3 names to avoid in manager search
For the second time in three years, the Chicago White Sox will be looking for a new manager as the team looks to meet the lofty expectations that they failed to meet during the 2021 season.
Tony La Russa will not return to the White Sox managerial post in 2023. In fact, La Russa will have no affiliation with the White Sox at all after the 2022 season. The White Sox have not confirmed any official news regarding La Russa but reports have surfaced that his health concerns will prevent him from returning to the team.
La Russa being forced to leave his managerial post with the White Sox has always seemed inevitable.
The 77-year-old Major League Baseball Hall of Famer was hired to be the White Sox manager, for a second time, after the 2020 season as the team had the expectations of transitioning from being a postseason hopeful to a legitimate World Series contender.
World Series contenders are something the White Sox were not in the nearly two seasons in which La Russa was their manager.
White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf forced La Russa on his front office and the results could not have gone worse. The White Sox talent has regressed from the beginning of La Russa’s second tenure with the team to now and there is an indication that their competitive window may be closing.
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn must be the frontman in the White Sox search for a new manager and if so, there are three candidates in particular that he must avoid:
1. Joe Maddon
Joe Maddon would not make a good fit for the 2023 Chicago White Sox.
Given the connection that Joe Maddon has to the city of Chicago, he likely will get some mentions as a potential candidate to be the next manager of the White Sox. The White Sox needs to avoid hiring Maddon at all costs.
Life after the Cubs for Maddon can be described as nothing but a disappointment as he had a losing record in each of his first two seasons with the Los Angeles Angels and was fired after two months into his third season with the team.
Since his firing, Maddon hasn’t missed an opportunity to criticize the modern technologies of Major League Baseball. Maddon continues to age himself out of Major League Baseball and the White Sox do not need another La Russa situation.