Ranking the 4 White Sox Manager Candidates

It appears that the Chicago White Sox are down to four possible choices for the next manager. Here we take a look at those four -- Will Venable, Craig Albernaz, Phil Nevin, and current White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore. It appears former Miami Marlins owner Skip Schumaker and St. Louis Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso are out of the running.

Let's start with Venable. The 41-year-old is the associate manager of the Texas Rangers, and he played for nine seasons in the major leagues. Since retiring he's worked as a special assistant to former Chicago Cubs team president Theo Epstein and he's been both a first and third-base coach for the Cubs. He's also been the bench coach for Alex Cora with the Boston Red Sox.

Reporting suggests that Venable is the favored candidate of White Sox General Manager Chris Getz, but he may command too much money for the Sox. He's also apparently one of two favorite candidates for the Marlins job, along with Albernaz.

Albernaz, also 41, is currently the bench coach for the Cleveland Guardians. He's worked his way up through the minor leagues, starting with the Princeton Rays and working for teams such as the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

At the major-league level, he's worked for the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Francisco Giants. The Guardians made it to the American League Championship Series this season.

Nevin played in the big leagues for 12 seasons with the Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, Anaheim (now Los Angeles) Angels, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Minnesota Twins. He's coached with the Giants, the New York Yankees, and the Angels. He managed the Angels from 2022 to 2023, where he had a 119-149 record over 268 games managed.

Some reporting suggests that Nevin may be out of the running, but other reporters say he's still in the mix.

Finally, we'll close with Grady Sizemore, who took over as interim manager for the White Sox after Pedro Grifol was fired during the season. The 42-year-old Sizemore played for Cleveland, Boston, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Rays during his big-league career, and he had a 13-32 record over 45 games as he finished the season for the Sox.

This author's take is that Sizemore is probably the best man for the job, especially if the Sox remain intent on rebuilding over the next two to three seasons. The players have spoken highly of him, he'd probably come cheap, and there's no need to spend a lot of money on a high-caliber manager if the Sox don't plan on contending. Let Sizemore develop the prospects and evaluate his abilities when it's time to compete.

Then again, the Sox might want to go with a different candidate if they believe the team can compete sooner -- especially if the manager gives them a boost.

Perhaps the right candidate will be one that can both develop players and win sooner rather than later. Venable appears to be the best candidate for both, given his resume. Nevin seems like the second-chance guy -- a manager who learned from failing at his first job and will be better the second time around. Albernaz, meanwhile, seems like a talent developer, and he comes from a team that's been in the ALCS this season.

This author thinks Venable might be the best overall candidate for the job, but the timing favors Sizemore, for the reasons outlined above.

With the World Series in full swing, we may get some White Sox news this week -- or shortly after the final out of the Fall Classic.

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