The White Sox interviewed Astros bench coach Joe Espada today as part of their managerial search, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Chicago has also reached out to Braves third base coach Ron Washington, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN (on Twitter). It isn’t clear whether Washington plans to interview.
Espada becomes the second known candidate to sit down with Chicago. ESPN’s Enrique Rojas reported last week that Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol also had an interview set up with the Sox at some point. Both Espada and Grifol also interviewed for the Marlins vacancy this week, and the latter is a candidate to assume Kansas City’s vacant managerial position as well.
The 47-year-old Espada has never managed in the majors, but he’s certainly drawn a fair bit of interest on that front. The Puerto Rico native was reportedly a finalist in the Mets search that eventually led to Buck Showalter last winter, and he’s gotten past looks from the A’s, Giants, Cubs and Twins, among others. While he’s not gotten a managerial nod, Espada has held the bench coach role for a number of excellent Houston teams going back to 2018. He’s worked under both A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker, demonstrating the value multiple skippers have placed on his input.
Over the weekend, Bob Nightengale of USA Today wrote that the Sox preferred to hire a veteran manager to replace Tony La Russa. The interviews with Grifol and Espada suggest they’re not ruling out first-time candidates early in the process, at least. Still, it’s notable that Washington does have a fair bit of experience in the role. He managed the Rangers between 2007-14, leading Texas to back-to-back AL pennants in 2011-12. The 70-year-old has spent the past six seasons on the Atlanta staff as Brian Snitker’s third base coach.
A younger guy from a successful organization that values analytics and is bilingual…sign me up.
And he can help clean up after the match.
The Jays tried that with Montoyo.
Is that the guy who claimed he was killed by his own troops in Vietnam?
That was Tim Johnson lol
The “values analytics” part may be where he loses the Sox, who are still pretty old school. Getting the FO (read: JR) to buy into analytics might seem a bit of a stretch. There’s also a rumor the Sox are prioritizing guys with experience in the top job, with Shildt, Washington, and Bochy as leading candidates. I’m hoping the Espada interview (and, fingers crossed, later interviews with Fredi Gonzalez and Quataro) are more than ploys to say, “We cast a wide net,” but I could be ok with any of those six.
A guy who surely knows a thing or 2 about trash cans!
He wasn’t the bench coach in 2017, Cora the current Red Sox manager. Read the article.
Memphis Kong;
The guy probably watches cable news and panels, thinks what they say is true, and repeats it to people.
Look at his name. Dude has no clue
Some guys can’t let it go.
He’s a hot candidate. It’s really awkward that teams are allowed to interview coaches during the playoffs instead of waiting til it’s over. There’s no way this isn’t considered a distraction. It’s unfortunate this is common in pro sports.
He’s a candidate of color, and the previous jobs he interviewed for went to white guys. Lets hope these interviews are serious and not just a box being checked off to satisfy MLB rules.
Um sweetie, we prefer LatinX
Said no one ever.
I did, amigX
MLB doesn’t have a requirement for LatinX. Just that a person of color gets interviewed, what ever you wish to call that.
Who cares about color? All we want is a WINNING manager.
W Sox should name the immortal Doug Eddings their GM/Mgr. Eddings was as responsible as anyone for their winning in 2005. AJ could bluff him, into anything.
Dogbone—winning THAT game MAYBE. It was only game two and it should have gone into extra innings. If the Angels do win, they go up 2-0 in the series and head home.
The problem with that call was the mechanics—Eddings cleared called a strike and THEN motioned forward with the OUT call. Play over. No further discussion. No replay then, no nothing. They 100% changed a call on the field when a play was complete and called. A huge mistake but hardly makes Eddings as responsible as anyone for the Sox winning that year.
IF the Sox go down 2-0 in that series, and head to LA – – they were done! Stick the fork in.
Doubt it. That team only lost one game the entire postseason. 12-1.
I just hope that Reinsdorf stays out of the selection process and lets Hahn do his job.
The wrath of Hahn.
Hahn!!!!!
I think it’s odd whenever any mentions the White Sox moves they mention Hahn and never Williams… when anyone mentions the Cubs it’s Hoyer and not Hawkins.
Glad they’re aiming to get younger in the managerial role with Ron Washington.
You know there will be a parteee if they win WS with Ron lol
It’s not that hard. Tell him Wash.
It’s incredibly hard.
It was never TLR’s age that bothered me; it was being out of the dugout that long, the DUI, and then the bad decisions and apparent failure to inspire his team. Washington is regarded as an excellent teacher of fundamentals and that’s one of the things these Sox need the most. He may not be my first choice, but I’d be content with that hire.
Doesn’t matter. Oscar Colas will be their outfield addition. They’re going to let Abreu walk. Maybe they try to sign Elvis to play 2B. They’re a collective group of soft under-achievers.
Ron Washington is in a good place.
He’s in his 70’s.
He doesn’t need to be going to an organization that needs to turnover everything from the FO people to the scouting people to the coaching staff to the players on the ML roster and throughout the organization. One person can only do so much. He’s with a quality organization and doing his part there. That’s a minimum of 3 years of full time battles to just begin to square that mess away….while the people that created it and cultivated it will still be there.
There’s no crying in baseball.
ChiSoxCity;
You’ve been doing it on here for years.
Jesus…
There are certainly roster construction issues that need to be addressed, but those don’t take 3 years. This is still a talented team with a very good front 3 starting rotation. There’s enough raw talent to come back and win the division next year. I don’t think that a skilled manager will take that long to get the Sox playing better. A little luck avoiding injuries might help, too.
I agree. The right manager who can light a fire under some butts and the right off season conditioning AND some tweaks to the roster and I can see them winning the division next season.
Get me a good manager and good players and let it play out from there.
I have a feeling those of us wanting an experienced dude aren’t going to get our wish. Lots of banter about Ozzie and lots of that banter is coming from Ozzie!
This Espada is getting lots of calls. That’s two calls and interviews. Guess that’s calling an Espada an Espada. !
If he ends up on the South Side, he should adopt a South Side Gaellic surname. Adopt to adapt. O’Brien. Or better yet. McKenzie. Can see it now in lights: A Spads McKenzie.
His nickname is already “Seamus” a lot of people just don’t know..
Wash would be good though I’d hate to lose him, just needs to lay off the booger sugar.
Espada seems to get an interview every year. I hope he gets the chance this time..
I’m betting he will. Don’t know whether it will be with the Marlins, White Sox, or Astros, but I think he’ll be a manager for next season.
Espada would be an excellent hire wherever he winds up. He was a finalist for the Mets job and I really wish he got it. I like Buck but he’s not a playoff winner. History has proven that and Joe would have been the better choice. Good Luck Joe Espada!
Make some bold moves on the south side. Reassign Rick Hahn to another position in the front office or dismiss him a GM. Then hire Ken “Hawk” Harrelson as GM. Hire .Ozzie Guellen as Manager. The White Sox would be be the most interesting team in MLB.
“Guillen”!
Bill Muiller
Seems to be a reason why Espada is always runner up..not sure why. I hope they look at Ronald Linares from Tampa who also coached the Dominican team in the WBC.
I think Quataro is the hotter commodity from Tampa Bay. Not saying Linares isn’t a good coach, but bench coaches are usually considered next in line for the top job.
Apart from Ozzie, the Sox haven’t exactly had a lotta luck giving the skip’s job to guys who have never managed in MLB. Also, do they really want a hire another old fella as a manager? Then there is the JR factor, that JR might well veto any recommendation from Hahn and hire whom he damn well pleases?
One thing I am almost 100% sure of is that the Sox will find some way to botch this and make yet another uninspiring hiring as manager. That said, the hope then becomes that the new guy proves me wrong and shapes the team into a winner.
My money is still on Cairo, not because I think he is the best man for the job, but the Sox are a lazy franchise, so hiring Cairo would be the easiest thing they could do. The job is his as long as he doesn’t demand more money than they are willing to pay him.
The team quit on Cairo, too, after that first loss to Cleveland. I don’t think he ends up with it. The more guys the Sox interview, the happier I’ll be. Don’t particularly want Grifol from KC or Willie Harris, but most of the other names I’ve heard them tied to, I’d be ok with.
As for “another old fella,” that’s an age-ist statement. I wouldn’t care if TLR was 95 if he was:
A) Healthy enough to manage most games
B) Not making terrible lineup and in-game decisions
C) Able to light a fire under these guys
Conversely, if someone couldn’t do those things at 42, I wouldn’t care how young they are: fire them.
Health can play a role in the hire, which is why I don’t think they get Bochy, but age matters very little to me. What matters is in-game management, teaching the players, and inspiring them.
A.J. Pierzynski would work for peanuts and has as much field knowledge as any of these bridesmaid bench coach candidates.
“field knowledge” has nothing at all to do with managing people while staying under the dictates of the FO.
The question is, how desirable is the White Sox job?
Pros are they have some good players and it would be very hard to disappoint more than LaRussa.
Cons however are glaring as well… the White Sox are thin on money, their farm system is awful, they are moving on from their best position player and the depth of their team is already thin.
You forgot some other pros:
1. They play in a weak division. Cleveland impressed this year and are the biggest threats next year, but the Sox have the talent to take the division if they get a good manager who can light a fire and teach them fundamentals.
2. Last year, the Sox were one of baseball’s most injured clubs. Cleveland had the fewest injuries. Part of that is they’re baseball’s youngest team while the Sox are one of the oldest, but that kind of luck has the tendency to even out a little.
3. You could put a hamster in RF and see an improvement on defense. Simply moving Vaughn to 1B, while it might hurt the defense there a little, will help make up for some of what they’re losing by letting Abreu go.
The ranking of farm systems is a joke. To me the ranking should be the amount of players you have in the top 100 and how many are at AA or above. All the rest are trade bait or long shots. You have Cubs fans touting they have a top farm system, yet they have 2 in the top 100 with Davis coming off injury and PCA at A ball. For the CWS Colas will be up and they should just bring Cespedes along so you can dump Engel because he has a same traits and maybe hit better. Were stuck with Grandal and Pollack, which are financial anchors but I’d explore an Anderson trade as there will be some movement of other SS and maybe his contract and play will get you something in return. I see him being a cancer after more SS get big money this offseason.
You could argue the top 100 rankings are jokes. J-Ram was never ranked top 100 on any list and now he’s one of baseball’s best and on a HOF track. They’re not completely useless, but you won’t find a self-respecting team that gives a crap about a Baseball America, Keith Law, or anyone else’s ranking. They do their own analysis, even backward teams like the White Sox.
He was ranked in 2020 and 2021….
The Sox have serious roster issues that no manager is going to correct overnight. They play truly awful defense, bullpen is a mess, the lineup is too right handed while simultaneously being the definition of 3 true outcomes up and down the order. Nothing special in the farm. They need a new GM before they worry about a manager.
Managers don’t correct roster issues, General Managers do.
Hence why I said they need a new GM before worrying about a manager
This manager hire just HAS to be Hahns last chance. The only defense I can barely give him to get another year is he didn’t get his guy at peak of rebuild. TLR was not his choice.
John Gibbons is available
Ry
Dig up the corpse of John McGraw. He doesn’t eat or live any more so he will come cheap Jerry – and he has recent championship experience! Recent to him, anyway.
After watching Sox baseball for over 30 years, Im fairly certain, whoever the Sox FO picks, sadly it will be the wrong guy. Any applicant that will be not be willing to be a lapdog to Kenny and crew will likely not get the job. You need to have input as a Manager, and willing to rock the boat on occasion. Look at the last few picks at manager the Sox have made (and look at the success, or lack thereof, of these guys), and yeah, sure they made the playoffs two years in a row (one of those appearances in a severely shorted season may I add), whoop-die do.. Lets see a team win a playoff series instead of being laughed out of one. Heck, they had a guy that seemed to get everything he could out of these players in Renteria, and they promptly jettisoned him for LaRussa when they had a whiff of success when they should have just left things alone for a full season with Renteria (not that I was sold on Renteria being the guy, but after suffering through a rebuild give the guy a whole season with this club after getting it to the playoffs). Also don’t think that any manager is not thinking of that screwjob by the FO when being interviewed by the White Sox. The Sox are likely either going to get a guy who has seen the game pass them up, a puppet for the Org (that the players will not respect enough to give it there all), or a guy that will be a ‘player’s coach’ and then keep letting the patients run the asylum. Ron Washington and Bruce Bochy seem like the two ‘best’ guys to try to win, but the Sox just had a guy that has been successful, but did little with this club, regardless or excuses or reasons.
I want to see a guy come in, with really the ability to go to the management and say’ This guy ain’t going to work, move him’ and actually be listened to. They need a guy that will preach fundamentals and mean it and the guys that don’t or cannot buy into that, go somewhere else. Sadly the Sox could have had a guy like that in Francona numerous times now, and look where the Guardians are and where the Sox are
Pedro Grifol or Joe Espada? Which will it be, and which do your prefer? I know nothing about either. Or, will it be someone else. Any NO to Willie Harris. Love the guy, but…LOL However, I would love to see him as a bench coach, first. AJ too.