Ventura Nice Guy, Needs Players

The Robin Ventura era is underway in Chicago and it sounds as if no one is more surprised about him becoming the new manager of the Chicago White Sox than him.

Oh, OK, I’ll do it, is pretty much how Ventura came across when he was introduced as the new Sox field boss succeeding Ozzie Guillen. It was not as if Ventura had trained for this his entire life, nor, if you listen to him, did he expect his career to turn in this direction even after rejoining the club last year as a special advisor to player development Buddy Bell. That’s a pretty special assistant indeed. (Heck, Bell is probably wondering why Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Kenny Williams didn’t ask him if he wanted the job.).

Williams didn’t have to look beyond the end of the hall in the team offices to find Ventura, but Ventura makes it seem as if becoming manager was the last thing on his mind. He said he was pretty happy easing back into baseball with a minimal time commitment where he could go home each night and hang out with his wife and family. A talented player who was a two-time All-Star and a six-time Gold Glove award winner who could also hit well enough to accumulate 294 home runs and 1,182 RBIs in a 16-year careeer, Ventura, 44, had slipped off the baseball radar screen following his retirement in 2004. By then, his glory years with the White Sox were over, and he had bounced from the New York Mets to the New York Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

By the time Ventura ventured into professional baseball he was already famous for three reasons. At Oklahoma State he was a three-time All-American and set an NCAA record of batting safely in 58 straight games–two more than Joe DiMaggio’s Major League record–and he had won a gold medal representing the United States in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

It might be said that Ventura’s closing years with other teams were gravy because in spring training 1997 he suffered a gruesome injury, breaking and dislocating his right ankle in a slide at home plate. He was in so much pain it seemed as if he had been shot. Immediately, Ventura was ruled out for the season. However, through incredibly diligent rehab he was back in the lineup by July 24. Somehow, it seems unlikely that Ventura as boss of the Sox will tolerate any players lollygagging in their returns from injury.

This is definitely a feel-good hire, if a surprising one, since both Sox administrators and Ventura called it hiring from within the family. Chicago fans like Ventura, but he will discover quickly that if he doesn’t win his popularity will sink to the bottom of Lake Michigan. The biggest problem Ventura faces is expansion of the extended family. The Sox need to adopt some new young fellas. In theory, the White Sox are loaded with starting pitching. But most of the key guys had disappointing 2011 seasons.  Will Mark Buehrle be back? Will Jake Peavy be Jake Peavy again? Will Gavin Floyd and John Danks become consistent winners? Oh, and by the way, who is going to be the closer?

Meanwhile, Adam Dunn at designated hitter and Alex Rios in the outfield, have been failed experiments. The best hitters, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski, are the oldest regulars.

Ventura said he never thought about becoming the manager, but by the middle of the 2012 season he may not want to do it anymore unless reinforcements are brought in. By July 1, Ventura might feel 54 instead of 44.