Earlier today, we learned the White Sox have reached out to Atlanta’s third base coach Ron Washington about the club’s manager vacancy. However, his chances of landing the job might not be as good as you think.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post and Audacy Sports called into 670 The Score earlier Wednesday morning and cast doubt on a potential Washington hire.
“We all love Wash,” Heyman said on the station’s Mully & Haugh Show. “He’s certainly an incredibly hard worker. He’s helped turn Dansby Swanson into the best defensive shortstop in the National League, maybe in all of baseball. Great coach, but I’d be surprised if the White Sox went that route at this point considering the age and everything else, the total history. That would probably shock me. Maybe they’ll interview him. I don’t see them doing that at this point.”
Washington, 70, has been with the Braves for their past few postseason runs. He’s also managed in the World Series several times with Texas Rangers from 2007-2014. It’s well-known around the league that his specialty is defense, and the White Sox would no doubt benefit from his knowledge and expertise, given they were a bottom-five organization in terms of defensive metrics last season. More importantly, Washington is regarded as a coach that players enjoy playing for, and could certainly bring a missing spark to this organization. However, given his older age, there’s no guarantee that he will want to return as a manager and may instead opt to remain as the Braves third base coach.
With the latest rumors confirming the White Sox’s interest in Washington, their list of confirmed managerial candidates increases to four, also including bench coach Miguel Cairo, Royals bench coach Pedro Grifoli, and Houston bench coach Joe Espada. While Bochy, Shildt, and others have all been rumored as top candidates, there have not yet been official reports to confirm their interest or the organization’s intentions to grant an interview.
As more become available on the South Siders’ managerial search, we will continue to provide updates.
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- Report: White Sox reach out to Ron Washington for manager job
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