Renteria: Rebuilds require organization-wide effort

Sox skipper managed Cubs in '14 as they assembled eventual title team

December 7th, 2016

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Rick Renteria knows about rebuilding.
He was part of the Cubs' ongoing process, which eventually resulted in the 2016 World Series championship, when he managed one season on the North Side in '14. So Renteria is ready to work with young players in his first go at the White Sox helm, after serving as the team's bench coach under Robin Ventura in '16, but he also knows it takes a village to grow a consistent winner.
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"When you're looking at an organization, and that's what we're looking at as a whole, everybody plays a huge hand in helping these young men develop," said Renteria during his Wednesday manager's session at baseball's Winter Meetings. "My conversations with coaches allow them the autonomy to do what they do, the hitting coaches and fielding coaches, the pitching coaches. We have guys with a tremendous amount of experience.
"The one thing that I think the game, the industry, has shown is that younger players are filtering in a lot sooner than they used to in the past. You still have to continue to teach at the Major League level, and that's one thing that's evident throughout.
"You have organizations that have kind of shifted their mode and started building with a younger core of players, and you have to have a vision and an idea of how you want to move forward with them," Renteria said. "But the one thing that you have to have is belief and trust. It's not the easiest thing to do, but it's doable, obviously."
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General manager Rick Hahn laid out a plan for the four young players acquired from Boston on Tuesday in exchange for ace , starting the rebuild. Outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe and right-hander Victor Diaz will begin at the Class A level, while infielder and hard-throwing right-hander Michael Kopech are closer to the Majors but also figure to begin in the Minors.
Moncada had a brief callup with the Red Sox at the end of '16, but the White Sox aren't looking to rush anyone to validate a move. Renteria already has broken down some Moncada video, stating that he looks a little like . But they will get to know him better when Spring Training begins.
Regardless of the team's makeup, and regardless of Renteria and his staff's teaching ability, the White Sox manager already has built in a solid barometer for success.
"We want to beat everybody's attitude on a daily basis. At least give ourselves a chance," Renteria said. "Again, winning and losing are results, and we've talked about this, and you guys hear this all the time.
"I know they are clichés, but we go out and prepare these guys to play the game the way they are supposed to and give them a chance to have the other club say: These guys never quit. If we can have an opponent say that we never quit, then we're on our way."