The White Sox announced Monday that Rick Renteria will be the 40th manager in team history when the 2017 season opens. One key reason cited by general manager Rick Hahn for the selection of Renteria is his familiarity with the club’s players. Renteria spent the 2016 season as the team’s bench coach and knows exactly what the club has. Here’s what some of the team’s current players said about Renteria on Sunday before the hire was made official.
— Chris Sale: “Awesome. Very well expected. Just a nice guy. Genuine, competitive. If you walked around this clubhouse, he would have the respect of every single person in here. I don’t know 100 percent if we’re going one way or another, but it wouldn’t be a bad starting point.”
— David Robertson: “Rick’s a great guy. I’m excited to have him. It seems like everyone likes him. It’s nice he speaks Spanish too, so that helps. Not that it really matters that much, but it does, you can see that it helps. I think he’s a good manager, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for us when we get to spring next year.”
— Alex Avila: “Rick is great. He brings a lot of energy and is always prepared, makes sure his guys are prepared. He knows what he’s doing, knows what he’s talking about. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure you guys will know before we do.”
— Jose Abreu: “I am very happy because Rick is an exceptional person, a great human being, a baseball fan and owns an outstanding knowledge of the game. I do believe that he is a person who can help us in many ways as manager. I ask that God bless him and guide him in this new role as our manager. To me, in particular, it is very special to have a Latino manager because we are able to speak the same language. I also believe it is very important that Rick has the opportunity to manage in the major leagues, because it serves as motivation for all Latinos who hope to be managers.”
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