On the heels of reporting earlier right now that the White Sox had curiosity in Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker for his or her managerial emptiness, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning Information reported this night that the Rangers have granted not solely Ecker but in addition affiliate supervisor Will Venable permission to interview with Chicago concerning their accessible managerial gig. Venable’s title first surfaced in reference to the White Sox final week.
Ecker, 38, acquired his begin as a coach in 2015 with the Cardinals. He acted as a minor league hitting coach for St. Louis from 2015 to 2017 earlier than becoming a member of the Angels’ Triple-A membership in that very same function for the 2018 season. He first cracked the large leagues as an assistant hitting coach with the Reds in 2019. He remained with the membership for 2 years earlier than becoming a member of the Giants as a hitting coach previous to the 2020 season, and he caught in San Francisco for an additional two years earlier than once more altering organizations to affix the Rangers in his present function as bench coach and offensive coordinator previous to the 2022 season.
It’s a prolonged resume, and Ecker would deliver views from 5 completely different massive league organizations to an infamously insular White Sox membership if employed. This isn’t the primary time Ecker has come up as a possible managerial candidate for an enormous league membership, both. Final winter, Ecker was rumored among the many potential candidates to interchange Gabe Kapler as supervisor in San Francisco earlier than they in the end employed Bob Melvin away from the Padres.
Venable has additionally seen his title come up in previous managerial searches and has lengthy been checked out as one of many league’s high up-and-coming potential managers. After enjoying elements of 9 seasons within the majors, Venable joined the Cubs as a particular assistant to the entrance workplace in 2017 earlier than serving as first base coach within the following two seasons and third base coach throughout the shortened 2020 marketing campaign. Venable departed Chicago following the 2020 season to change into Alex Cora’s bench coach in Boston. He remained in that function for 2 years earlier than becoming a member of the Rangers as an affiliate supervisor below Bruce Bochy previous to the 2023 season.
Grant notes that Venable may very well be the main contender to take Bochy’s place as supervisor in Texas when the 69-year-old finally returns to retirement. Venable was seemingly comfy with that association when he declined interviews with the Mets and Guardians final winter with the intention to stay with the Rangers, but it surely’s attainable he’s extra severely contemplating departing the Rangers this winter amid uncertainty concerning Bochy’s plans for the long run. As Grant relays, Bochy informed reporters following the tip of the 2024 common season that managing nonetheless “drives” him, seemingly leaving the door open to him sticking round past the tip of his present contract in 2025.
The 2 Rangers coaches are hardly the one candidates linked to the job, in fact. Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and bench coach Danny Lehman, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, Padres particular assistant A.J. Ellis, former Angels skipper Phil Nevin, Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso, and outgoing Marlins supervisor Skip Schumaker have all been title checked as potential candidates within the rumor mill, with Schumaker and McCullough getting explicit consideration as potential main candidates.
Whoever in the end takes the reins in Chicago will enter an tumultuous state of affairs. Not solely is the membership coming off a disastrous 2024 marketing campaign that set the fashionable report for losses in a single season at 121, however the membership’s possession may very well be up within the air following a report yesterday that indicated longtime proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf is discussing promoting the membership to former massive leaguer Dave Stewart. Whereas all that uncertainty and the probably lengthy timetable for a return to competition might make the membership’s managerial gig appear considerably unattractive, the relative shortage of huge league supervisor jobs is bound to attract the eye of high quality expertise nonetheless.
