This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- Every day serves as a learning experience for White Sox manager Will Venable.
Not learning, as in trying to figure out what he’s doing. Venable brought 18 years of experience as a player, executive and coach into this job, so he clearly knows the game.
It’s more learning about what he needs to be as the man in charge and what his team needs as the organization is shaped for future success coming out of this current rebuild. Venable spoke with me for 15 minutes about various topics related to his job and the team prior to Saturday’s victory, discussing for openers how he’s done in this first month of what figures to be a long managerial tenure.
“That’s a good question. When I think about it, there’s a few areas that come to mind,” said Venable, sitting in the visiting manager’s office at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. “Regardless of how it’s going or what we are doing or what the results are, am I meeting every moment with positive energy and enthusiasm? In that case, I believe that I am doing a good job.
“Coming into this, that’s something really important to me. If I look back on my day and boil it down to that, I can say I’ve had more good days than bad days and have done that part of it. Another part is creating an environment where these guys feel comfortable and confident and are happy to work every day.”
Venable pointed to players having to answer the environment question, being pleased to hear his charges provided strong early reviews.
“The other part is the decision making in the games. Some of the stuff works out, some of it doesn’t,” Venable said. “More than anything, I’m happy with the process we have between myself and the coaches to get to some of these decisions. In that way, I feel good about things.
“At the same time, we’ve won [seven] games here and that’s not good enough. That’s the ultimate measure, so just have to keep moving forward and keep getting better.”
Winning is the driving force at any level of competitive athletics. But in taking this White Sox job with the team coming off a combined 222 losses the past two seasons, Venable knew success this year would be judged by far more than just the final record.
Process matters, as he pointed out, and Venable must be flexible regarding individual adjustments. One of those adjustments came before an April 11 home contest against the Red Sox, when Venable realized the importance of his role in being aggressive in setting the series tone.
“I realized that was something this group needed me to do, to stand up and say like, ‘This is the emotion and the thing we need to do going into this game,’” Venable said. “And that’s a new thing. Discovering these little things as we go are part of my growth and more than anything, it’s part of our group’s growth together.
“Next week, it’s going to change if we have different players, and we are in a different spot. The next week after that is going to be different. It’s just us growing together and that looking different for me day to day. Not saying that it worked, but as I’m discovering what is needed of me, those are the types of changes. I’m continuing to learn how to impact the group.”
When asked if he was happy to have taken this job, Venable smiled and responded, “100 percent.” Even the rougher moments have been enjoyably embraced by Venable and his family, although it’s never easy.
“Losing is always tough. Winning always feels good. But whether you are winning or losing, it’s just going to be a challenge,” Venable said. “That is what we hold on to every day, knowing regardless of the result, today is going to be a tough day. There are going to be challenges we have to overcome. There are problems we have to solve, and hopefully we get a win at the end of the day.
“Regardless of what happens, that same set of problems and challenges will be here tomorrow. That’s what we are focused on, is the things we can do to answer those questions better and to solve those problems at a better rate.”