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Will Venable and the White Sox, the Bears’ honesty tour and CHSN’s issues

Will Venable was all-Ivy league in two sports at Princeton and wound up making the major leagues, where he passed Moe Berg to become his alma mater’s all-time MLB hits leader.

The old joke about Berg, the catcher turned spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, was that he could speak seven languages but couldn’t hit in any of them. And not even Berg could’ve figured out the White Sox.

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Venable must really love a challenge. Or general manager Chris Getz is some kind of sweet talker.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Venable would be the next manager of Chicago’s embattled South Side team. It wasn’t a surprise as Venable, the associate manager of the Texas Rangers, was considered the favorite for the job.

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White Sox hiring Will Venable as manager

What is a little shocking is that he would want it.

Venable, who turned 42 on Tuesday, has been considered a rising star since he started coaching with the Cubs in 2018. He had a nine-year playing career in the major leagues, starting with the San Diego Padres in 2008 and ending with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016.

On paper, it’s a great hire. But Venable is inheriting a 121-loss team.


Will Venable (left) was a base coach with the Cubs from 2018-20. (Steve Mitchell / USA Today)

You can bet his introductory press conference will highlight the new manager’s familiarity with analytics. Venable will stress fundamentals and defense, not to mention the importance of implementing a positive culture that has an emphasis on teaching the game “the right way.”

That’s what they all say. But the ensuing reality often tells a different story.

I just reread some quotes from two years ago when a bench coach named Pedro Grifol got the Sox job, and the remarks from him and GM Rick Hahn almost sent me to the hospital with a serious case of “eyes rolled back into my head.” Hahn, who noted he had to stop himself from gushing over Grifol, said, “In Pedro, we are hiring someone who is a renowned communicator, a modern baseball mind who is seeking to build a cohesive and inclusive clubhouse environment and one where the attention to detail and the accountability will be priorities.”

Meanwhile, Grifol promised, “I’m going to be a stickler to the preparation, the energy. It’s going to get us where we want to go. These guys are going to come to play every single night.”

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He added, “I think they want it, and once we get started, they’re going to see how prepared they’re going to be to — again, keeping it clean — kick somebody’s butt.”

As you might remember, the White Sox’s record in Grifol’s almost two seasons of work was 89-190. The team never looked or played like it was going to do anything but lose. Hahn was fired before the end of Grifol’s first season, and Grifol was fired by Getz a year later. The degradation of the organization shouldn’t fall on Grifol’s shoulders, but he certainly didn’t help.

Now it’s Venable’s turn to show he’s more than a résumé and some positive anecdotes from co-workers. He does come highly recommended, and players will respect his big-league experience. He’s been coaching for years, and just by osmosis, maybe he picked up on some of Texas manager Bruce Bochy’s Hall of Fame genius at running a team.

I’m tempted to say this hire isn’t very important considering how far away the Sox look from competing, but with some rising talent on its way (or already here), Venable can help the organization get back to respectability. After the 2024 season, it can only get better, right?

It should be noted that one of Venable’s baseball mentors is former Sox manager Rick Renteria, who did a pretty admirable job leading a rebuilding club back to the playoffs. Unfortunately, as he can relate to his old player, Renteria never got to fully enjoy the results.

The Bears’ Straight Talk Express is going to be parked for the foreseeable future. Possibly impounded.

After a handful of players were critical of teammates and coaches to the media Monday, they got the message from head coach Matt Eberflus: Enough of that.

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Eberflus had a meeting with the eight team captains Wednesday morning, and while we’re not going to get the minutes from that discussion, receiver D.J. Moore — who openly questioned the egregious Doug Kramer play call in a radio interview Monday morning — admitted that the players’ openness about team issues probably won’t be shared in the same way. And by that I mean honestly and publicly.

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“We all talked about it,” Moore said. “Me and Flus talked about it with the captains, and it’s just got to stay in-house next time. I’m not going to say sorry for what I said, but at the same time, it should have just stayed in-house. But, I said what I said.”

The locker room wasn’t exactly bustling with players willing to talk in the wake of the Bears’ 18-15 loss to Washington, but some did, including safety Kevin Byard III. Monday, he told reporters he didn’t agree with a critical Eberflus defensive play call, and Wednesday, he echoed Moore: He doesn’t regret what he said, but he shouldn’t have broadcast his issues publicly.

As someone who listens to and writes about professional athletes and coaches for a living, I obviously don’t agree with the cult of secrecy in sports. But I can empathize with the players’ conflicts. No one wants to get in trouble with their bosses.

The Bears are 4-3, but the loss coupled with the next-day reaction made Wednesday feel like this was the 2014 season and not 2024. Chaos always seems to find the Bears, but this time, they’re talented enough to play their way out of it.

I think it’s a positive that the players were angry after the loss and willing to talk about it. This isn’t a rebuilding team; it’s a team built to win now, and every avoidable loss is going to be overanalyzed. Inside Halas Hall, there needs to be honesty between players and coaches when things aren’t working.

“We have that policy that, hey, it’s open communication,” Eberflus said. “If it’s done in the right way with respect and if it’s done in the right way in the theme of winning, about winning football, winning habits, then we’re all in for that.”

As long as its respectful, the coaches should be mature enough to take criticism in public, too.

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“It’s good because we really want it to be a player-led team and that we do a good job of holding everybody accountable. That’s the main thing,” said Moore, who smiled while talking to reporters.

With that in mind, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams pointed to a saying he likes: “OK teams, nobody leads. Good teams, the coaches lead. And great teams, the players lead.”

We’re seeing the players lead right now, and on Sunday in Arizona, we’ll see how they (and the coaches) rebound from last week.

“Now you really get to see if we can bounce back and really stay together,” Moore said. “That’s the biggest thing.”

We’ve gone from people complaining about having to watch the Bulls to people complaining that they can’t watch them. How can you get mad at Zach LaVine’s turnovers if they’re not in front of your face?

More importantly for the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox, how long until frustration with CHSN’s carriage issues, particularly with Comcast, the biggest cable provider in Chicago, turns to apathy?

Given the stalemate at hand, we’re about to find out.

I get CHSN because I have DirecTV. Others aren’t so fortunate, and they are being very loud about their displeasure. CHSN’s attempts at public outreach aren’t helping, and every social media post is met with a wave of angry responses.

The question of “Can Chicago fans live without the Blackhawks and Bulls?” will be answered soon enough, and I’m guessing the answer is, “Yeah, probably.” I don’t think we need to ask about the White Sox.

Chicago fans had it good during the RSN age. We’d read stories about the mess with the Dodgers’ RSN or the Houston debacle and give thanks we had NBC Sports Chicago. But those days are over. Reality is here.

The bad news for the three teams that co-own CHSN is that their individual products might not be worth the hassle of shopping and setting up a digital antenna.

Despite the star appeal of Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks are one of the worst teams in hockey. Their dedicated fan base really likes watching hockey, so they’re extra frustrated. The Bulls are 3-2 after Wednesday’s win against the Orlando Magic, but Bulls fans are always angry — perhaps not enough to put effort into watching this team.

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Sports fans have plenty of other diversions. The longer these teams stay off the air for much of Chicago, the less people will care.

CHSN executives were focused on getting deals done with cable providers before they rolled out a direct-to-consumer option, which is standard operating procedure. The Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network DTC option (priced at $19.99 a month) was unveiled in 2023, three years after the station launched.

It won’t take that long for CHSN’s DTC product to get it done, but when it does, you can bet fans will complain about having to pay for these lousy teams.

(Photos of Matt Eberflus and Will Venable: G Fiume / Getty Images and Ben Ludeman / Texas Rangers / Getty Images)

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