With the Chicago White Sox in the midst of an epic rebuild, it’s not fair to judge the job manager Will Venable is doing based solely on his track record.
You could argue that Will earned votes for the 2025 American League Manager of the Year after leading the Pale Hose to a 19-win improvement. However, all he did was lead the White Sox to 60 wins in 2025 after losing a historic number of games in 2024. That shows how far this franchise has to go before returning to anything resembling a competitive ball club.
That’s why I propose using these benchmarks as a way to evaluate the work Venable is doing in 2026.
The team continues to engage in exciting matches, and continues to win more and more
The South Siders may have lost 102 games in 2025, but Chicago only lost 26 of those games by five or more runs. The White Sox played a lot of games last season, as evidenced by the 115 games decided by four runs or fewer. In fact, they played in 51 games that were decided by one point. However, the club went 15-36 in those exciting matches.
Wins and losses still won’t matter this season, but it would be a sign of progress for the rebuild if the club were to gain the upper hand in close games more often.
The lineup will need to improve at hitting with runners in scoring position, the defense will need to tighten up, and the bullpen will need to improve at getting high-leverage outs to turn those opportunities into more wins.
Correct use of the bullpen
Venable subscribes to the new-school thinking of using his best relievers for the biggest outs when they’re needed, and not sparing those arms for high-leverage outs that may never come. That could mean the biggest outs are needed in the sixth inning, rather than the ninth.
However, he was exposed to using that strategy when the game remained close. That allowed Venable to use a reliever like Brandon Eisert in the ninth, whose stuff doesn’t translate well to high-leverage situations.
Seranthony Domínguez, Jordan Hicks and Sean Newcomb were added this offseason to give Venable more weapons to execute his bullpen strategy. Grant Taylor and Jordan Leisure finished 2025 strong. Mike Vasil was impressive in filling all bullpen roles last season. In theory, Venable will have six arms to extract the key from when necessary. It’s a theory for now, as Vasil, Newcomb, Taylor or Hicks could start the season in the rotation.
Still, Venable must show he is capable of selecting the right pitcher to get those outs. The only arm with a defined role is Dominguez, who will be closer. But the manager will have to show he knows when to use the rest of those bullpen arms to gain traction in the sixth through eighth.
Players continue to improve
Internal improvement is the theme of the 2026 season. The hope is that the young core that emerged from the 2025 season continues to make progress.
Colson Montgomery must prove he’s not a flash-in-the-pan hitter after hitting 21 home runs in 71 games. Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero should continue to ascend to star catchers. Chase Meidroth, Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa need to show they can remain solid hitters in the lineup.
Shane Smith went from the No. 1 pick in the Rule 5 Draft to an All-Star in 2025. Now he must evolve from mound stud to an ace.
Variance dictates that some players won’t make that leap forward. However, no single player with a significant decline is a key to 2026’s success.
Proper use of the designated hitter
Venable resisted having Teel and Quero in the lineup together until Korey Lee was recalled. It will be interesting to see if Venable shows the same resistance if Lee is not on the Opening Day roster.
Teel and Quero must be in the lineup together at least four days a week. If Venable doesn’t have that third catcher to go to in an instance where he has to pinch-hit for Quero or Teel at catcher that day, I’m not sure that will happen. He was justified in his fears at least once in 2025, when he had to give up the DH spot in a close game in Texas after pinch-hitting for Quero (catching that day) and had DH Teel come in to catch.
Venable should also use the DH spot to get Sosa some at-bats during the week. Because the club does not believe in sunk costs, he will also have to use Andrew Benintendi there. Ideally, the front office will designate Benintendi for assignment as he is defensively weak in left field and will take away at-bats from younger hitters.
However, that will never happen. So Venable will have to find a way to rotate Teel, Quero, Sosa, Benintendi and even Munetaka Murakami at DH while making sure everyone gets enough at-bats.
Identify problems and implement solutions faster
This depends on the health of the team. Last year, it took Venable almost half the season before he started demanding that the lineup hit the fastballs better. To be fair, he didn’t really identify that as a problem until most of his outfield returned from the injured list and the youngsters were called up.
Once it became clear that his regular lineup was having trouble reaching heat, Venable and his coaching staff went to work to solve that problem.
If the team remains healthy and encounters similar issues, the hope is that Venable can quickly identify the problem and that he and his staff can implement solutions effectively.
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