Rick Hahn says decisions on White Sox coaching staff yet to be finalized

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Will there be changes on the White Sox coaching staff? Those decisions have yet to be finalized, general manager Rick Hahn said.

While he sang the praises of manager Rick Renteria, Hahn said that the team is still finishing up discussion regarding the future of Renteria’s staff.

“It's still a little premature on 'everyone coming back' conversations,” he said during his end-of-season press conference Friday. “We need to sit down and finish up with Ricky the evaluation of where we're at.

“Certainly when we assembled this staff, we wanted it to be filled with guys with roots in player development so that they were able to teach our young players and hold them accountable and set standards. And we're certainly very pleased with how that's unfolded. We'll deal with specific staffing issues once the season's over.”

That’s not a “yes” or a “no,” obviously, to the question that was asked, whether the coaching staff would return in full for 2020.

Fans have been particularly critical of certain members of the coaching staff this season, though the coaches certainly have accomplished the goal of developing some of the team’s most important young players into stars in the making. Their work with players who aren’t a part of the team’s long-term future, players who have struggled during the team’s losing seasons in recent years, is nowhere near as important.

Though as Hahn declared Friday, the White Sox are moving into the “next stage” of their rebuilding effort, and if that stage has less of a focus on player development, perhaps — and this is pure speculation — there would be a desire to bring in coaches with different skill sets.

We’ll find out after the season ends.

And for fans who are frustrated with Renteria, know that the team still fully supports their skipper and believes him to be the right man for the job.

“When Ricky was put in that role, it wasn't with the idea that he was just going to be the right guy for the first stage, the stage that is coming toward an end here, or is at an end here,” Hahn said. “Obviously, the history and teaching and communicating and holding guys accountable is very important now. But even at the time we hired him, we felt he had the ability to not only set the right winning culture but to put guys in the best position to win.

“His ability to communicate with all 25 or (soon to be) 26 guys on a daily basis, to know where they're at, to know what they're capable of doing and putting them in the best position, makes us fairly confident that once that roster is deep enough and strong enough that he's going to be able to maximize the win potential with that roster when the time comes.”

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