Buck Showalter Is The Wrong Man To Manage The White Sox

Buck Showalter is eager to return to a big league dugout. The 68-year-old has been working as an analyst on MLB Network after getting fired by the Mets at the end of the 2023 season. The Mets entered that season with a large payroll and even larger expectations. But after looking like contenders midway through the summer Showalter’s squad tumbled to 30 ½ games out of first place in the NL East. Now he is itching to get another opportunity. 

Keith Law reported during an October 4 live chat that Showalter is “angling for the manager’s job” for the White Sox. Like Showalter, the White Sox options are limited.  The first big managerial domino fell when Terry Francona took a job with the Cincinnati Reds. Francona was never a realistic choice to be the White Sox manager. He was taking time away from baseball for health reasons and likely wouldn’t want to return to the rigors of managing full-time for a team as far from contention as the White Sox are.  The organization will be hunting for much smaller fish. 

Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough is reportedly the White Sox leading candidate, according to 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine. Other potential candidates included Sergio Santos, who helped guide the White Sox Double-A affiliate, the Birmingham Barons, to a Southern League championship, and interim manager Grady Sizemore who Getz previously said had “earned consideration for the permanent job”. 

Showalter certainly has a good enough resume to be the White Sox manager. His four Manager of the Year Awards are tied with Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox for the most of all time while his 1,726 wins rank 19th in MLB history. In his 22 seasons as a manager, he guided the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Orioles, and Mets to the playoffs. His stint with the Texas Rangers was the only time in his career that he didn’t lead the organization to the postseason. 

Former players have also voiced their support for Showalter. During his tenure with the Mets, Showalter held meetings with a group of veterans including Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, and Pete Alonso as part of a leadership council to help improve accountability in the locker room. Each player spoke highly of him after he was let go. During Showwalter’s final game as a Met, Lindor took a couple of steps off the mound to pat his manager on the back as he walked back to the dugout for the final time after making a pitching change. Before the game players, coaches and fans gave him a standing ovation as he turned in the lineup card. 

In 2023, The Athletic spoke with some of Showalter’s former players, asking about his style of managing. There was one common theme that emerged. He was very demanding of young players. He expects players to be attentive to detail, know what is going on in the game at all times, and show up to the ballpark each day prepared. These are all things that would do the White Sox some good. However, the way he went about trying to instill discipline wasn’t always effective. 

“I was never comfortable in the big leagues when I was around him. You have to be perfect, you have to be by the book,” Manny Machado said. 

“He definitely does demand a lot from young players, but not necessarily from a production standpoint.” Jack Flaherty added.  “It’s the smaller things that are going to irritate him. If you can handle those smaller things if you can show you’re a heads-up player and you understand situations and you understand the scoreboard — he can live with the rest."

There was a time when Showwalter was seen as a culture setter. That time has passed. While Showalter is an excellent manager he is the wrong man for the White Sox job. The White Sox are a young team coming off a historically bad season. Many of the same players who were part of the White Sox 121 loss season will be returning and developing at the major league level. As Keith Law put it, Showalter has a “propensity to interfere in player development.”

Hiring Tony La Russa set the White Sox back years. He failed to relate to many of the younger players and many key pieces failed to show any growth as players. It’s a cautionary tale for hiring Showalter, who may be better suited than La Russa, but shares many of the same red flags.