On the heels of reporting earlier today that the White Sox had interest in Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker for their managerial vacancy, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported this evening that the Rangers have granted not only Ecker but also associate manager Will Venable permission to interview with Chicago regarding their available managerial gig. Venable’s name first surfaced in connection with the White Sox last week.
Ecker, 38, got his start as a coach in 2015 with the Cardinals. He acted as a minor league hitting coach for St. Louis from 2015 to 2017 before joining the Angels’ Triple-A club in that same role for the 2018 season. He first cracked the big leagues as an assistant hitting coach with the Reds in 2019. He remained with the club for two years before joining the Giants as a hitting coach prior to the 2020 season, and he stuck in San Francisco for another two years before again changing organizations to join the Rangers in his current role as bench coach and offensive coordinator prior to the 2022 season.
It’s a lengthy resume, and Ecker would bring perspectives from five different big league organizations to an infamously insular White Sox club if hired. This isn’t the first time Ecker has come up as a potential managerial candidate for a big league club, either. Last winter, Ecker was rumored among the potential candidates to replace Gabe Kapler as manager in San Francisco before they ultimately hired Bob Melvin away from the Padres.
Venable has also seen his name come up in past managerial searches and has long been looked at as one of the league’s top up-and-coming potential managers. After playing parts of nine seasons in the majors, Venable joined the Cubs as a special assistant to the front office in 2017 before serving as first base coach in the following two seasons and third base coach during the shortened 2020 campaign. Venable departed Chicago following the 2020 season to become Alex Cora’s bench coach in Boston. He remained in that role for two years before joining the Rangers as an associate manager under Bruce Bochy prior to the 2023 season.
Grant notes that Venable could be the leading contender to take Bochy’s place as manager in Texas when the 69-year-old eventually returns to retirement. Venable was seemingly comfortable with that arrangement when he declined interviews with the Mets and Guardians last winter in order to remain with the Rangers, but it’s possible he’s more seriously considering departing the Rangers this winter amid uncertainty regarding Bochy’s plans for the future. As Grant relays, Bochy told reporters following the end of the 2024 regular season that managing still “drives” him, seemingly leaving the door open to him sticking around beyond the end of his current contract in 2025.
The two Rangers coaches are hardly the only candidates connected to the job, of course. Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and bench coach Danny Lehman, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, Padres special assistant A.J. Ellis, former Angels skipper Phil Nevin, Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso, and outgoing Marlins manager Skip Schumaker have all been name checked as potential candidates in the rumor mill, with Schumaker and McCullough getting particular attention as potential leading candidates.
Whoever ultimately takes the reins in Chicago will enter an tumultuous situation. Not only is the club coming off a disastrous 2024 campaign that set the modern record for losses in a single season at 121, but the club’s ownership could be up in the air following a report yesterday that indicated longtime owner Jerry Reinsdorf is discussing selling the club to former big leaguer Dave Stewart. While all that uncertainty and the likely long timetable for a return to contention could make the club’s managerial gig seem somewhat unattractive, the relative scarcity of big league manager jobs is sure to draw the attention of quality talent nonetheless.
Some people get addicted to winning, people like boch or la Russa or bill belichick can’t get enough
Belichick was a D II college coach without Brady.
LaRussa did plenty of losing in Chicago and Oakland.
Belichick went 36-44 as head coach in Cleveland.
Nobody gets to wave a magic wand to produce a winning record.
By that logic boch is a bad losing coach because he has an overall losing record for his career
Shoot if la Russa and belichick aren’t considered winning coaches then who is? Sparky Anderson??? Jim harbaugh???
“You are what your record says you are.”
– Bill Parcells
That doesn’t even make sense.
What an amazingly dumb, hostile comment.
I don’t know you and have no desire to be friendly with you.
And you don’t know where I live, so threatening me with BS about streets is the height of your stupidity.
Were you born on the highway? That’s where most accidents happen.
That certainly narrows it down, fletcherfan.
And my bench press is whatever you want it to be.
Middle age men talking about their benches on a baseball website? Count me in!
Boch took over a loser in Texas and brought home the trophy in his first try. Injuries were a problem this year but the man is a legend for a reason.
Sleepy Tony is addicted to hooch
Venable is a really intelligent baseball guy. Im sure he would be good.
As a really intelligent baseball guy—he should try to wait til Bochy retires or something else pops up. No way I’m going to dysfunction in Chicago.
I have mixed feelings about this. Ecker and Ven leaving would impact our managerial options in the future.
Sure but there’s always new candidates. Maybe a new voice here and there helps the Rangers next year. I wouldn’t stand in their way because they’ve earned it.
But a team can’t prevent a coach from pursuing a better job and career advancement.
I’d prefer to keep Donny myself. Good luck to both of them.
Donnie*
I have been hoping that Venable was the next Ranger manager after Bochy decides to hang it up. I hope he doesn’t leave, but would be a great option for the Sox.
If your considered a top candidate for a Manager job in MLB your letting the CWS call go to voice mail until you interview for the other openings.
What an amazingly dumb, uninformed post.
There are only 30 managerial jobs in MLB with many fewer open in a given year.
NOBODY in a position to interview for one with any team passes up the opportunity.
Hopefully, somehow someway the White Sox talk to Daniel Descalso from the cardinals enough and take him.. Then we’d have to get a new bench guy and it couldn’t be worse
There shouldn’t be a comma before “either.” Come on, now.
And there shouldn’t be a comma before “now.”
Pot, meet Kettle.
Nice try, ding-dong. “Come on now” without the comma would mean one is coming, perhaps on stage, immediately. Something you’ve probably never been able to accomplish.
If you’re going to clap back at someone, make sure you’re not making yourself look stupid. You took a big L here.
Nope, you’re wrong and can’t deal with it.
You should’ve quit while you were ahead, shmucko.
You’re a moron. Note how important a comma is in “come on man” when it should be “come on, man.” Learn basic English, kid.
You know what they say, it takes one to know one.
But my years of experience in writing and editing at daily newspapers indicate otherwise, and my credibility runs rings around yours, “kid.”
I’ve been the editor-in-chief of a major newspaper in a large US city for nearly 15 years. I can tell you’re lying because you don’t understand when and where to use a comma.
What do bench coaches actually do? Let’s be real here.