Levine: Robin Ventura's Job Not On The Line At This Point
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The recent campaign to blame the White Sox's bad start on manager Robin Ventura was addressed by general manager Rick Hahn on Tuesday. As the team returned to Chicago for a six-game homestand this week after losing five straight on the road, it was trying to regroup under fire from Sox Nation.
Over the first month of the season, it's been popular to blame Ventura for the bad start that was 8-14 entering Tuesday. The reasoning behind that belief appears to be based on the premise that the front office did such a fine job of adding talented players in the offseason. Therefore, it's surmised their lack of performance is a coaching and motivation malfunction.
Hahn was forthcoming in his comments to the media. He took the approach that this failure was a collective effort and not just Ventura's fault.
"We have looked at everything on every level to change things up and make things better," Hahn said. "We keep coming back to a couple of fundamental truths in the case of the caliber of the rotation and the lineup. These are the two key things that need to improve. The elements of the baserunning and the defense and the focus lapses absolutely have to be cleaned up and quick."
As to the part of blaming Ventura for the totality of the poor play, Hahn had an observation.
"In terms of making a move just to make a move, that's how you get yourself into trouble," he said. "You start doing things out of desperation and moving away from a good thought process into a reactionary thought process. You probably do more damage not for just the short term, but the long term."
Hahn was asked if the fans' displeasure with Ventura is a fair reaction to the poor start by his club.
"That's every fans' right to voice their frustration," Hahn said. "We feel that frustration, and I think it's appropriate and part of the game. Everyone who signs up for these jobs gets that. That's what makes this game so accessible. Fans have opinions and voice those opinions. Right now it's an opinion of frustration and anger. We get that. To make one individual the focal point? I don't think that is fair. This (failure) is on all of us."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.