If the White Sox are serious, if Ron Schueler is sincere about waiting until whenever to get it right this time, if the people running this franchise want both a quick fix and a long-term fixture, the solution is the same as it was last October.
Jim Leyland, manager.
A year ago, on his way out of Pittsburgh, he talked with the Sox, but wound up with the Florida Marlins because they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, a chance to win.
So far, so good. The Marlins posted 92 victories during the regular season, swept San Francisco in a division series and in Game 1 for the National League pennant Tuesday night, beat Greg Maddux and the Atlanta Braves 5-3.
Life for Leyland could get a whole lot better if he finally winds up in a World Series. Yet, even if the Marlins go there and sweep, they still will be for sale. Wayne Huizenga, the owner who paid dearly for this privilege, wants out.
Leyland could follow. He signed for five years but since has insisted on a clause that affords him an option to leave should the next regime downsize, as expected. Leyland has been there and done that in Pittsburgh, which used to be home.
“Still is, actually,” he mentioned Tuesday evening. “We bought a house in Florida when I took this job, but when all this talk started about Wayne selling, we sold it. The wife, Katie, and the two kids went back to Pittsburgh. So, who’s going to get the White Sox job?”
“How about you?” he was asked.
“Whoa,” Leyland replied with the eye roll, followed by a drag on his cigarette. “Yeah, I’m friends with Jerry Reinsdorf. Have been, ever since I coached there. And, yeah, I saw him last time we were in Chicago. But we never really discussed my situation and I never asked about theirs. Just a social visit.”
Well, enough small talk. The Sox are desperate, for a leader and an image. Leyland represents everything the Sox lack, up to and including an attitude. It would be a cold day in Chicago when Albert Belle, or any of those other mopes, dishonors the major-league uniform during Leyland’s watch.
Recall a distant spring-training moment. Barry Bonds, by many miles a superior talent to Belle, got into a snit one shiny day as a Pirate. Leyland ambled over to his star and got in his face. Bonds later jumped to the Giants over money but openly regretted having to leave Leyland.
Respect like that is overdue at Comiskey Park, and maybe more fans would follow. Schueler and Reinsdorf say they can’t make another mistake? Their error would be in allowing Leyland, if available, to escape again.
Schueler, who always sounds like he has had enough and also would like to move on, couldn’t leave the locker room in better hands. And Leyland, who doesn’t want to manage past 2000, always could work upstairs thereafter.
Yes, the Sox are grooming Kenny Williams and Danny Evans and Larry Monroe. This is not to suggest they be shown the door. Far from it. But the Sox haven’t won a World Series in 80 years. Couldn’t they find a desk for a baseball lifer like Leyland? Are the Sox that loaded?
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Leyland said. “Wayne spent a lot of money on this team, but he’s losing a lot and he’s too good a businessman to stand for that. I don’t know what the new owners will do to the payroll.”
Reinsdorf also spends, but prefers to pay for performance. His wisest investment this winter would be in Leyland, who could become the best manager available, by far.
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Nothing has changed since last October, except the Sox need him now even more than they did then.