GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Carlos Rodriguez listed tradition, legacy and the fan base as some of the appealing factors in joining the Chicago White Sox as an assistant general manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an organization with tremendous legacy, and I\u2019m hoping to really be able to contribute in whatever way we can make the city proud of their organization,\u201d Rodriguez said Monday at Camelback Ranch.<\/p>\n
The Sox announced Rodriguez\u2019s hiring Dec. 19. He spent the previous 16 seasons (2010-25) with the Tampa Bay Rays, the last six as a vice president.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a bunch of conversations with (Sox general manager) Chris (Getz) over time,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cJust felt we are really aligned on his vision for the organization, the people, the process in place. Kind of got caught up in thinking about the possibilities, the upside.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust felt there was a lot of momentum going into what he was building. Thought I could be added to the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photos: An inside look at Chicago White Sox spring training<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Rays had promoted Rodriguez to vice president\/assistant GM in November 2022 after he served as vice president of baseball operations in 2022 and vice president of player development and international scouting from 2019-21.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very collaborative process,\u201d Rodriguez said of his time with the Rays. \u201cAnd just the relentless pursuit of trying to find different ways to get better. We were a higher-transaction team, but it does require the old clich\u00e9: great scouting, great player development and the ability to get the most out of those players. Whenever you are transacting, making sure that you nail some of those traits.<\/p>\n \u201cReally it just goes down to the basics when it comes to building something you can sustain. I\u2019m excited we have a pretty notable pick in the draft (No. 1)<\/a> and I\u2019m hoping that can be something that really elevates the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez\u2019s role with the Sox will allow him to \u201ctouch a lot of the different areas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt starts with the ability to add talent to the organization, whether it\u2019s people, working with players, whether it\u2019s building tools for the coaches and players to use \u2014 and obviously about players,\u201d he said. \u201cThe one thing I feel is the North Star for us is the player. The player comes first. The player drives everything that we do.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so that incorporates nutrition, that incorporates programs. And so whenever we look at the different areas in which we\u2019re going to try to augment, it\u2019s all about doing the things that we\u2019re going to hopefully allow the players to get better.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as what excites me? Just being able to share with the different people. And right now, a lot of the focus, obviously, is on the major-league roster, but I\u2019m sure throughout the course of the season, there\u2019ll be opportunities to touch a lot of the other different areas.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez sees momentum going into the spring for the major-league team with such signings as slugger Munetaka Murakami<\/a> and reliever Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe end of last season, I think the roster here made some real notable strides,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cAnd talking to (manager) Will Venable and the major-league staff, there was genuine belief and excitement in the group and the talent. And the ability to add a real offensive force in Murakami was a really big stride and helping to solidify the offense, the younger group around it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we know that we need to continue to improve, and that is something that we are just top of mind, every opportunity. And I don\u2019t think just because we\u2019re in spring training necessarily means that we\u2019re done trying to improve the roster, so I\u2019m hoping that in a few months from now, we\u2019ll look back and say, \u2018Wow, we were able to continue to make those strides and move forward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Carlos Rodriguez listed tradition, legacy and the fan base as some of the appealing factors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,14963,138,49,2561,4071,4,73,2539,68,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-576507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-carlos-rodriguez","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-chicagowhitesox","13":"tag-chris-getz","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-munetaka-murakami","16":"tag-seranthony-dominguez","17":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","18":"tag-white-sox","19":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116083203659388749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}