CHICAGO (AP) — Will Venable's first job as a major league manager is going to be a tough one.
Venable was hired by the Chicago White Sox after they set the modern major league record for most losses in a season. The team announced the move on Thursday, hours after the World Series ended.
“This is a great opportunity with a White Sox organization that is putting a lot of good things into place and laying a solid foundation for the future,” Venable said in a press release. “It’s exciting to be part of that process to help get back to the type of baseball White Sox fans are used to seeing."
Venable, who turned 42 on Tuesday, is stepping in for Pedro Grifol, who was fired in August. With Grady Sizemore serving as interim manager, the club finished with a 41-121 record.
Venable was an associate manager for Texas for the past two years. He handled daily schedule items and outfield instruction as part of his duties with the Rangers, who won the World Series in 2023.
“We want players who show up to work hard every day, but also smart baseball players who understand the nuances of the game,” Venable said. “There is a rich tradition here and a fan base that deserves winning baseball, and I am excited to do whatever I can to help.”
Venable played baseball and basketball while majoring in anthropology at Princeton. He was an all-Ivy League performer in each sport.
He was selected by San Diego in the seventh round of the 2005 amateur draft. The outfielder played for the Padres, Rangers and Dodgers in nine years in the majors, hitting .249 with 81 homers, 307 RBIs and 135 steals in 967 games.
After his playing career ended, Venable joined the Cubs’ front office in September 2017 as a special assistant to baseball operations. He also was on the team’s major league staff for three years, spending two seasons as the first base coach and one as the third base coach.
Venable also was the bench coach for Red Sox manager Alex Cora for two years before joining the Rangers.
“Will is widely recognized as one of the premium managerial candidates within the game, and we are very excited to bring him into our organization as our new manager,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “He is so well thought of across baseball. Will has built a well-earned and well-deserved reputation as a successful player, front office executive, coach and associate manager.”
Venable comes from an athletic family. His father, Max, played parts of 12 seasons in the majors, and also was a minor league manager and coach. Will’s brother, Winston, played college football at Boise State and appeared in 12 games with the Chicago Bears during the 2011 season.
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FILE - This is a 2024 photo of associate manager Will Venable of the Texas Rangers baseball team. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - Boston Red Sox acting manager Will Venable watches from the dugout during a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday, April 24, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Scott Audette, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in almost a year Thursday, demonstrating a potential advancement in its ability to launch long-range nuclear attacks on the mainland U.S.
The launch was likely meant to meant grab American attention days ahead of the U.S. election and respond to condemnation over the North's reported troop dispatch to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Some experts speculated Russia might have provided technological assistance to North Korea over the launch.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed the launch, calling it “an appropriate military action” to show North Korea’s resolve to respond to its enemies’ moves that have threatened the North’s safety, according to the North's state media.
Kim said the enemies’ “various adventuristic military maneuvers” highlighted the importance of North Korea’s nuclear capability. He reaffirmed that North Korea will never abandon its policy of bolstering its nuclear forces.
North Korea has steadfastly argued that advancing its nuclear capabilities is its only option to cope with the expansion of U.S.-South Korean military training, though Washington and Seoul have repeatedly said they have no intention of attacking North Korea. Experts say North Korea uses its rivals' drills as a pretext to enlarge its nuclear arsenal to wrest concessions when diplomacy resumes.
The North Korean statement came hours after its neighbors said they had detected the North's first ICBM test since December 2023 and condemned it as a provocation that undermines international peace.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea could have tested a new, solid-fueled long-range ballistic missile on a steep angle, an attempt to avoid neighboring countries. Missiles with built-in solid propellants are easier to move and hide and can be launched quicker than liquid-propellant weapons.
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters the missile’s flight duration of 86 minutes and its maximum altitude of more than 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) exceeded corresponding data from previous North Korean missile tests.
Having a missile fly higher and for a longer duration than before means its engine thrust has improved. Given that previous ICBM tests by North Korea have already proved they can theoretically reach the U.S, mainland, the latest launch was likely related to an effort to examine whether a missile can carry a bigger warhead, experts say.
Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said that it's fair to say the missile in Thursday's launch could carry North Korea's biggest and most destructive warhead. He said the launch was also likely designed to test other technological aspects that North Korea needs to master to further advance its ICBM program.
North Korea has made strides in its missile technologies in recent years, but many foreign experts believe the country has yet to acquire a functioning nuclear-armed missile that can strike the U.S. mainland. They say North Korea likely possesses short-range missiles that can deliver nuclear strikes across all of South Korea.
There have been concerns that North Korea might seek Russian help to perfect its nuclear-capable missiles in return for its alleged dispatch of thousands of troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving toward Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilizing development.
Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the early results of Thursday’s launch suggested Russia might have given a key propellant component that can boost a missile’s engine thrust. He said that a higher thrust allows a missile to carry a bigger payload, fly with more stability and hit a target more accurately.
Jung said he speculates Russian experts might have given technological advice on missile launches since Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea for a meeting with Kim in June.
Kwon Yong Soo, an honorary professor at South Korea’s National Defense University, said that North Korea likely tested a multiple-warhead system for an existing ICBM. “There’s no reason for North Korea to develop another new ICBM when it already has several systems with ranges of up to 10,000 to 15,000 kilometers (6,200 to 9,300 miles) that could reach any location on Earth,” Kwon said.
The North Korean confirmation of an ICBM test was unusually quick since North Korea usually describes its weapons tests a day after they occur.
“North Korea could have probably thought that its rivals could look down it after it gave away so much in military resources to Russia," Yang Uk, an expert at South Korea’s Asan Institute Institute for Policy Studies. “The launch may have been intended as a demonstration to show what it’s capable of, regardless of troop dispatches or other movements.”
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett called the launch “a flagrant violation” of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that “needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.” Savett said the U.S. will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and its South Korean and Japanese allies.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the launch, which clearly violates U.N. Security Council resolutions banning North Korea’s use of ballistic missile technology, the U.N. spokesman said.
The U.N. chief reiterated his call for de-escalation on the Korean peninsula and establishing an environment for dialogue and the resumption of talks, stressing that “Diplomatic engagement remains the only pathway to sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
South Korean military spokesperson Lee Sung Joon said the North Korean missile may have been fired from a 12-axle launch vehicle, the North’s largest mobile launch platform. The disclosure of the new launch vehicle in September had prompted speculation North Korea could be developing an ICBM that is bigger than its existing ones.
South Korea’s military intelligence agency told lawmakers Wednesday that North Korea has likely completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test as well. It said North Korea had been close to testing an ICBM.
In the past two years, Kim has used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a window to ramp up weapons tests and threats while also expanding military cooperation with Moscow. South Korea, the U.S. and others say North Korea has already shipped artillery, missiles and other convectional arms to replenish Russia's dwindling weapons stockpiles.
North Korea’s possible participation in the Ukraine war would mark a serious escalation. Besides Russian nuclear and missile technologies, experts say Kim Jong Un also likely hopes for Russian help to build a reliable space-based surveillance system and modernize his country's conventional weapons. They say Kim will likely get hundreds of millions of dollars from Russia for his soldiers' wages if they are stationed in Russia for one year.
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A TV screen shows an image of North Korea's an intercontinental ballistic missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A North Korea's military guard post is seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A TV screen shows an image of North Korea's an intercontinental ballistic missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
North Korean soldiers are seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A North Korean soldier stands near the military guard post, seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A visitor looks at a map of two Koreas border area at the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A visitor looks at the North Korean side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A visitor looks at the North Korean side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A TV screen reports North Korea's an intercontinental ballistic missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors look at the North Korean side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors look at the North Korean side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. The letters read "North Korea, launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile today." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Destination sign of North Korea's capital Pyongyang is seen at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors walk near a wire fence decorated with ribbons written with messages wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors walk near a wire fence decorated with ribbons written with messages wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
FILE - In this photo distributed by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, walks near what it says is a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on the launcher at an undisclosed location in North Korea on March 24, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - This undated photo provided Dec. 19, 2023, by the North Korean government shows what it says is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) being prepared to launch from an undisclosed location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the journalists after a report of North Korea's missile launch, at his office in Tokyo Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
FILE - A North Korean soldier stands at the North's military guard post as a North Korean flag flutters in the wind, seen from Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, supervises artillery firing drills in North Korea, on March 7, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
