New White Sox manager Will Venable anticipates keeping Grady Sizemore as part of his coaching staff

CHICAGO (AP) — Will Venable is a busy man these days. The new manager of the Chicago White Sox is learning his way around the organization. He is talking to his new players and working with the front office on its offseason plans.

As Venable assembles his first coaching staff with Chicago, he has at least one name in mind: Grady Sizemore, interim manager for the White Sox at the end of last season.

“There'll be a role for him,” Venable said Friday after slipping on his new No. 1 Chicago jersey during a news conference at Guaranteed Rate Field. “I think it's going to be about how to best utilize him and how to best complement his skillset.”

Venable, 42, has never been a major league manager before, and he is stepping into a daunting rebuilding project. Pedro Grifol was fired in August and Sizemore ran the team the rest of the way as the White Sox went 41-121 to break the post-1900 major league record for losses in a season.

Venable was an associate manager for Texas for the past two years, helping the Rangers win the 2023 World Series. He left that position last month when he agreed to take the top job in Chicago, and it sounds as if everyone is getting along swimmingly — so far.

“There’s so many decisions that go in every day as a general manager,” White Sox GM Chris Getz said, “and what I’ve noticed in this short period of time is I'm comfortable calling Will about any one of those subjects and talking it through. And that’s what I was looking for. I was looking for a partner in this, and I think it’s a pretty good sign that it’s already as natural as it is.”

Venable and Getz are both former big leaguers. Venable was an outfielder during his nine years in the majors with San Diego, Texas and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Venable's father, Max, played parts of 12 seasons in the majors, and also was a minor league manager and coach.

Will Venable said the adversity he faced as a player — the difficulty of making to the majors and staying there — helped prepare him for his new job's challenges.

“I feel like William's a good communicator,” Max Venable said, “so I feel like that's a good trait to have. I just feel like, too, that's he's pretty honest, and I feel like players just want someone that's honest with them.”

Before he became a big leaguer, Will Venable played baseball and basketball while majoring in anthropology at Princeton. He was an all-Ivy League performer in each sport.

Venable said his education at Princeton has helped him throughout his baseball career. He wrote his college thesis on the cultural differences of baseball in Japan and the United States.

“I think now when you're talking about communicating with a diverse set of people and what I had to do as a player and communicating with people from different places, it's absolutely helped me,” he said.

Venable also has worked for the crosstown Cubs and was Boston's bench coach in 2021 and ‘22, managing the Red Sox for one game in 2021 when Alex Cora attended a graduation and for six in ’22 when Cora tested positive for the coronavirus. Venable interviewed with the White Sox before Grifol was hired in November 2022.

This time, it worked out.

“This is an opportunity to continue to help build and be part of the foundation that's already being laid here,” Venable said. “And I know that every one of these jobs is challenging. Every group going into every year has their work cut out for them, and I'm excited for the challenge that this group presents.”

Also Friday, the White Sox announced they had agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Justin Dunn, who will report to big league spring training.

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Chicago White Sox's new manager Will Venable listens to a question during the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new manager Will Venable listens to a question during the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new manager Will Venable smiles during the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new Manager Will Venable, left, stands with General Manager Chris Getz during the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new manager Will Venable, right, stands for a portrait with General Manager Chris Getz after the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new manager Will Venable poses for a portrait after the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new manager Will Venable poses for a portrait after the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's new Manager Will Venable poses for a portrait after the baseball team's news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday even as he has questioned her credibility to take over her country after the U.S. ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.

The Nobel Institute has said Machado could not give her prize to Trump, an honor that he has coveted. Even if it the gesture proves to be purely symbolic, it was extraordinary given that Trump has effectively sidelined Machado, who has long been the face of resistance in Venezuela. He has signaled his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who had been Maduro’s second in command.

“I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize," Machado told reporters after leaving the White House and heading to Capitol Hill. She said she had done so "as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela, giving no timetable on when elections might be held. Machado indicated that he had provided few specifics on that front during their discussion.

She did not provide more information on what was said, and the White House did not say if Trump accepted the medal or offer other details of its own.

After a closed-door meeting with Trump, Machado greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for her near the White House gates, stopping to hug many.

“We can count on President Trump,” she told them without elaborating, prompting some to briefly chant, “Thank you, Trump.”

Before her visit to Washington, Machado had not been seen in public since she traveled last month to Norway, where her daughter received the peace prize on her behalf. She had spent 11 months in hiding in Venezuela before she appeared in Norway after the ceremony.

The jubilant scene after her meeting with Trump stood in contrast to political realities in Venezuela. Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations, along with others in Maduro’s inner circle. In her first state of the union speech Thursday, the interim president promoted the resumption of diplomatic ties between the historic adversaries and advocated for opening the state-run oil industry to more foreign investment after Trump pledged to seize control of Venezuelan crude sales.

Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” but also said the meeting didn’t mean Trump’s opinion of her changed, calling it “a realistic assessment.”

Leavitt told reporters that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that might be.

Leavitt said Machado had sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. She spent about two and a half hours at the White House.

“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado," the press secretary said while the meeting was still going on, other than to have a ”frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”

After leaving the White House, Machado went on to a closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Machado told them that “if there’s not some progress, real progress towards a transition in power, and/or elections in the next several months, we should all be worried.”

“She reminded us that Delcy Rodríguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.

Asked if Machado had heard any commitment from the White House on holding elections in Venezuela, Murphy said, “No, I don’t think she got any commitment from them."

Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, was exultant following the meeting, saying Machado "delivered a message that loud and clear: What President Trump did was the most important, significant event in Latin America. That getting rid of Maduro was absolutely essential.”

Machado's Washington stop coincided with U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seizing another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife less than two weeks ago at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Leavitt said Venezuela's interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and noted that Rodríguez's government said it planned to release more prisoners detained under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.

Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader.” Machado had steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning the peace prize, and had sought to cultivate relationships with him and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush, whom Chávez considered an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves, Michelle L. Price and Matthew Lee in Washington, and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is welcomed at the Capitol before a meeting with senators, from left, Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., as the Nobel Peace Prize recipient visits American leaders two weeks after President Donald Trump toppled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a stunning military raid, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, center, leaves the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, center, is welcomed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., far left, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., right, as the Nobel Peace Prize recipient visits American leaders at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gestures to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado smiles on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)