White Sox' Pedro Grifol fired; team plans to hire replacement after season
The White Sox have fired manager Pedro Grifol.
The first-time manager lasted less than two seasons, going 89-190. The Sox were 61-101 in a bitterly disappointing 2023. This season was far worse, with the team at 28-89 and on pace to challenge the 1962 Mets (40-120) for the major leagues' worst record of the modern era (beginning in 1900).
Some observers felt dismissing Grifol was long overdue. Other asked: What was the point? And there were others who thought Grifol should have to finish the season just so the abysmal results would go on his record and not on someone else's.
Grifol had one year left on his contract. The Sox are expected to appoint an interim manager from their current coaching staff before a permanent successor to Grifol is found after the season. Bench coach Charlie Montoyo managed the Blue Jays from 2019 to 2022, finishing 236-236. Coach Grady Sizemore is close to general manager Chris Getz and assistant Josh Barfield and could also be a possibility.
This year's team has scored 360 runs, averaging more than half a run less than the next-worst offensive team in baseball. The team's 4.83 ERA is the highest in the American League and second-worst in the majors. A cartoonish run differential of minus-248 dwarfs the next-worst mark — minus-179 for the Rockies — and is the only negative one in triple digits in the AL.
“As we all recognize, our team’s performance this season has been disappointing on many levels,” Getz said in an official statement. “Despite the on-field struggles and lack of success, we appreciate the effort and professionalism Pedro and the staff brought to the ballpark every day. These two seasons have been very challenging. Unfortunately, the results were not there, and a change is necessary as we look to our future and the development of a new energy around the team.”
"Grateful to Jerry, Rick and Kenny for the opportunity," Grifol told the Sun-Times via text Thursday. "I have health and a loving family. I have a spiritual foundation that gives me incredible strength, peace and freedom.
"This won’t break me. As a matter of fact it only motivates me. The next thing I do in my life, I will do it for the love and passion I have for this game and for the sole purpose of serving others."
Many fans are pointing the finger at owner Jerry Reinsdorf instead of Grifol, and that's not about to stop. Some are calling for Getz's head, too, though he's in his first year on the job and wouldn't seem to be in any actual danger.
Grifol, 54, finishes with the worst winning percentage (.319) in Sox history. His time with the South Siders — which ended, almost literally, with an AL record-tying 21-game losing streak the Sox finally snapped on Tuesday — was part of a colossal overall failure. The front-office tandem of Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn preceded Grifol out the door. Reinsdorf's strange hiring of Tony La Russa to manage still isn't that far in the rearview.
The Sox' recent past is fresh enough to still stink. Their future is unknowable, but there won't be many fans out there who are filled with belief. In between is the present, a 2024 season that can't be saved and might end in for-the-ages infamy.
