The White Sox have lost a franchise-record 17 games in a row after they absorbed a 10-3 thumping at the hands of the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Sox are now 27-74 (3-22 in July), and somehow, they have to get through the next 51 games without hurling themselves into a rip current in Lake Michigan.
Sox manager Pedro Grifol now has a record of 88-175 in his tenure with the team. That's a .335 winning percentage, and that's about as bad as it gets in the modern era.
I saw a tweet from beat reporter Vinnie Duber on Tuesday that caught my attention, and Duber later wrote this article about Grifol's job status.
During his trade deadline press availability, general manager Chris Getz was asked whether Grifol's job was safe for the rest of the season. Getz responded thusly:
“We just wrapped up the deadline. Just wanted to focus on that. We’ll get through tonight and kind of debrief and look through the players we acquired and move forward from there.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? The Sox are introducing some younger players into the majors right now, and a reasonable person would expect that trend to continue for the rest of 2024.
Is the environment in the clubhouse conducive to player development? Is there any positive energy left amid this catastrophic, historic losing streak?
Those are reasonable questions. If the answer to either is "no," then Grifol must go now. The Sox can't afford to wait until the end of the season. This is important development time for some players, and it cannot be wasted.
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