White Sox (finally) fire manager Pedro Grifol

The White Sox on Thursday fired manager Pedro Grifol. The move is akin to shutting the barn door after the horse has left, but at least the decision was finally made.

Grifol could have been fired last winter after he went 61-101 in his first season as manager. He could have been fired after a horrendous 3-22 start this season. He could have been fired after a franchise record-tying 14-game losing streak that started in late May and spanned into early June. He could have been fired at any point during the recent franchise record 21-game losing streak, which finally came to an end Tuesday with a 5-1 win at Oakland.

The Sox started a new losing streak Wednesday, and Grifol was fired on an off day in advance of Friday's opener of the crosstown series against the Cubs.

Thank goodness. Why does the failure have to get to such catastrophic levels before the Sox make a move? Who knows? 

The case against Grifol is an easy one to make: His won-loss record is terrible. The Sox are 28-89 this season, so Grifol finishes his tenure at an astounding 101 games below .500. He's 89-190. That will pencil out to a .319 winning percentage, in a sport where even bad teams typically win about 40% of their games.

It's hard to pinpoint anything Grifol did well. His in-game strategy was clearly terrible. You don't achieve this sort of losing by making smart decisions. The atmosphere in the clubhouse didn't seem like it was the best. Everyone on the Sox roster seems to be playing to their absolute floor, and we've seen players who have left Chicago suddenly play better on new teams -- Kevin Pillar, Michael Kopech, Tommy Pham, even Eloy Jimenez.

Grifol was also terrible with the press, routinely coming up with laughable quotes. Just last week, in a lame attempt to save his job with cheap flattery, Grifol called Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf "a winner," an "incredible owner" and an "incredible man," who "loves Chicago" and "loves these fans."

The part about Reinsdorf being a "winner" is demonstrably false. The man has owned the Sox for 43 years, and during that time, they've won only three playoff series. All in the same year. The other 42 seasons have not been characterized by winning. If Reinsdorf wants to win so badly, as many of his minions say, then why does he win so little?

Quotes like those are insulting to Chicago fans (we'll include the Bulls fans in this too), who absolutely despise Reinsdorf with every fiber of their being.

Read the room for once, Pedro. Or better yet, just take a hike. Sox fans never want to hear your voice again.

Bench coach Charlie Montoyo, third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez and assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar were also fired Thursday.

Montoyo was hired by former GM Rick Hahn, and Rodriguez and Tosar are longtime friends of Grifol. So, it appears that current Sox GM Chris Getz cleared the clubhouse of all Grifol allies.

He's going with Grady Sizemore as interim manager, who has been on the coaching staff in a vague role all season. The former Cleveland outfielder joined the Sox organization from the Arizona Diamondbacks, on the recommendation of Sox assistant GM Josh Barfield.

Doug Sissone (bench coach), Justin Jirschele (third-base coach) and Mike Gellinger (assistant hitting coach) have been added to the Sox coaching staff for the rest of the season.

Getz indicated that Sizemore's position is, indeed, interim. The Sox will conduct an external search this offseason for a new manager. Or so they say. But there will be plenty of time to talk about that in the weeks ahead. 

White Sox announce 2023 coaching staff

Daryl Boston

The White Sox have announced the complete list of coaches who will work for new manager Pedro Grifol. And here they are:

• Bench coach: Charlie Montoyo
• Pitching coach: Ethan Katz
• Bullpen coach: Curt Hasler
• Hitting coach: José Castro
• Assistant hitting coach: Chris Johnson
• First-base coach: Daryl Boston
• Third-base coach: Eddie Rodríguez
• Major League field coordinator: Mike Tosar
• Senior director of sports performance: Geoff Head

There are names both familiar and unfamiliar to Sox fans on this list. Montoyo, of course, started last season as the Toronto Blue Jays manager before being fired midseason. At the time of Grifol's hiring, it was mentioned that Montoyo would be coming aboard as bench coach. Katz and Hasler are holdovers from the Tony La Russa regime.

Castro comes to the Sox from the Atlanta Braves. He was their assistant hitting coach for the past eight years. Based on that, I think fans can be optimistic about this hire. The Braves are a successful organization; they are just 13 months removed from winning the 2021 World Series championship, and they were a division winner again in 2022. Johnson, a former MLB infielder, earns a promotion to the big-league level after earnings good reviews as the hitting coach at Triple-A Charlotte last season.

Rodriguez is a baseball lifer. He's 63 years old, and he's been coaching for 40 years. Like Grifol, he comes from the Kansas City organization, where he was a minor-league field coordinator. He's known for being a good infield coach, which the Sox could surely use. Basically, he's a replacement for Joe McEwing, who left on La Russa's coattails.

Tosar also comes from the Kansas City, where he served as a hitting coach. I'm not entirely sure how we define the role of Major League field coordinator, but I'm assuming it's a promotion for Tosar. Otherwise, the Royals might not have let him out of his contract.

Head spent the last three seasons as the senior director of health and performance with the Cincinnati Reds. Perhaps most notably, he owns three World Series rings from his tenure with the San Francisco Giants, which spanned from 2008-19. He had three different titles there -- strength and conditioning coordinator, Major League sports scientist, and assistant director of player development/director of sports medicine.

And then ... we get to Daryl Boston. The Sox just can't quit him. Grifol will be the fourth manager for whom Boston has worked. Under La Russa, Boston was in charge of baserunning and outfield defense. As all Sox fans are aware, the team has been absolutely terrible in those two areas.

I'm not sure why Boston was retained, but the folks on Twitter seem to believe he excels as a spy for Ken Williams. I have no evidence of that, but I wish I could laugh it off as being ridiculous. Alas, given the dysfunction in the Sox organization, anything seems plausible.

If the Sox fail in 2023 and start yet another rebuild, you can count on two things: Leury Garcia will still be on the 26-man roster, and Daryl Boston will still be on the coaching staff. They are immovable objects.

Sources: Pedro Grifol will be named next White Sox manager

Pedro Grifol was one of the first candidates to reportedly interview for the White Sox's managerial opening. Almost a month later, there's yet to be a report that he's been eliminated as a candidate, and now sources are saying he'll be the last man standing.

Buster Olney of ESPN was first to report the news Tuesday, and many others have confirmed that Grifol is expected to be the next Sox manager.

Who the heck is Pedro Grifol? Good question. The short answer is he's been working for the Kansas City Royals since 2013, most recently as the bench coach. But up until he was named as a candidate with the Sox, I had never heard of him.

As I've mentioned before, I wasn't really sure who I wanted the Sox to hire. I was more sure of what I didn't want:

1. I didn't want the Sox to promote someone internally.
2. I didn't want the Sox to hire a retread who had worn out his welcome somewhere else.
3. I didn't want the Sox to hire one of Jerry Reinsdorf's cronies to manage the team.

In that regard, this is a success! While I can't say I'm excited about Grifol, I'm not outraged either, because the Sox at least hired someone from outside the "family," who will bring some different ideas to the organization. Whether those ideas are winning ideas remains to be seen, but I'll take comfort knowing the Sox didn't make the insular hire that I expected.

Grifol, 52, is a bilingual Miami native with Cuban heritage. He has some managerial experience in the Dominican and Venezuelan winter leagues. His strengths are said to be his communication skills, preparedness and ability to manage personalities.

While in Kansas City, he held assorted roles, including hitting coach, quality control coach, catching instructor and bench coach. When the Royals were at the height of their powers in 2014-15, Grifol was serving as the catching instructor. In fact, Grifol was a catcher as a player, where he reached the Triple-A level before fizzling out.

Of note, the Royals also had a managerial opening this offseason. They opted to hire former Tampa Bay bench coach Matt Quatraro. This will lead some to ask the legitimate question: If the 97-loss Royals didn't consider Grifol a managerial candidate, then why did the Sox? 

I'm reluctant to hold that against Grifol, as all his superiors in Kansas City -- including team president Dayton Moore and manager Mike Matheny -- just got fired. It stands to reason that the new regime in Kansas City would want to bring it its own guys, and that's not necessarily a commentary on Grifol's fitness for a manager's job.

We're also hearing that former Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo is going to be hired as the new Sox bench coach. Pitching coach Ethan Katz is expected to be retained, but other members of the Sox coaching staff could be shown the door, according to a tweet from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.

Worth noting: None of this is official. No formal announcements can be made on a day when a World Series game is being played, so we'll have to wait until the the next off day -- or the end of the series -- before we hear from Sox general manager Rick Hahn. But it appears that these reports Tuesday are coming from multiple credible sources. 

Jose Abreu, Luis Robert, Rick Renteria among finalists for postseason awards

Jose Abreu

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu is a finalist for American League Most Valuable Player. Center fielder Luis Robert is a finalist for Rookie of the Year, and former manager Rick Renteria is a finalist for Manager of the Year.  

The BBWAA award finalists were announced on MLB Network on Monday night. 

Abreu seems to be the most likely of these three people to win. The other MVP finalists are Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez and New York Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of these three players: 

LeMahieu: .364/.421/.590, 10 HRs, 10 2Bs, 27 RBIs, 3 SBs 

Abreu: .317/.370/.617, 19 HRs, 15 2Bs, 60 RBIs, 0 SB 

Ramirez: .292/.386/.607, 17 HRs, 16 2Bs, 46 RBIs, 10 SB 

Abreu led the league in hits with 76. His RBIs and slugging percentage also were league-leading totals. LeMahieu led the league in both batting average and on-base percentage. Ramirez topped the AL with 45 runs scored. 

Robert's competition for the Rookie of the Year award includes Seattle Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis and Houston Astros pitcher Cristian Javier. 

Here's a side-by-side comparison of these three players: 

Lewis: .262/.364/.437, 11 HRs, 3 2Bs, 28 RBIs, 5 SBs 

Robert: .233/.302/.436, 11 HRs, 12 2Bs, 31 RBIs, 9 SBs 

Javier: 5-2, 3.48 ERA, 12 games (10 starts), 54.1 IP, 36 H, 54 Ks, 18 BBs 

I think what hurts Robert here is his ice-cold September. He was hitting .298 when August ended, but then he hit .136 the rest of the season. Lewis might very well win because he didn't have a prolonged slump like that. 

Renteria is a finalist for Manager of the Year along with Charlie Montoyo of the Toronto Blue Jays and Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays. Cash led his club to a 40-20 record and an AL pennant. Montoyo's team got into the playoffs despite having to play its home games in Buffalo. Renteria went 35-25, but got fired after the Sox blew the AL Central the last week of the season and made a quick exit from the playoffs. 

I'm assuming Renteria finishes third.