Are there any other White Sox fans out there who chuckled after hearing the news of Hanser Alberto's retirement?
The 33-year-old utility infielder last played in a major league game on May 31, 2023, with the Sox, of course. After all, Chicago is where middling careers go to die.
Alberto's main claim to fame was batting .439 in spring training 2023, which convinced the Sox to carry him on the roster and designate Leury Garcia for assignment. The move was unthinkable at the time, because Garcia had two years remaining on his contract, and the Sox don't typically eat that sort of deal.
Not to mention, Garcia was beloved by team management, even as he was disliked by some segments of the fan base because he was overused by former manager Tony La Russa in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
In any case, Alberto made the club because of his "veteran leadership" and because he "knew Pedro." You see, former manager Pedro Grifol was in his first season with the Sox, and Alberto had played in Kansas City -- where Grifol coached previously -- and the belief was he could get other veterans on the Sox to "buy in" to the new manager.
Yeah, no, that didn't happen. Alberto batted .220/.261/.390, and he was gone by June 1. The Sox went on to finish 61-101, and there was ample evidence that Sox veterans didn't respect Grifol. They might have even hated his guts.
The hiring of Grifol is a major misstep in Sox history that probably doesn't get talked about enough. There's been plenty of discussion about La Russa's hiring before the start of the 2021 season.
Owner Jerry Reinsdorf came down from on high and undercut general manager Rick Hahn. He forced Hahn to hire La Russa, and it was the wrong decision. La Russa was years past his prime, and he was the wrong guy for the team in place.
Two years later, when La Russa stepped aside because of his declining health, Hahn conducted his own search and brought in his own guy. Somehow, he landed on ... Grifol.
That's the move that finally got Hahn fired late in the 2023 season. After the 101-loss season ended, Grifol was inexplicably brought back for 2024, when he went 28-89 and got fired in August. Grifol's final record as Sox manager: 89-190.
A dead dog probably could have done better than that.
And let's not forget, the Sox began 2023 with sky-high expectations. Jose Abreu had left in free agency, and Liam Hendriks was undergoing cancer treatment. However, the rest of the so-called "championship core" was still in place.
The lineup had Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Yasmani Grandal and Luis Robert Jr. Andrew Benintendi was signed as a free agent, and highly touted draft pick Andrew Vaughn was expected to take Abreu's place.
The pitching staff: Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, several of the guys who helped the Sox to the AL Central title in 2021 were still present. All of the high-priced bullpen arms that Hahn adored -- Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Aaron Bummer -- they were still here too.
Yet time proved that La Russa got significantly more out of that roster than Grifol, even if La Russa was half asleep in the dugout most of the time.
It just goes show how bad Grifol was, and a mediocre journeyman like Alberto wasn't going convince anyone in that clubhouse otherwise.
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