Reinsdorf counting on Getz to lead White Sox out of darkness
Chris Getz was officially announced as the White Sox's senior vice president/general manager Thursday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
That was not a surprise.
Before Getz was introduced, Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met with some select reporters to talk about the hire and other topics.
That was a surprise.
Reinsdorf rarely talks to the media these days, but the time was apparently right Thursday.
Even though Getz has never been a major-league GM before, Reinsdorf is convinced he's the right guy to lead the White Sox out of the darkness.
"When I came to the conclusion we had to make a change, I started thinking about who is out there," Reinsdorf said. "You don't make a change unless you know you can do something you know you're going to improve. So I pretty much know who all the potential candidates are out there. And there are some good guys out there, good guys who can be general managers, who have been general managers and are going to be general managers.
"My first feeling was I will interview internal candidates and then ask permission to talk to these other guys."
Reinsdorf said he quickly discovered Getz was the obvious choice to replace Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams, who were both fired on Aug. 22.
"That moved me to the thought, 'What do I owe the fans?'" Reinsdorf said. "And I think one of the things I owe the fans is to get better as fast as we can possibly get better. Speed is of the essence. I don't want this to be a long-term proposition. In the meantime, I don't know how many conversations I had with Chris. It became clear to me that he would be one of the major candidates, along with these outside candidates.
"When I started thinking about the speed that I owe the fans, I realized that if you bring in somebody from the outside, it's going to take him a year. He's going to have to evaluate everybody in the organization. I could bring Branch Rickey in, if he was available, and he'd have to evaluate everybody. So you lose a year. And here I had somebody inside who was very, very competitive, and it might even be the guy I would select if I had to talk to all these other guys.
"So I came to the conclusion that if I've got a guy inside who can do the job, why not? Why not do it inside and save a year? And that's basically how I got to Chris."
The 40-year-old Getz has deep White Sox roots.
Drafted by the Sox on the fourth round in 2005, the second baseman hit .262/.323/.346 with 2 home runs and 32 RBI in 117 games over two seasons (2008-09) on the South Side.
Getz is in his seventh year in the White Sox's front office. He was hired as director of player development in 2017 and added assistant GM to his title in 2021.
Now, he's taking a big step up.
"Just like any leader of an organization, you're shaped by your experiences and I'm a recent player, was an executive in another organization (Kansas City) and obviously, I've got my experiences here," Getz said. "You learn through those experiences and that's going to shape me in the leadership style I'm going to have. I realize that there is skepticism, I do. I am an internal hire and I've got to bear that burden and this is my job to go out there and prove otherwise."
Getz did say first-year manager Pedro Grifol will return in 2024.
He is currently flying solo as the Sox's decision-maker, but he'll likely add some support in the weeks and months ahead.
"I'm certainly open to bringing in people I feel like can be positive resources to our group," Getz said. "I know some names have been thrown out there. We haven't had those discussions yet but I'm certainly open-minded in terms of strengthening our group."