Seeking needed stability, White Sox are bringing Grifol back in 2024
New general manager Chris Getz is going to be busy evaluating current White Sox players over the final month of the season.
He's going to be really busy in the off-season trying to reshape a roster that has center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and not much else.
As for deciding on a manager, Getz has already checked that box.
"Pedro (Grifol) will be back next year," Getz said Thursday after being introduced as the Sox's GM at Guaranteed Rate Field. "I think it's important to provide stability to our players.
"There's been a lot of changes the last couple of years and certainly here recently. I believe we need to get back to playing baseball, focusing on baseball so when these players show up each day they can focus on the game and not the leaders in the organization."
When he was hired to replace Tony La Russa last November, Grifol said the White Sox had a good enough team to make the playoffs and his goal was to help them get there.
The Sox stumbled off to a 7-21 start, and they have the fourth-worst record in baseball.
Managers are usually the first to take the fall when things go bad, but Grifol had former general manager Rick Hahn's support, and that's carried over to Getz.
"Pedro has had to wear a lot of hats this year," Getz said. "I certainly look forward to providing the support that he needs. Obviously, there's a lot of work that needs to be done, and that means learning more about what our coaches are providing our players, and I'll gain that in the coming weeks.
"(Grifol) was a first-year manager with our club, and that means getting to know his players and getting his coaches comfortable here, learning our front office and the operation throughout, and through that you certainly have to have conversations and experiences you won't have in Year 2. Having me now in this position and having consistent conversations throughout the days and as the season progresses, I'm going to be able to help him navigate a major league season."
Mercifully nearing the end of the first season of his three-year contract, Grifol said he was never worried about being fired like Hahn and executive VP Kenny Williams were early last week.
"I didn't just learn that yesterday," Grifol said of getting Getz's vote of confidence. "There's been conversations that I've had prior to, not in complete detail, but I never once felt that my job was in jeopardy. Obviously, (Getz) made it known to the public yesterday, but in all my conversations, with him and even Rick and Kenny and Jerry (Reinsdorf) prior to them being dismissed, I never felt that way.
"So having him say it to the public I guess is just information for the media and everybody else out there."
There are a lot of White Sox fans out there who do no want Grifol returning to the dugout in 2024. That's not a surprise, considering Ozzie Guillen was the Sox's last popular manager, and that was back in 2008.
"There are no scholarships in baseball," Grifol said. "They either keep you or they don't keep you. If they keep you, they've got their reasons why they keep you. I don't make those decisions. I do my job every single day. I'm not in the business of having to evaluate myself.
"I'm in the business of making sure that I cross-check myself and continue to get better every single day. The evaluation of me as big-league manager comes from above me. That's a decision that they have made. They're seeing something of me that they think can help this team get us to where it needs to go."