Getz reportedly adding Barfield, two others to front office as Sox lose 4-3 in Washington
When Chris Getz was named new general manager on Aug. 31, he quickly noted he was not going to be a one-man show in the White Sox's front office.
"With my understanding of the ins and outs of this organization, I plan on empowering the talent that already exists, quickly fill the gaps with outside hires and bring innovation, creativity and energy in our pursuit of excellence," Getz said. "I'm certainly open to bringing in people I feel like can be positive resources to our group. 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."
During Tuesday night's 4-3 loss to the Nationals in Washington, news broke that Getz is bringing in three outsiders with the aim of getting the Sox back up and running as quickly as possible.
"I'm going to take advantage of being someone that's been here and has a strong understanding of the White Sox organization," said Getz, who played second base for the Sox in 2007-08 and returned nine years later as director of player development. In 2021, he added assistant general manager to his title.
"With that being said, it's going to be important to bring in different perspectives, different ideas, which comes with different people to add to the group that we have here and make us better decision-makers so we can go out there and put together a better ballclub moving forward," Getz said.
Getz is reportedly hiring Josh Barfield as the Sox's assistant GM.
The 40-year-old Barfield has been the Diamondbacks' director of player development since 2019. Arizona has had one of baseball's better farm systems under his watch and MLB Pipeline ranked the Diamondbacks' No. 3 overall this year.
Barfield joined Arizona in 2016 as a scout.
The son of former Blue Jays and Yankees slugger Jesse Barfield, Josh played second base for four major-league seasons with the Guardians and Padres and hit .264/.295/.375 with 16 home runs and 112 RBI in 309 games.
Getz is also reportedly adding Brian Bannister, as director of pitching, and Gene Watson, who will work in player development.
The son of former White Sox pitcher Floyd Bannister, Brian has been the Giants' director of pitching since 2020. Before that, he was a scout and assistant pitching coach for the Red Sox.
Bannister played five seasons with the Mets and Royals and was 37-50 with a 5.08 ERA in 117 games.
Watson is the Royals' VP of major-league scouting and assistant general manager. He's also worked with the Angels, Marlins, Padres and Braves.
In the White Sox's loss to the Nationals Tuesday, starter Jose Urena pitched 6 innings and allowed 1 run on 4 hits.
Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada each hit solo home runs and Moncada added an RBI single.