White Sox situation is mind-boggling, to say the least
Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, center, tosses a ball from the mound while standing with the infielders during a pitching substitution during the eighth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, on July 24. Credit: AP/LM Otero
Of the many reactions the firing of White Sox manager Pedro Grifol could have generated, one easily stands out.
What took so long?
At least the 1962 Mets had an excuse. They were new to this. And New York’s National League baseball fans, the ones still mourning the exodus of the Dodgers and Giants to the West Coast, were so happy to have a team again that everyone was in a forgiving mood. Those newborn Mets, the stewards of the modern era’s worst record with 120 losses, were the definition of lovable losers.
On the flip side, the 2024 White Sox are an object of derision, a social-media punching bag, an example of baseball negligence run amok. After losing to the Cubs on Friday and Saturday, the Sorry Sox (28-91) are on pace to go 38-124. They have a mind-boggling minus-251 run differential (the next-worst team is the Rockies at minus-189).
Last year, this same topic came up with the A’s, who stood at 12-48 at the start of June and were on a pace that was hurtling them toward a measly 32 wins, which would’ve been the worst since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134). Those A’s were doubly haunted by pathetic performance and, with a move to Las Vegas in the works, a simmering hatred in Oakland.
Back then, I asked Jay Hook, a pitcher on those ’62 Mets, how he felt about the A’s challenging his team’s place in history. In a sense, Hook looked back fondly on that year — “A loss is not a defeat,” he said before mentioning the accomplishments of those players and their manager, Hall of Famer Casey Stengel — but the record itself is not something to be treasured.
“It doesn’t matter to me one way or another,” Hook told me. “But I think I would hate to impose that on another team.”
The ineptitude of these White Sox, however, is making them look like a team on a mission. Last week, they finally snapped a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record held by the 1988 Orioles, then immediately lost the next day, blowing a two-run lead to the A’s in a 3-2 loss. Saturday’s loss to the Cubs was their 27th defeat in their last 29 games.
It almost makes things worse on the South Side that the A’s — a team moving to a minor-league park in Sacramento next year, then presumably Vegas (if the owner scrapes up the cash) — is playing like a far more competent outfit than the White Sox, who are virtually guaranteed a second straight 100-loss season. “Oakland” has almost double their wins (49) with a run differential of a mere minus-71.
The White Sox aren’t too far removed from competence, either, which makes this nosedive into oblivion even more stark. They made back-to-back playoff appearances in 2020-21, winning an AL Central crown, then slipped to .500 the next season before manager Tony La Russa resigned at its conclusion because of health concerns.
Grifol was hired from the Royals’ coaching staff to take over for La Russa, and the only thing he succeeded at in this first year at the helm was getting the front-office execs who hired him — general manager Rick Hahn and vice president Kenny Williams — fired. Based on the way this season has spun out of control, with the White Sox also having a 14-game losing streak from May 22 to June 6, the clock was ticking on Grifol.
No manager was going to reverse the Chicago rot on his own, but Grifol was becoming more of the problem than part of any solution. Plus, GM Chris Getz has been on the job only since the end of last August, and axing Grifol carried the additional benefit of providing cover for his head-scratching work at the trade deadline, which included being held hostage by Garrett Crochet’s demands regarding his usage and contract for any potential suitors (he wound up staying in Chicago).
“You look at the 2023 season, the 2024 season, winning projections, win-loss projections and how dramatically below we were in the win column . . . there was underperformance,” Getz said during a news conference this past week. “There was some misalignments along the way, some different belief systems, and there was lack of production overall. You look at how many games that we’ve led early and weren’t able to finish or how many games we haven’t been able to come back to get a win. Obviously, there was something that was broken.”
“Broken” doesn’t quite seem to cover it. The White Sox’s $148 million payroll ranks 16th in the majors — higher than seven playoff contenders (two division leaders) — so Getz has plenty of other problems besides Grifol. The Sox clubhouse housecleaning also claimed three coaches, including bench coach Charlie Montoyo, who was fired as the Blue Jays’ manager midway through the 2022 season.
That showed just how deep the problems festered at field level. Typically, a bench coach would be the natural succession for interim manager, but Getz broomed out Montoyo, too. Instead, he picked Grady Sizemore from the current staff even though the three-time All-Star outfielder had zero managing experience at any level. He’s the 11th manager for the White Sox since 2011. Sizemore, for his part, told reporters “he never saw that coming” and was not mentioned by Getz as a potential full-time candidate when this season concludes.
“We’re still working on what that process looks like,” Getz said. “Therefore we’re still working on the criteria.”
Getz actually did Grifol a big favor. By splitting up the managerial job this season, neither Grifol nor Sizemore will be stuck with the record if the White Sox do indeed surpass the ’62 Mets’ futility — something that the legendary Stengel had on his resume. Not that it fazed him much. He already had managed the Yankees to seven World Series titles before taking over the Mets’ gig, so his Cooperstown legacy was secure (Stengel was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966).
Grifol and Sizemore are destined to wear a portion of this South Side stain, but none more than Getz, who has a long rebuild ahead — with a reputation potentially weighed down by being the architect of the worst team of the modern era (since 1900).
“It’s certainly something we would like to avoid,” Getz said. “No one wants to be associated [with] a record like that.”
Picking up speed
A pitch clock is deployed to restrict pitcher preparation times during a minor league baseball game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and Greensboro Grasshoppers, July 13, 2022, in Coney Island. Credit: AP/John Minchillo
Seems as if MLB’s pace-related rules continue to work as well as commissioner Rob Manfred intended. Perhaps even better, turning back the clock four decades.
Through Thursday, the average time for a nine-inning game was 2:36, the shortest since it was 2:35 in 1984. A year ago, when the pitch clock was first implemented (along with other time-saving measures), MLB was able to immediately shave 24 minutes off the average for a nine-inning game, cutting it down to 2:40.
This season’s fastest game was April 17 at Fenway Park, where Red Sox righthander Tanner Houck pitched a three-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the Guardians that took 1:49. Overall, MLB has played 10 nine-inning games under two hours this year as compared to 13 all last season, which was the combined total of the previous 13 years combined (six of those seasons had zero).
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
