When the White Sox finally relieved Pedro Grifol of his duties as Sox manager, a collective sigh was heard in Chicago. Then Sox fans realized the same guys would decide who the next manager will be are the same guys that got them in this mess.
Faint praise alert: GM Chris Getz is a nice guy, but appears to be in over his head, and was given the job because he comes cheap. That he had inside information weighs more heavily against him. Some argued that his immediate bosses, Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn, didn’t listen to his advice and that he was not to blame for the lack of talent in the system. You really can’t have it both ways, Chris.
Sox fans and the local sports media criticized the Sox for poaching the Royals system when they started this rebrand. They overlooked the fact that the Royals have had greater recent success than the Sox. They appeared in consecutive WS in 2014-15, winning it all in ’15. Neither team in Chicago can boast that type of success. Furthermore that 2015 team boasted a core of homegrown talent, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Sal Perez and Alex Gordon. I’d argue the Sox picked the wrong berries from the wrong branch of the Kansas City tree of knowledge.
Long before the Sox lost 21 consecutive games, fans were calling for Grifol’s dismissal, but the media being the media wanted to know who they thought should replace him-a logical question. While most of us have little idea what goes on behind closed doors, we have our own ideas as to who should be running things.
When he addressed the world the other day, Getz made a couple things clear. He’s going to be looking outside the organization, interim manager, Grady Sizemore won’t be considered, they would hire someone currently in uniform. We have to take him at his word, but given an out of the box choice, I’m sure SoxRicky fans would cut him slack.
Over the past couple of months several names had been floated by baseball people in the know and ordinary fans. Among those considered who are eliminated by Getz’s parameters are Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Ozzie Guillen, AJ Pierzynski, Joe Girardi, Joe Maddon, David Ross, TLR, Ricky Renteria, Jim Essian and Terry Francona. Thomas and Thome more as coaches.
Earlier this morning, I heard Asst. G.M, Josh Barfield on the radio and he said they were going to cast a wide net, including Sox personnel including Sizemore. He has a stronger relationship with him and personally may see this as an audition for the job. Maybe the criteria aren’t as stringent as first implied.
Those in the business of starting and circulating rumors have already suggested Skip Schumaker and John Gibbons both of whom are currently in uniform. Finding someone whose team is in worse shape than the Sox is pretty hard and prying a manager under contract will take some doing. However, a former manager with aspirations of managing again, might take the job at .10 on the $1.
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned to a Sox friend that the Cubs third base coach, Willie Harris might be a good fit because of his ties to the team and the fact that he managed in the Giants system. At one point, he seemed to be on the track for a ML job with the Giants. Coincidentally, he’s a person of interest now.
Because Caleb Williams is finally making his first start as the Bears Super Bowl quarterback today, talk of the Sox next manager, is going to take a back seat in Chicago.
