ARLINGTON, Texas -- There’s no getting around it.
This has been a tough year for everyone associated with the White Sox, second-year manager Pedro Grifol included.
After the Sox lost 101 games in Grifol’s first season, a year in which they entered the campaign with an expectation to win, things have managed to worsen, some of it out of the Grifol’s hands. But the Sox’ 27-77 record screams failure regardless of injuries and roster inadequacies, so there’s no assurances he’ll be back for the third year of his contract next season.
General manager Chris Getz, who was the assistant GM when Getz was hired by then GM Rick Hahn, passed on an opportunity to provide a strong vote of confidence Wednesday when asked about Grifol, much as he did a month ago.
“Pedro, he and the staff, they work tirelessly,” Getz said while watching the Sox lose their 10th straight game Wednesday night in Texas. “I know they’re frustrated with the outcome of these games and their record. They continue to stay at it.
"The message I conveyed to the staff is they need to continue an environment for these guys to get better. There’s parts of the team to feel good about and parts we don’t feel good about. And we certainly need to see progress in all of these areas. I know they’re staying at it, they’re focused, but we certainly need to start seeing progress as the season comes to an end in the next couple months.”
After Wednesday’s latest loss, a 10-2 drubbing from the Rangers, Grifol said he’s focused on both developing players and winning games.
“I want to make that clear,” Grifol said. “This is not a developmental league, we’re coming here to win baseball games every single day. We’re just not doing it, we’re finding ways to lose the game in some way, shape or form. We have to continue to clean it up. But in the middle of all that, we’ve had a lot of growing moments in this 10-game losing streak.”
Something to embrace
Sox starting pitchers own a 3.37 ERA in the last 41 games, with a good chunk of it provided by Garrett Crochet, 25, Drew Thorpe, 23, and Jonathan Cannon, 24.
That the Sox are 12-29 in those games speaks volumes about every other component of the team. But Getz is sleeps better at night knowing the Sox’ young pitching has promise.
“What we have been able to establish is our starting pitching has been pretty solid,’ Getz said. “We feel like we’re heading in the right direction on the pitching front.
“Although there have been [25] blown saves, there still have been positives within that bullpen. A lot of those save situations are more related to our lack of scoring runs and having our arms pitch in really tight ball games on a regular basis. Organizationally, our pitching is ahead of our position players.”
However...
That said about the rotation, Crochet (3.03 ERA) and 31-year-old Erick Fedde (2.99) could be traded before Tuesday’s deadline.
“If there’s a real opportunity to set us up better for the future we have to consider that,” Getz said. “There’s no one who’s a definite move. There’s different ways to execute trades in terms of timing. You have this deadline, you have offseason, future deadlines, so it’s really assessing what our needs are and what is the best deal we can get for the Chicago White Sox.”
Getz, director of player personnel Gene Watson and others in the baseball operations have prepared for this week for some time.
“I feel as an organization, we’re very organized,” Getz said. “There’s a lot of interest in players on our major-league club. And we’re prepared to go in a lot of different directions. We’re at the mercy of other clubs and what their needs are and their appetite to do a deal. But I feel like we’re well-positioned to make good decisions and we’re very open-minded as well knowing what our needs are to become a better organization.”
This and that
Getz on whether more players will be called up from the minor leagues: "It’s possible. There are unknowns with the trades and 40-man roster. I anticipate some different players coming up. It’s fair to assume some younger, different players on our team."
*Getz on lefty Hagen Smith, the No. 5 overall draft pick: "We’re very confident he’s going to be a successful major-league pitcher. When you’re picking five, you’re still at the mercy of other clubs ahead of you, but Hagen was certainly a guy we had towards the top and we were ecstatic when he got to us."
