Nothing has gone right for the White Sox this year, as they are one of the worst teams in the history of the major leagues. At the time of this article, the White Sox are a league worst 27-84 and have now lost 17 games in a row. While that streak currently is not a record in major league history, it is a franchise record. If that wasn’t bad enough, the White Sox set an MLB record for the most losses before the all-star break. It’s not crazy to say that things aren’t going well on the South Side.
While it’s safe to say that most managers wouldn’t be able to make this team a winning club, Pedro Grifol certainly isn’t helping the White Sox out, as he has made plenty of questionable decisions this season. After a very disappointing 2023 season, most first time managers would have been on the hot seat, but since he works for the White Sox there was no indication that he was going to be fired after last season.
Now, Grifol is the manager of a team on pace to be one of the worst teams in major league history. An overwhelming majority of teams likely would have fired their manager if they had a similar start as the White Sox, as that can give the team some juice. However, despite their horrid record at the break, there was no reason to believe that the White Sox planned on firing Pedro Grifol during the season.
It seemed that the likeliest outcome was the White Sox firing Grifol at the end of the season despite their record, as there were rumors that the White Sox were already considering outside candidates like Terry Francona, AJ Pierzynski, and a few others. But after today’s game, it seems that they might not wait that long anymore.
After the game, Jesse Rogers of ESPN noted that there have been a lot of “rumblings about Pedro Grifol’s job status here at the park.” This could be significant, as the general opinion was that Pedro would be safe until the end of the year.
On the other hand, these rumblings could mean nothing, as Jerry doesn’t typically like to fire people prematurely. Robin Ventura overstayed his welcome by a few seasons, as have many Chicago Bulls coaches.
However, Jerry may be forced to fire Grifol to save face, as the White Sox are nearing a historic losing streak. While it might be too late, a few more games into this losing streak and there could be a possibility that Grifol is dismissed.
It’s likely that bench coach Charlie Montoyo would take over as acting manager for the rest of the season, as he has managerial experience in the major leagues, coaching the Blue Jays for multiple seasons. However, the White Sox should do their best to hire someone from outside the organization after the season, as they need to wipe all of this losing from their team.
Knowing the way the White Sox are run, it still seems unlikely that Grifol is fired before the end of the season, but the fact that Jesse Rogers noted that there were rumblings around the stadium is not insignificant. The situation is worth monitoring for now, especially if the White Sox keep the losing streak going.
