The 2024 season is not even halfway done, yet the White Sox are already looking forward to next year. And if recent reports are any indication, Pedro Grifol will not remain as the manager on the south side in 2025. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that current Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker’s name is “floating around internally” as a potential replacement for Grifol. Nightengale also noted that former White Sox manager Tony La Russa will be an “integral part” of the decision-making process.
Schumaker has a fair amount of experience in major league dugouts. He played for 11 seasons in the majors and has coached for several different teams. Schumaker served as a coach for the San Diego Padres from 2018 to 2021 and was the bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2022 before being hired by the Marlins in October 2022.
Schumaker’s tenure as Marlins manager has been up and down. Miami was surprisingly good in 2023, finishing with an 84-78 record despite having a relatively mediocre roster. Schumaker’s first season was so successful on a personal level that he won the Manager of The Year award, and it seemed unfathomable that he could be on the hot seat in Miami not even a year later. But that is what has happened.
The Marlins 2024 campaign has been a disaster so far. Miami enters the day with a 26-50 record, which is not much better than the White Sox. However, their struggles are not entirely Schumaker’s fault. Their ace Sandy Alcántara has not pitched this season after having Tommy John surgery in October of last year, and young phenom Eury Pérez also has not pitched this season because of Tommy John surgery. In addition, Miami lost Jorge Soler, one of their best hitters last season, to free agency this past winter while trading away star Luis Arráez to the Padres earlier this season. Schumaker cannot entirely escape the blame for the Marlins season, but Miami has recently experienced a lot of misfortune that is out of his control. He can only do so much with what he has to work with, and he does not have much in Miami right now.
In Pedro Grifol’s defense, the same argument applies to him in a way. It is not his fault that the White Sox injury-prone roster is atrocious from a talent perspective. But Grifol has no track record of success as an MLB manager whereas Schumaker does. Tony La Russa also coached Schumaker for several seasons when he played for the Cardinals, which could be a factor if Nightengale’s report of La Russa being part of the decision-making process is accurate.
It looks pretty likely at this point that Grifol will take the fall for the White Sox failures in 2024. While the team’s historically bad season is not entirely his fault, it is understandable that the organization would want to move in a different direction following this season. And Skip Schumaker would undoubtedly be an upgrade over Grifol despite his struggles in Miami this season. It is still very early in the process, and the White Sox will almost certainly interview other candidates besides Schumaker if or when they do part ways with Grifol. However, the fact that Schumaker’s name has already come up shows that he is a serious candidate for the position.
