For the first time in the last decade, Rick Hahn will not be constructing the White Sox roster and for the first time in 25 years, Kenny Williams will not be a part of the White Sox baseball operations department. Jerry Reinsdorf, the most loyal owner in baseball finally did it. He fired Hahn and Williams.
It is a positive first step, one that should have happened long before August 22, 2023. The organization has won just three playoff games since 2005 and had just six winning seasons since 2006. A fluke World Series championship in 2005 earned Hahn and Williams 18 years of extra runway.
Reinsdorf let Hahn and Williams sell off key pieces at the trade deadline and decide who the team got in return. He also allowed Hahn to participate in the amateur draft after the All-Star break before giving him the boot. It is strange timing considering both have a direct impact on the White Sox future.
But apparently, the White Sox 87-year-old owner had finally seen enough. Ironically this season has been so bad that according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Reinsdorf has attended fewer games this season than he typically has in years past. So where do the White Sox go from here? There are still six weeks left in the season and the team is heading towards a crossroads. Reload and run it back or tear it down to the studs.
Immediately all eyes turned towards Chris Getz. Typically the White Sox promote from within and it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
According to a recent report from Nightengale, Getz is the name that Reinsdorf had in mind. The 39-year-old former player has spent the last seven years handling the White Sox Minor League Operations and Player Development System.
The 2022 season also marked his third as assistant general manager. Getz was part of the process that resulted in hiring Pedro Grifol and his coaching staff. He also had his fingerprints all over the hiring of Ethan Katz.
Getz is expected to be named the White Sox next general manager. Nightingale also added that Texas Rangers senior advisor, Dayton Moore, could join Getz “in a key front office role.” Moore was the Royals’ general manager for 16 seasons and helped bring Kansas City back-to-back pennants and a World Series in 2015. Getz and Moore worked closely together at the time.
However, Moore doesn’t come without his baggage. In 2018 he received flack for supporting convicted child molester Luke Heimlich before the draft saying “I think the player has earned the opportunity to play professional baseball.” Heimlich was pitching for Oregon State at the time and was named Pac-12 pitcher of the year.
Nightingale was also told that first-year manager Pedro Grifol is safe… for now. Reinsdorf doesn’t like to pay multiple managers at once and Grifol still has two years left on his contract after the 2023 season. He isn’t being blamed for the team’s misfortune this season. However, if a fresh face outside the organization does take over as GM it is hard to see anyway Grifol is still employed given his 49-77 record and reports of a lack of leadership in the clubhouse.
Grifol admitted to the media that he has thought about his chances of being a one and done manager after this season.
“Obviously I’m not going to sit here and lie and tell you that I don’t think about it, but I’m not going to get caught up in it,” Grifol said. “Why? Because I have a responsibility to those guys in there.
“To do my job, do it as a professional, come in every day and to the coaching staff and to this organization to come in and prepare to win a baseball game. That’s my job.”
If that wasn’t enough Nightengale also reported that the team brought back Tony La Russa as a consultant. Grifol is set to meet with Reinsdorf and La Russa on Wednesday night to discuss why things went south this year.
A conflicting report from NBC Sports Chicago’s Ryan McGuffey says that this is not true. Either way the mixed messages it is a bad sign. Brining back La Russa absolutely sounds like a move that Reinsdorf would make.
As needed as these changes were it is hard to see things getting significantly better if ownership is going to be bringing in retreads. Especially when those retreads are expected to fix the mistakes of the people they worked under.
It may be weeks before a final decision is made but things could be getting worse before they get better.
