One week after MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, reported that Pedro Grifol’s days were numbered as the manager of the White Sox, another report indicates that the club will not be making a managerial change this season.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the White Sox front office “have no immediate plans to dismiss manager Pedro Grifol.” Nightingale adds that the club refuses to pin the White Sox record solely on Grifol and believes “it would make no sense to bring in and pay another manager when the team’s fate isn’t going to change no matter who’s in the dugout.”
The White Sox stance makes sense considering Grifol is currently the second highest-paid manager in the MLB behind only Craig Counsel. The 54-year-old skipper is in the second year of a three-year contract worth roughly $3 million. Given the organization’s history of being reluctant to spend money, it is easy to see why they wouldn’t want to eat the rest of that contract when the team is so far from contention. However, according to Nightengale, the White Sox are expected to re-assess Grifol’s job performance this winter to determine if a managerial change is needed.
The news may be frustrating to some fans who want a pound of flesh. The White Sox continue to inch closer to its second straight 100-loss season. An argument could be made that firing Grifol mid-season would give the White Sox extra time to conduct a thorough job search. Grifol’s 78-151 record as a manager is good enough for the worst winning percentage in franchise history. He has also not done himself any favors with some of his in-game decision-making and odd post-game comments.
However, he is far from the main reason that the team record sits at 17-50 and 26.5 games out of first place. The roster is poorly constructed, and the front office did not spend any money in free agency and injuries have plagued the team’s main stars yet again. The White Sox also did not bother interviewing any candidates outside of the organization for their open general manager position last season, so a thorough hiring process may not be something the organization is interested in.
Grifol was asked about his job status during the White Sox visit to Wrigley Field, shortly after Rosental’s article about him was released. He remains confident that he can manage at an MLB level and says that decisions about his future are out of his control so he isn’t worried about it.
“I’m really comfortable with who I am as a baseball man and these coaches are really good coaches that really care,” Grifol said. “And we bleed this. This is what we do for a living. There’s a lot of sacrifices being made every single day, by these coaches, by myself, to help these guys perform and continue to improve on a daily basis for us to win games.”
