Dead Man Walking: Writing Is on the Wall for Pedro Grifol's Departure from White Sox

We are beyond a shadow of a doubt that Pedro Grifol is in over his head trying to manage this White Sox team. It's pretty safe to say this will be Grifol's lone foray into managing at the Major League level, and it'll assuredly go down in the record books as one of the most disastrous. While the blame can't all be laid at the feet of Grifol, he has done himself no favors with his performance.

Whether it's questionable lineup decisions, in-game tactics, or postgame commentary, Grifol does nothing that one can look at with a straight face and say he has any shred of competence. We've heard the White Sox' state media that are around the team daily say that the clubhouse is unified and its members are putting in the work daily to be successful, yet it just isn't translating. At the end of the day, few are going to come out and say in the moment that things aren't right in the manager's office or the clubhouse.

We heard stories all winter and even to this day about how things went off the rails in the clubhouse a year ago. It's because of this fact we have a bunch of try-hard veterans who are "good in the clubhouse," as if that will somehow cleanse this organization of what has ailed it. So maybe the team is comprised of likable guys who get along well and try to do the right things, but that's also an indictment on the manager not being able to keep things together.

Again, I was a very staunch critic of Tony La Russa, as you all know. But he still had a level of gravitas that allowed him to control the clubhouse. Yes, we've heard rumblings of an altercation taking place in Cleveland between games of a disastrous doubleheader in April of 2022, but that would hardly be the first time such a thing has happened in a Major League clubhouse. There are countless examples of teammates having verbal or physical altercations and teams unifying after the fact to get the job done. It takes leadership to use instances like that as a galvanizing force, and no one in their right mind would mistake Pedro Grifol as the type of individual who'd be able to accomplish that.

The fact that Grifol talked all last season about how together the team was only to pivot during the winter at every possible opportunity when the culprits were no longer part of the organization tells you all you really need to know about who he is as a leader. So, if you aren't going to be sound tactically and can't keep a group unified and lead it on a daily basis, what exactly would you say you do here?

Grifol seems to be at least self-aware that his expiration date as the Sox manager is in plain sight. He shared this quote with MLB.com's Scott Merkin recently:

Playing Out the String

Normally for a serious organization with serious leadership and serious ownership, a 3-22 start would be enough to get you a one-way ticket to the unemployment line. Fortunately for Pedro Grifol, his checks are digitally signed by Jerry Reinsdorf. Because of this fact, we'll have to see Mr. Clean's face and hear his ridiculous postgame commentary through the end of this season. The White Sox haven't fired a manager in-season since Gene Lamont in 1995, and this season won't be any exception no matter how low this team continues to sink.

We have to see and hear Reinsdorf's media lapdogs extol his virtues frequently and talk about his commitment to winning incessantly, yet Grifol's continued presence flies in the face of those ridiculous statements to anyone who has a functioning brain. A 3-22 start is seemingly a sure-fire way to get yourself removed from a Major League dugout, unless you work for a team owned by Reinsdorf.

The fact that Grifol was able to fill out a lineup card before Friday's rare victory over the Tampa Bay Rays shows that nothing short of insulting Reinsdorf himself will get Grifol relieved of his duties. We're faced with the realization that we as a fan base must endure this nonsense for the remainder of the season because the owner can't stomach the notion of firing a manager who's signed through the end of next season, regardless of whether the money is already a sunk cost or not.

That's So White Sox

Again, is the disaster that is the 2024 White Sox the fault of Pedro Grifol alone? Certainly not; he's merely a symptom, not the disease itself that plagues this organization. White Sox baseball will continue to be symptomatic until sometime in October when Grifol is likely to be relieved of his duties because there will be less money for the owner to swallow.

Staring historic ineptitude in the face is now what Grifol must deal with daily. This team has a real chance of going down as the worst team of the modern era, and that's a stain that can never be removed from a manager's resume. Would firing Grifol have any material impact on the fate of the 2024 White Sox? No, but it again shows the organization's lack of willingness to rid itself of an obvious problem.

I feel fairly confident that Grifol is here to stay for all of 2024 because if this start wasn't enough to cost him his job, nothing on the field can. As we like to say, the beatings will continue until morale improves.