3 reasons to be concerned with Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol
By Todd Welter
Hiring Pedro Grifol was supposed to cure what ailed the Chicago White Sox in 2022.
Instead, the Sox are playing worse baseball under their new manager than they did with Tony La Russa in charge.
That has led to some speculation that Grifol might only be the White Sox skipper for just one season. General manager Rick Hahn shot that notion down pretty quickly.
At the rate the Sox are declining, Hahn might not have a job after the season to protect Grifol.
Hahn hired Grifol with the hope of new leadership in the clubhouse plus bounce-back seasons from players who underachieved last season would get the franchise back into playoff contention.
While the Sox are still in playoff contention, it is only because the AL Central is the worst division in baseball by a country mile.
The same baserunning, fielding, pitching, and hitting problems that doomed 2022 are still prevalent this season.
The only difference is Grifol has yet to call for an intentional walk with a 1-2 count.
Injuries have played a role in the Chicago White Sox being well below .500. You could have Joe Torre as manager and even he would struggle to get to .500 with the number of key players that have spent time on the IL.
Grifol has also done a better job than La Russa at holding players accountable when they lack the necessary effort.
That does not give Grifol a pass for having the Chicago White Sox competing with the Detroit Tigers for third place in the division instead of the Minnesota Twins for first place.
I truly believe there isn’t a manager out there that would be able to make this White Sox team better. With that being said, it does feel like Pedro Grifol is in way over his head, and his act has gotten old with me quickly. But there’s no easy fix here.
— Courtney Finnicum (@courtney883) June 19, 2023
There are three areas of concern that Pedro Grifol might not be the manager who leads the Chicago White Sox to the promised land.