3 reasons to be concerned with Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol
By Todd Welter
Stubborn decision-making and the poor communication that comes along with it.
Pedro has gotten a bit salty in some of responses when pressed to answer for his questionable decisions. He blew up when asked about batting Jake Burger hitting eighth.
Grifol on Jake Burger batting 8th: "I’m going to put the lineup out there I think is going to help us win ... I don’t have to answer those people [who don't like the lineup]. He’s in the lineup, he’s going to get four at-bats, help us win. Other than that, they can talk to Jerry"
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) June 18, 2023
Then he doubled back with how much he loved having Burger batting fourth.
Grifol on Jake Burger batting fourth tonight: "What wouldn't I like about it? He can hit the ball out of the ballpark. He's got 16 homers, he's got a good OPS [.859]. He fits in that spot. There's not much you can't like about it."
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) June 20, 2023
If he is trying to be Earl Weaver, Grifol needs to realize he needs to win a lot more games before he can become cranky and wishy-washy with the media.
Although he did study under Ned Yost and that guy felt like if you never swung a bat in the Majors, then you could never dare question him.
Grifol has been stubborn with some of his decisions that have hurt the team. It took him forever to move Tim Anderson out of the leadoff spot despite Anderson struggling at the plate, not hitting a home run, and clearly still recovering from a knee injury.
He went from not even considering removing Anderson from hitting first in the lineup to a few days later moving him to the two-hole when it was clear the veteran shortstop needed to be slotted further down.
Pedro Grifol, probably: "I heard the criticism about batting Tim leadoff. I still believe he will bounce back to the All-Star we know he is. This drop down the order is just temporary."
— Josh Nelson - Sox Machine (@soxmachine_josh) June 17, 2023
Tim Anderson is batting second.
Grifol kept trotting out Romy Gonzalez earlier in the season when he was looking like he could not even hit little-league pitching.
His decision-making is bordering on Terry Bevington and Jerry Manuel territory. What makes it worse is his defiance or lack of proper articulation of his point. He loves to keep saying the team needs to “flush it” after a loss. There is nothing wrong with that perspective, but the losses are piling so high that the season is practically lost.
He benched Luis Robert Jr. earlier this season for lack of hustle running down the first baseline. It turns out Robert Jr. was feeling sore and probably should have had the day off.
With all these communication issues, it is no wonder why players are rumored to want out.
This team was poorly constructed and that falls on general manager Rick Hahn. On the field, this team still has the same issues with basic fundamentals. That falls on Pedro Grifol who was supposed to fix all those problems. That is another reason for concern.
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