Pedro Grifol was brought in to help bring an end to the problems that were preventing the White Sox from reaching their potential.
Thus far he hasn’t been able to change their fortunes, and that might result in a brief run for him as Chicago’s manager.
The White Sox tabbed Grifol to take over for Tony La Russa in the offseason after they greatly underachieved in 2022. Grifol from the beginning said all the right things, but that hasn’t actually changed much, as the White Sox remain one of MLB’s biggest underachievers.
Clearly, that frustration is weighing on Grifol, who lashed out at a perfectly fair question Sunday about why Jake Burger was hitting eighth. Whether he was annoyed about the line of questioning or something else is unclear, but Grifol snapped back with an answer that oddly invoked owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
The testiness was intriguing -- Burger also only got three at-bats in the loss -- and Audacy MLB insider Jon Heyman told the Mully & Haugh Show that Grifol could end up one-and-done as White Sox manager.
“That frustration really showed,” Heyman said. “He had Burger batting eighth, I really don’t know what to make of that other than he’s frustrated. I don’t know if he’s frustrated with his bosses or the questions or what, but it wasn’t a great look. He’s supposed to be a disciplinarian, probably should show some discipline on his own. It’s nice we got a window into his frustration, but I would say if this year doesn’t turn around he could be one-and-done.”
The White Sox are rapidly approaching an uncomfortable position. They’ve been bad, but remain in the playoff hunt because the American League Central has also been underwhelming. However, they have enough pieces to do well at the trade deadline if they sell, and blowing the current group up and starting over would not be the worst idea.
No matter what direction Rick Hahn and Co. take with the team, Heyman indicated a belief that Grifol will at least avoid getting canned during the season.
“I would say they’re giving him the year likely. But among the managers, I would say (Oli) Marmol is probably in greater trouble, based on the expectations in St. Louis and the performance of that team. But (Grifol) cannot be in great standing at this point. They have underachieved immensely.
“I know I say this every show, but they should be a decent team, they really should, and they have not been. I’m sure he’s frustrated, I’m sure he’s probably hearing it from his bosses, somebody above, this is probably a window into that. So from that perspective I guess that was good, but he really shouldn’t be saying stuff like that.”
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