In baseball terms, the Chicago White Sox decided to pull the plug on manager Pedro Grifol’s tenure, cutting him loose on Thursday after a string of disappointing performances left the team far behind in the standings. Grifol, who had been at the helm since the 2023 season, was shown the door as the club sought to shake things up following their second major losing streak of the year. While it’s not common for a managerial change to happen in August, given the White Sox’s struggles, this move wasn’t exactly a curveball.
The announcement was made public through an official statement from the White Sox front office. Chris Getz, the team’s senior vice president and general manager, didn’t mince words. “We all know this season has been a strikeout on multiple fronts,” Getz said in the release. “Despite the rough innings we’ve faced, we appreciate the hustle and dedication Pedro and his coaching staff brought to the dugout every day. The past two seasons have been a grind, but the results just haven’t been there. We need to look toward the future and bring in a new spark to turn things around.”
Grifol’s record as skipper wasn’t exactly All-Star caliber. In his season and a half with Chicago, he posted a lackluster 88-189 record, a batting average that would have any player sent back to the minors. While no one expected the White Sox to be contenders last season or this one, their performance in 2024 has been downright abysmal. A 14-game losing streak in the first half of the season had already put them in a deep hole, but a recent 21-game skid nearly buried them. A win against the Oakland Athletics on Monday snapped that streak, but it was too little, too late.
As of August 8, the White Sox are stuck at 28 wins, a mark that has them staring down the barrel of a historically bad season. It’s one thing to be out of the playoff race, but it’s another to be flirting with infamy. The White Sox are dangerously close to matching the 1962 New York Mets, who set the gold standard for futility with a 40-120 record in their expansion season. That’s not a record anyone wants to chase.
Grifol’s dismissal might be a Hail Mary attempt to avoid that dubious distinction, but whether it’ll be enough to stop the bleeding remains to be seen. What’s clear is that a change was overdue. The White Sox are now on the hunt for a new skipper, with plans to announce Grifol’s replacement after the 2024 season wraps up.
The team hopes this shake-up in the dugout will help turn things around, but for now, the White Sox faithful will have to sit tight and see if this move brings any relief to a season that’s been full of strikeouts and errors.
