Sitting in chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s suite Monday, with a view from above while serving a one-game suspension for his involvement in the White Sox’ brawl with the Guardians two nights before, manager Pedro Grifol had a bird’s eye view of his baseball team that needs to change.
On the field, off it, inside and out. Play better, play cleaner. Play better fundamental baseball. Be accountable. All of it.
So it goes when the team is 23 games under .500, where the Sox dropped to with a 7-1 loss to the Yankees at Guaranteed Rate Field, with nothing to play for in the final eight weeks of the season.
Grifol says the coaching staff is teaching a lot more now than it was at the beginning of the season. Perhaps there will be some kind of payoff next season
“It’s critical to the direction that we’re going,” Grifol said.
For these Sox, there’s only one to go and that’s up.
And there’s more than one way to win a game, Grifol said.
“Not just sitting back waiting for a home run,” he said. “[Pitchers] attacking the strike zone, fielding your position. Everybody holding everybody accountable, that’s important for us. We have to do that as a staff and the players have to hold themselves accountable, too. So it’s fun. We’re having a good time but it’s also extremely important for where we’re going.”
Where exactly that is remains to be seen. For ticket buyers who’ll be asked to renew season tickets for next season, who’s holding who accountable — in the front office and on the coaching staff and in the clubhouse — is a question begging to be answered.
“You give the players the freedom to communicate, a chance to voice their opinion and become a part of the process,” Grifol said. “We’re in the process of having meetings with hitters, individually, and you allow them to be a big-time part of the process.”
“And when you allow somebody to be a part of the process then it’s easy to hold them accountable because they just said some things that they needed to accomplish as well. It’s no different than if somebody gives you an opportunity to manage and I get the chance to do this and I’m not doing my job, I look at myself in the mirror and hold myself accountable.
“For me, that’s how accountability is measured. Then you have people around you that are not afraid to hold you accountable and tell you some of the things that you said and are not doing. And that’s part of the communication process. It’s not as easy to explain, but it’s easy to accomplish if you are communicating and doing it right.”
From up top, Grifol said he saw things he wanted to address.
Back in the dugout Tuesday, Grifol saw the Sox’ three-game winning streak end. He saw Sox pitchers strike out 17 batters but lose. Right-hander Touki Toussaint, auditioning for a spot in the 2024 starting rotation, struck out six batters in the first three innings before facing 10 batters in a four-run fourth. Toussaint walked three in that inning and finished with a crooked-number line of five innings, four runs on six hits and five walks with nine strikeouts.
Luis Robert Jr. hit his 31st homer against Clarke Schmidt in the fourth, making it 4-1. But Grifol has seen enough of Robert’s big year offensively and defensively to know what he can do.
Rookie catcher Carlos Perez replaced Yasmani Grandal who exited with a sore left knee, and with rookie Declan Cronin pitching, threw out Yankees leadoff man Jake Bauers trying to steal second base in the sixth inning.
Cronin struck out five in two innings, giving Sox pitchers 14 strikeouts in the first seven innings. Tanner Banks struck out two in the eighth but gave up long homers to pinch hitter Kyle Higashioka and Aaron Judge, giving New York a 7-1 lead.