Pedro Grifol took a 50-77 record into the scuffling White Sox’ game against the Athletics Thursday, the same record he took into a meeting with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and former Sox manager Tony La Russa the night before.
It wasn’t Grifol’s first such meeting with Reinsdorf, who on Tuesday fired executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn but appears willing to give Grifol another chance in the second season of his three-year contract.
And what was said was kept close to the vest.
“He’s a big-time competitor,” Grifol said of the 87-year-old Reinsdorf. “He wants to win. He wants to set this thing up right. That’s what we’re in the process of doing.”
Grifol said he “wasn’t going to get into” any discussions about his status for next season, but there’s a good chance he knows where he stands, even though it would be normal for a new general manager coming in to at least have a say about the manager. But if it’s assistant GM Chris Getz, there will be no objection. Getz strongly endorsed Grifol, whom he knew in their Kansas City Royals years, when Grifol was hired before the season.
“I’ll let time play that out,” Grifol said.
Despite the poor performance on the field and leadership voids in the clubhouse, time seems to be on the side of Grifol, who was asked about the get-together with Reinsdorf and La Russa, Reinsdorf’s close friend who is advising him but not in an official capacity. The meeting took place over dinner following the Sox’ win against the Mariners Wednesday afternoon.
Hahn hired Grifol on the belief his leadership would fix what went wrong during the 81-81 disappointment under La Russa in 2022, but things only got worse. Grifol will probably get another chance, although coaching staff changes could be in order.
“Nobody likes what’s going on,” Grifol said. “So it’s our responsibility and our job to get it right.”
In different words, Reinsdorf probably reiterated what he said in the announcement of the firings.
“This year has proven to be very disappointing for us all on many levels,” he said.
In the weak AL Central, the worst division in baseball, the Sox will attempt to be competitive next season even though the trades of pitchers Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Reynaldo Lopez and Keynan Middleton shredded their pitching staff. Trades that put the final stamp on the Williams-Hahn flopped rebuild. Third baseman Jake Burger was dealt, too, for minor league left-hander Jake Eder.
Those deals had the appearance of rebuild or restock, but Reinsdorf won’t let that phraseology out of the building. He wants fans to buy tickets, believe there’s a chance, patch the rotation with a couple of new starting pitchers and try to put a decent product on the field.
“Oh, it’s definitely not a rebuild,” Grifol said. “When you’ve got [Luis] Robert in center field and Eloy [Jimenez] and [Andrew] Vaughn and Timmy [Anderson]. I don’t consider it a rebuild.”
Much was made of the meeting because of La Russa’s reemergence in the Sox picture after his recovery from cancer, and simply because the meeting became public.
“The only thing I can say to that is I’ve had these meetings before.” Grifol said. “Had a couple of meetings in April, had a couple of meetings in May. This is an ongoing thing. We’re all in this thing together. Top to bottom. So this is not because of what transpired. This is what we do in ways that we’ve done all year, to get us better. That’s what this is about.
“I like the fact that there’s really good communication. You always know where everybody stands and what everybody’s thinking. That’s all I can say about that.”