The Chicago White Sox announced that manager Pedro Grifol has been dismissed amid a horrific season for the franchise.
"As we all recognize, our team’s performance this season has been disappointing on many levels," White Sox senior vice president/general manager Chris Getz said in an official statement posted on social media. "Despite the on-field struggles and lack of success, we appreciate the effort and professionalism Pedro and the staff brought to the ballpark every day. These two seasons have been very challenging. Unfortunately, the results were not there, and a change is necessary as we look to our future and the development of a new energy around the team."
Grifol’s exit comes after the White Sox tied an American League record 21-game losing streak, which the Baltimore Orioles did last in 1988.
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The White Sox snapped the skid with a 5-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, but they still lost the series following a 3-2 defeat on Wednesday night.
As the White Sox are set to face their north side rival Chicago Cubs on Friday, they’ll do so without Grifol in the dugout.
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The White Sox’s statement continued by saying a search for a new manager will begin immediately, and the replacement for Grifol is expected to be announced after the 2024 campaign.
The White Sox are 28-89 under Grifol this season, which is easily the worst record in MLB. As Getz mentioned last season as well, Grifol was unable to get the White Sox on track in his first season as manager with a 61-101 record.
It was an extensive search to find Grifol as the franchise’s next manager after replacing Miguel Cairo, who took over for Hall of Famer Tony La Russa late in the 2022 campaign after he announced he was battling health issues and needed to step down. The team went through 30 candidates, and eventually landed on Grifol to take over.
Getz didn’t preside over that search, as then-GM Rick Hahn made the decision to bring Grifol into the organization.
But Grifol never truly settled in, as the record speaks for itself, and there were clubhouse issues as well. Hahn and fellow front-office executive Kenny Williams were dismissed last season.
The White Sox are trying to recapture their recent playoff runs in 2020 and 2021, the latter of which they won their AL Central division title. But they’ll be focused on prospects to finish off this season, getting good looks at the likes of Jonathan Cannon and Ky Bush, among others, to see what might be coming in 2025.
But it seems more likely than not that the White Sox will shatter the worst-losing season this year when the 162 regular-season games come to a close. They went 49-102-1 in 1932.
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