Pedro Grifol’s indictment of the 2022 Chicago White Sox season got here early in throughout his introductory information convention because the staff’s new supervisor Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Asked what he noticed from the Kansas City Royals’ dugout, Grifol famous the Sox have been “an extremely talented ballclub” that was tough to organize for.
“Because if the energy was high, they could beat anybody in the game,” he mentioned. “And if the energy wasn’t, we were able to have some success against them. So my job, and our staff’s job, is going to be make sure that energy is high every night and we’re prepared to win a ballgame.”
The lowly Royals — who completed at 65-97 and in final place within the American League Central — have been 10-9 towards the Sox, so the vitality deficit was straightforward to watch.
That lack of vitality wasn’t utterly the fault of former supervisor Tony La Russa, whose identify wasn’t talked about Thursday. But the accountability for motivating gamers to deliver that vitality each night time falls on the supervisor, and La Russa was unable to get the job carried out.
You would possibly assume nowadays gamers wouldn’t have to be informed to deliver vitality. The risk of constructing the type of cash to supply generational wealth must be sufficient to inspire any athlete in any sport.
But normal supervisor Rick Hahn signed a number of core gamers to massive contracts earlier than they’d proved themselves within the main leagues, so that they by no means needed to fear about whether or not they wanted to play laborious on a regular basis or sit with on a regular basis leg soreness.
Management was OK with gamers taking off occasionally to save lots of their legs, a directive La Russa did a poor job making an attempt to elucidate and thus took the brunt of the blame. Either manner, when gamers get the thumbs-up to not hustle on a regular basis, it’s laborious to place the toothpaste again within the tube.
Grifol was requested Thursday about how he would deal with gamers who wouldn’t play except they have been 100% wholesome. He replied that he would “communicate” with the gamers to ensure they knew after they’re going to have days off.
“Communication is a big part of this thing, and I also know we have to have a collaborated effort when it comes to guys’ bodies and how they go about it,” he mentioned.
Grifol turned to Hahn in an apart, like chatting with his legal professional at a authorized listening to.
“Do we want to talk about the sports, uh …?” he requested Hahn.
“Mmm,” Hahn replied. “Still working on that.”
Grifol turned to the media and continued: “So basically, communication.”
I hope that’s not a development and that Grifol can converse freely with out having to ask permission about which subjects to keep away from. Otherwise he’ll be seen as simply an extension of the entrance workplace with no actual voice.
Hahn mentioned he was inquisitive about getting outsiders’ views on the Sox to “complement” the views from contained in the group and “getting a little bit of a reality check perhaps.”
So what new issues will Grifol implement to deliver concerning the needed modifications?
“Well, communication is one of the biggest parts of my leadership,” he mentioned, including: “Raising the energy level every single day is extremely important.”
Communication certainly is a vital factor, as Grifol and Hahn stored saying. But when Hahn mentioned after the information convention that he wasn’t out there for extra questions, I figured possibly communication was overrated.
Anyway, this was the Sox’s likelihood to advertise their new supervisor, and so they couldn’t have chosen a extra lovely day for photo-ops on the sphere. We won’t see him once more till February in Glendale, Ariz., now that the staff has determined to blow off SoxFest for causes by no means defined.
Grifol looks as if a very good man. He patiently paid his dues and sure will put all of his being into making an attempt to make the Sox succeed. “Developing the culture and chemistry of the club” can be considered one of his foremost objectives, and as soon as they begin in spring coaching, he mentioned gamers will “see how prepared they’re going to be to ― keeping it clean ― kick somebody’s butt.”
That’s good to listen to. Sox followers have been on the lookout for some butt-kicking from a supervisor since Robin Ventura changed Ozzie Guillén in 2012. But Ventura was manner too mellow for his or her style, and Rick Renteria’s “chipping away” mantra didn’t register. La Russa had the fame as take-charge supervisor however spent a lot of the interview classes defending their errors, with the apparent exceptions of Dallas Keuchel and Yermin Mercedes.
When requested about being paired with new bench coach Charlie Montoyo, who was fired because the Toronto Blue Jays supervisor on July 13, Grifol was humble sufficient to say: “If I’m the smartest guy in the room, we’ve got big problem.” Imagine La Russa considering that, a lot much less saying it.
Grifol mentioned all the suitable issues about the necessity to enhance defensively, essentially and mentally. And although none of it was significantly revealing, that’s OK. Managers at all times say the identical, basic items after they arrive and greet the media for the primary time. And administration at all times insists the profitable candidate stood out among the many relaxation — on this case about 29 others whom Hahn mentioned have been into account.
Hahn mentioned Grifol’s first interview was so spectacular he needed to be “checked” by his fellow executives to maintain an open thoughts throughout remaining interviews with the opposite candidates.
“My thoughts had drifted back to Pedro,” Hahn mentioned, sounding like he was writing a romance novel.
One of these candidates was Guillén, who mentioned on the finish of the season that nobody is aware of this staff like he does after watching it up shut. We don’t know if Guillén — who interviewed — was critically thought of for the job, although we do know he was among the many critics of the staff’s vitality degree by way of his job as NBC Sports Chicago studio analyst.
Hahn mentioned Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who employed La Russa two years in the past, informed him throughout the interview course of it reminded him of the one which netted Chicago Bulls government vice chairman of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas in 2020. That search, led by his son, Bulls President and COO Michael Reinsdorf, turned out to be an prompt success.
Karnišovas rapidly introduced respectability again to the Bulls with some deft personnel choices, together with the commerce for DeMar DeRozan. Whether Grifol can be managing a lot of the identical solid of Sox characters in 2023 is to be decided. Asked if he wished free/-agent first baseman José Abreu again, Grifol prevented the topic, saying: “All 30 managers want to see a José Abreu in their lineup.”
Hahn doesn’t foresee “drastic wholesale changes on the horizon,” which suggests a lot of the gamers we watched underachieve in 2022 can be again. Maybe all they actually need is a kick within the butt.
Who is aware of? We’ll all discover out collectively.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com