Newly-minted White Sox GM Chris Getz spoke with reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) yesterday about the team’s future with him now at the helm.
Getz has already confirmed that manager Pedro Grifol will return in 2024, but the club’s new GM elaborated on that decision yesterday, noting that the Sox’s disappointing season in 2022 put Grifol in a “tough situation” this season.
“His experience is very valuable with all the different roles he’s had in this game.” Getz said of Grifol, “He has experienced winning. He’s determined to get this right. I think that different type of support, he’ll benefit from. And I think that the leadership starting with myself could really help him do that.”
Getz added that he will need to go through an “assessment period” over the last few weeks of the season where he will spend time with Grifol, the coaching staff, and the players in order to determine what needs to happen to improve the team headed into 2024. That being said, he did indicate that his goal is to regain the “edge” that he believes the club has lost in recent years. Getz went on to suggest that he hoped to improve the club’s professionalism going forward, a goal that tracks with recent comments from former White Sox reliever Kenyan Middleton, who criticized the organization’s clubhouse culture.
In addition to reshaping the club’s culture, Getz also discussed ways he hopes to improve the team on the field headed into 2024, with an emphasis on athleticism. It’s a sensible goal for the offseason given Fielding Bible ranks Chicago 29th of MLB’s 30 teams in terms of team Defensive Runs Saved with a -46 figure, while only seven teams have stolen less bases than the White Sox this year. In pursuing that goal of increased athleticism, Getz indicates the club will “exhaust” ways to improve the team, a philosophy that extends to potentially moving players currently on the roster.
While it’s not exactly a surprise that a club flirting with a 100-loss season like the White Sox would consider dealing players from their big league roster, it’s still a noteworthy position for Getz to take. The White Sox figure to have significant space to make additions this season with a projected 2024 payroll of just under $100MM per RosterResource, though that figure doesn’t include arbitration contracts for players like Dylan Cease, Andrew Vaughn, and Michael Kopech. While that should give the club room to pursue free agents to improve the club, Getz’s plans to explore deals involving their current roster indicate a more significant retool could be possible for the south siders this offseason.
Blah blah blah
Nobody cares to hear from Jerry’s latest puppet.
#selltheteam
#seeyouin2035
Hear hear!
hey Cris you watching the same team I’m watching, Pedro is going to lose 100 games , he is one of the worst managers the white Sox ever had, I been a season ticket holder for over 35 years, now I’m out and I’m hundreds maybe thousands more will join me..terrible decision…
Wait… the Sox have thousands of STH’s???
Detroit has a better team than the White Sox, yet has a lower attendance… so it’s kinda hard to understand this attempted insult from where you’re standing. Good luck to Lou though.
Good luck they all say… good luck
That’s what blockbuster said to Netflix as they laughed them out the door? Who went out of business again? I remember getting blockbuster gift cards at church youth group for winning a game… LOL wow…. I’m not that old!
I worked at Blockbuster… that’s how old I am. Great job to meet babes back in the day.
BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Future??? HAHAHA! Oh Sox fans, I weep for you.
lolmets
The Royals just lost their 100th game and they have a brighter future than the Sox
Positives: We play in the worst division in sports
Negatives: Everything else
Andrew Benintendi five years $75 million is the biggest free agent acquisition ever of the White Sox. They’re not spending but yes it’s more blah blah blah blah blah from another of Jerry’s kids
They shouldn’t spend any money before they figure out how to develop their own talent internally and sustainably. So many of their players have regressed. Throwing $$$ around won’t help that much.
Chris- so nothing going to change- same bad manager- same bad minor league coaching- no free agents wanting to come to White Sox. Tell Jerry Everything is OK!
Well he now has been given the keys to the car?
Question is what kind of car is that?
A Yugo with 100k miles and the body rusted out.
Athleticism and sports??? What a revelation. Getz might be onto something. So no David wells signing.
Why moving on from Jake Burger was a good thing
Burger had no position at which he could add value defensively. Same as Vaughn and Grandal, which my phone appropriately tried to autocorrect to grandpa. So I’m in favor of more athleticism, but there should be higher priorities in their scouting, like, “Do you know (or care) where the strike zone is?”
Lots of athleticism at the bottom of those bins for Dumpster Divin Chrissy.
He talked a lot and said nothing. Sounds familiar.
Good luck Chris, I hope you succeed.
I want to give him a chance, but it’d be so much easier if:
A. He hadn’t failed so badly as Director of Scouting and Player Development
B. He wasn’t from within this poisoned organization.
C. Jerry could just back off and stay out of his people’s way.
Yeah, that’s the part that really “getz” me – he did such a poor job in his previous role, so why should Sox fans expect him to succeed in this role?
An emphasis on athleticism. That’s his big plan. What he should have answered is a) Will we ever get a 2b man before the end of the decade (three years and counting, dude) b) Is our rotation going to be Cease, that train wreck Michael Kopech who is just as bad as a RP as he is as a SP, minor league icon Scholtens, and dfa’s Toussaint and Urena? c) Will Reinsdorf stop talking big and finally cough up the kind of money that will tempt quality players to sign with the Sox? Thanks to reinsdorf’s interfering in hiring a nightmare manager who took the team down with him, it’ll probably take a lot more money to lure anyone to the south side than it would otherwise d) after disastrous performances with KC and the Sox, will Getz ever realize that Grifol actually has no winning experience? e) Will he ever understand that one of the charter members of the AL is now the laughingstock of bb?
Billy Beane was a tremendous athlete, legit 5-tool player, but couldn’t make adjustments. White Sox should focus more on approach, mental makeup, baseball IQ, and ability to determine the strike zone (both for pitchers and hitters). More athleticism would be nice, but a lack of it isn’t their biggest problem, neither does abundant athleticism guarantee success.
No, but it might help them stay on the field which definitely wouldn’t hurt with developing an idea of the strike zone. You’re absolutely correct that approach is something they need to work on. I’m just not sure if that’s an issue of coaching/development, scouting or both.
The Sox should put their players with any ability on the field: Robert in CF, Moncada at 3b and Benintendi in LF. They don’t need to fill the other positions because what they have isn’t any better than no one.
Regardless of the cost, the Sox should sign Cody Bellinger. They have needed a RF since Jermaine Dye and a left-handed bat in the middle of the order. He would also bring hundreds of thousands of Cubs fans over to the southside.
Anderson
Benintendi
Robert
Bellinger
Eloy
Yoan
Vaughn
2B
C
Keep dreaming, Walt. Belli has Boras as his agent. He’s gonna want 7 years, 200M. That would almost triple their largest FA contract ever. Not gonna happen.
Hindreds of thousands? How big is the park?
Fans can be profitable, without showing up to the park, Corky.
I can see them signing Merrifield & Moustakas and making a couple trades for a starting veteran catcher and a couple SP’s. Eloy Jimenez will be traded.
Anderson SS
Benintendi LF
Robert CF
Moncada 3B
Vaughn 1B
Moustakas DH
Merrifield 2B
Colas RF
??? C
Nothing earth-shattering but cheap moves like how Jerry likes them. I don’t see any big names players coming to them in the near future unfortunately. I predict Moncada will have a huge year next season…he wants the Sox to pick up his $25 million option for 2025. He ain’t getting anything close to that when he becomes a FA.
Still weak
I think Lee gets most of the C reps, whether he’s ready or not. At least the defense there will be better than we’ve become accustomed to.
As far as Moncada is concerned- when healthy he is a really good hitter and defensive third basement. The problem is he isn’t healthy enough to prove it. His health really concerns me. But I guess this is becoming the norm in MLB.
Think the WBC reared it’s ugly head. TA, Moncada and Trout all excelled in the WBC. How’d that work out for health in the regular season? A normal spring training and better fitness should work wonders. Not sold on Sosa though I think Colas will take a step forward. And Eloy has seemed to find a way to stay reasonably healthy so the lineup could bounce back to 20-21 levels.
This lineup will still lose 90 games
Okay Kreskin… lol
So they have a shot in the AL Central?
Of course they do..
– Anderson will be back to his 2019 – 2022 production next year, because he’ll be playing for a new contract.
– They have finally learned that Eloy is only a DH, so he should be healthier.
– They will see a huge upgrade over the worst catcher in baseball over the past two seasons.
– Moncada knows he needs a good season, for the team to pick up his $25 million option.
Hundreds of thousands of fans for a guy that played one year with the Cubs? Lmao
Are you not familiar with Cubs fans? They still follow Rizzo.
They still think Rizzo is on the Cubs
You need to get off the internet.
GFY
At this point the White Sox are going to have to overpay for any free agent. Players slapping each other, throwing fists in the field, bullets hitting fans, players sleeping during games, domestic violence disputes. Doesn’t really seem like desirable destination
That’s a 3rd place NLC roster. Step up to the MLB.
Hey, 3rd place in the NLC could contend for 1st in the ALC.
Jerry stopped reading at “Regardless of the cost”.
I mean, he’d be a great signing but Cub fans are not magically becoming sox fans because we signed one of their players (who’s more famous for being a dodger)
No to Bellinger who justifiably will command a marquee asking price, like an overpriced Tv network with Eastern Bloc style production values and graphics, and accompanying state party censorship. Could see Gio making a return – he didn’t seem comfortable in his other spots and maybe a return to Dr Katz will be the ticket.
I agree with you re: Giolito, but the Sox have been desperate for a RF and great middle of the order left-handed bat. They missed out on Harper and it appears that Colas is too stupid and undisciplined.
Is there another option?
Would be great if it happened though not counting on it. Wouldn’t mind seeing Sheets get 450 PA with Trayce as his backup
Colas had a bad rookie year. It sucks but it happens. I wouldn’t give up on him just yet as he has the potential to be a really good player as long as he doesn’t turn out to be the next Dayan Viciedo. Hopefully he can get himself straightened out in winter ball.
2B is currently my favorite white sox player.
Years of last place.
Nah, Royals are still significantly worse.
2024 yes. Time will tell once Chris is a fine hire or not.
So he has been the assistant GM for what like 4 years. And he needs to make an assessment? WTF has he been doing for all those years? Playing on Fanduel? Shooting hoops across the street in the Playground? Pounding down pitchers at MCGinty’s or whatever it’s called now? This saga just keep getting better and better. He obviously wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing.
White Sox have been in an “assessment period” for too long. Poor choice in Getz.
The most (probably only) positive statement in the story is that there will be an emphasis on athleticism. The simple translation here is that Eloy, Sheets, and the other three or four DH only guys have to be gone. The White Sox are stuck with Moncada as that contract is not moveable and I don’t see the team paying $20M of it to go away.
Vaughn is the guy on the fence to me—once you rid yourself of Eloy and Sheets (all praises that Grandal’s deal is finally up), Vaughn needs to be the long term answer as the 1B/DH guy.
Also, if culture or professionalism is part of the “new” (cough) regime Anderson needs to be launched.
It’s really, really hard to find any optimism for the upcoming two years before Cease becomes a free agent and close to when Robert’s contract runs out—hate to say this but they should be on the “touchable” board as well.
I heard they were adding beds in the bullpen for their pitchers to be nice and fresh before the games
A good start would be to find some sucker who will take Eloy in trade for either a quality reliever or a player that can field a position and hit the ball in the air.
The white sox was the suckers
Good idea of the owner to hire a new GM who doesn’t have a plan and doesn’t know what changes need to be made or even should be made despite being in the organization since 2017. There’s supposed to be a limit to incompetence for both the owner and the GM, right?
Maybe he’ll post a poll here on MLBTR so various baseball fans can advise him?
I don’t understand the negativity around the White Sox. They are most likely improve from 2023 where they are about to lose 100 games. The future is not as grim, as they are most likely to lose only 90 games next year.
White Sox:
This team has a great core:
The core:
Luis Robert – 5.1 fWAR (5 out of 134 OF in the league)
Yoan Moncada – 0.7 fWAR (33 out of 49 3B in the league)
Andrew Vaughn – 0.3 fWAR (36 out of 47 1B in the league)
Eloy Jimenez – 0.3 fWAR (28 out of 40 DH in the league)
Andrew Benintendi – 0.3 fWAR (109 out of 134 OF in the league. Sox biggest contract in history)
Tim Anderson – -0.8 fWAR (39 out of 41 SS in the league)
Min 230 PA*
Dylan Cease – 2.8 fWAR (26 out of 50 SP in the league. Qualified)
Michael Kopech – -0.9 fWAR (107 out of 107 SP in the league. Min 100 IP)
The only good player in this core is Luis Robert
They will not sign any top free agents, they will return this same core and hope everyone has a career year, yet they wonder why they don’t perform. The owner wants to “turn this around as quickly as possible”. There is no quick fix. Best course is trade Robert and go through another rebuild. They will most likely lose 90 games next year, and won’t have a winning season in the next 5 years.
@tesseract – The biggest boost for the White Sox would be the huge amount of payroll capacity they have. After declining a few bad options, the White Sox probably have $75MM+ in actual free agent room for next year.
They’d need a competent GM to do something with the budget, though. Seems like that’s probably not a high percentage play… ha
If they’re going to spend $200MM. But they have 8-9 positions that need upgrades. 3 starters & at least that many Relievers, a corner outfielder, a 2B, a SS, and really a 3B too because Moncada is lost.
They need to tear down further and develop players.
Spotrac
Moncada $25MM, Benintendi $17MM, Jimenez $14MM, Robert $13MM, Bummer $6MM. $75MM in guaranteed contract money next year.
Cease is going to be their only big arbitration salary other than the guaranteed contracts. Maybe a total of $35-40MM.
That’d put them at $185-190MM, assuming they trade nobody. Probably a little over their max, though, to be fair.
Did Jerry prepare this speech for Getz?
The team has basically checked out on Grifol now, but really was not around since the AS break. Grifol admitted he did not know about the lack of leadership in the locker room until 2/3rd of the season being over. Getz says he is still around next season. I doubt other changes will be made, like jettisoning coaches like their third base coach (who has tried to get his players hurt by sending them when they have no chance of scoring) and their sleepy pitching coach in Katz who basically was caught on camera with his clipboard and counter being more attentive to the BP pitcher in the game instead of Kopech, who was having a back and forth with Grifol. Just a train wreck and it isn’t changing if Grifol is here next season.
I have no confidence in Getz but he’s the man now. All I can do is do my best to give him a fair chance but my patience as a fan has become very minimal. The White Sox are not a well rounded team and I’m not convinced they can be one in the course of one off season. It’s certainly a difficult challenge for anyone, let alone someone without experience.
I really hope it works among all doubt.
It is generally pretty hard to turn a 100 loss team around in one off season. Even with the awesome work that the Reds have gotten from their young guys, they’re still not really a “well rounded team” and the Sox definitely don’t have that much talent in their system.
Except they’re not really a 100 loss team- still have much of the core that were in the playoffs back to back. Their regression to the mean record is most likely the 81-81- which in the sad sack ALC puts them right in the thick of things. Wooha
We could have picked a smart assistant GM from a winning organization like the Rays or the Cubs but we take the easy way and a hire a terrible executive from our own terrible team. Nice job Jerry.