When the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol (along with bench coach Charlie Montoyo, assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar and third base coach Eddie Rodriguez), they handed Grady Sizemore the unenviable task of steering the ship for the remainder of a historically inept season. The Sox are currently tied for the modern era record with 120 losses and figure to establish a new benchmark for futility in the coming days. At the time Sizemore was elevated to the top job in the dugout, general manager Chris Getz plainly stated that the Sox would conduct a managerial search and hire a new skipper from outside the organization after the season. It now seems that Sizemore will at least be considered for the permanent post, however.
“Grady’s in consideration,” Getz said this week (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). “He has a lot of traits we’re looking for.”
The Sox will still conduct an extensive search for their next skipper, Getz emphasized. Sizemore will be one of many candidates from what the GM called a “deep pool” that they’ve cultivated since Grifol’s dismissal. (It’s not clear whether that pool will include Double-A manager and former Sox reliever Sergio Santos, but he’s publicly thrown his hat into the ring and voiced a desire to manage the club.) Still, Getz noted that Sizemore’s “temperament is exactly what we needed” for the remainder of the current season and praised his rookie manager’s communication skills with the players. Van Schouwen adds that Sizemore has another year remaining on his coaching contract, so it seems likely he’ll remain with the organization beyond the ’24 season in at least some capacity.
ESPN’s Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers report that Sizemore had never voiced a desire to manage prior to being promoted to his current post, but his strong relationship with the players made him the front office’s pick. Time will tell whether that leads to a more solid appointment following the season.
More broadly, Olney and Rogers explore the staggering levels of dysfunction that have permeated the White Sox organization this season. It’s a deep dive into the team’s many failures across virtually all levels, highlighting clubhouse rifts that date back to the 2023 season and questionable decisions from owner Jerry Reinsdorf, among many other fascinating aspects.
As has been suggested in the past, Rogers and Olney write that former general manager Rick Hahn appeared to have zeroed in on A.J. Hinch as the team’s new manager following the 2020 season when Reinsdorf went over his head and hired longtime friend and former White Sox skipper Tony La Russa. One club source told the ESPN pair that Grifol inherited “as negative a place as I’ve seen anywhere” in the game when he took over as manager. La Russa remains involved with the organization as an advisor and, notably, gave positive feedback about Getz when Reinsdorf fired longtime baseball operations leaders Hahn and Kenny Williams. That’s not to say Getz was promoted based solely on La Russa’s recommendation, but it’s a notable bit of context given that he was tabbed the new GM after just nine days and with no external search conducted.
There are countless other bits throughout the ESPN piece making it a must-read piece for fans not only of the White Sox but any club. Rogers and Olney delve into some specifics on the trade deadline, noting that the Sox targeted top Phillies prospect Andrew Painter when Philadelphia was in pursuit of Garrett Crochet — a price at which the Phillies balked. The Dodgers, per the report, believed they could make a compelling offer without including catcher Dalton Rushing, but that offer “never developed” in the end. They instead acquired Jack Flaherty from Detroit in exchange for another top catching prospect, Thayron Liranzo, and current Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney.
Crochet stayed in Chicago, as Getz and his staff were intent on getting their price met or revisiting the trade market for Crochet this winter. That’ll surely be the case, and Crochet will enter the season as perhaps the top trade candidate in the sport. The asking price will again be astronomical, but there will also theoretically be more bidders for him — in addition to a lack of concern about his status for pitching in the postseason and/or his reported desire for a contract extension.
Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. will be the last vestiges of the core that propelled the White Sox to playoff berths in 2020 and 2021. The rest have either been traded or, like third baseman Yoan Moncada, will become free agents at season’s end. Moncada has a $25MM club option, but the Sox will pay a $5MM buyout on that option and send him into free agency for the first time in his career.
Moncada, still just 29 years old, tells Bruce Levine of 670 The Score that he plans to play winter ball this offseason in order to showcase his health for the other 29 teams in the game. He missed nearly the entire season due to an adductor strain and has scarcely played since being reinstated from the 60-day injured list earlier this month. Chicago has been committed too getting the younger Miguel Vargas — acquired at the deadline in the three-team Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech/Tommy Pham swap — regular playing time at the hot corner even as he struggles mightily at the plate.
That’s left Moncada with just one plate appearance this month, despite the fact that he was activated back on Sept. 16. He’s hitting .275/.356/.400 on the season in a tiny sample of 45 plate appearances. On the one hand, it’s confounding that the Sox would leave a talented and fairly productive veteran out of the lineup as they try to stave off their inevitable date with history. On the other, Moncada clearly isn’t in the team’s plans going forward, so there’s some sense to allocating those at-bats to younger players.
Moncada once ranked as the top prospect in the sport. He signed with the Red Sox after leaving Cuba, taking home a massive $31.5MM signing bonus (which cost Boston a 100% tax under the former international free agent system, bringing their total price to $63MM). He landed in Chicago alongside Kopech as one two headliners in the trade sending Chris Sale to Fenway Park. It took a couple years, but by 2019 Moncada looked on the cusp of stardom. He swatted 25 homers while batting .315/.367/.548 in just 559 plate appearances. That breakout contributed to Chicago extending Moncada on a five-year, $70MM deal covering the 2020-24 seasons.
The contract hasn’t aged well. Moncada gave the Sox one healthy, productive season in 2021 but has otherwise spent more time on the injured list than in the lineup. Even when healthy, he’s been below-average at the plate more often than not. He’s appeared in 404 of 703 possible games during that five-year period and slashed .244/.326/.395 along the way. That’s league-average production on the whole (101 wRC+), but the vast majority of that positive output came during the aforementioned ’21 season.
A healthy showing in winter ball would surely help Moncada’s stock this offseason. He’s likely looking at a low-cost one-year contract with incentives baked in to potentially boost his guarantee. There’s clearly a talented player beneath all the recent health troubles. Moncada has had seasons worth five wins above replacement (2019) and four WAR (2021). He’s still on the right side of 30. It wouldn’t be a total shock to see him return to form in ’25 — almost assuredly with a new club — and then cash in on a multi-year deal the following offseason.
Jump 84
Mr. Reinsdorf please sell the team . Terrible brand of baseball from low a ball to ownership. Empty seats ask the southside. Also includes Chicago bulls.
Rsox
I’m not sure if Hinch would have made a discernible difference. This team has been taking on water for years and the ship finally capsized. Reinsdorf and his front office lived too hard for too long off of the 2005 championship and have zero presence in international scouting beyond the collection of Cuban players they collected
Very Barry
Clayton McCullough from the Dodgers is my pick to be the next skipper of the Chicago White Sox.
Banix12
I don’t understand why they don’t just release Moncada if they have no intention of playing him.
chopper2hopper
Does it matter in the slightest
DarkSide830
If Sizemore is liked by the club, then might as well keep him around. It’s clear they’re not gonna be great in 2025, so might as well go with a guy that should be able to keep everyone together.
Carl Winslow
Lifelong White Sox fan here.
Grady Sizemore is not the man for the job. What they need is a culture change within the clubhouse. They need someone who the fans recognize and respect. Someone who loves the organization. Not some interim manager who’s claim to fame is being a former Cleveland Indians player who had 4 good years then turned into Mr Glass.
Give us “OFFICER” RON KARKOVICE.
– Carl Winslow
Dogbone
Does anyone know if William Legue Sr or Jr are still in the area. Maybe Hawkeroo is interested? They all have that fire within
Very Barry
Clayton McCullough from the Dodgers is the guy.
all in the suit that you wear
Suddenly the White Sox have won 3 in a row and 5 of their last 10.
Canuckleball
Wouldn’t it be just the perfect finale to the White Sox season if after getting to the 120 loss mark, they won the last 6 games and end up not setting the new loss record.
They couldn’t even do that right.
I’m sure they will lose at least one of the next three, but it would be funny if they missed out on the new record.
all in the suit that you wear
Yes. Crazy things happen in baseball.
msqboxer
Well they aren’t going to pay a manager much, so it’s going to have to be someone young. Let’s stop acting like liberals and blaming other people. Getz assembled the team, staff and executed the dumb trades. Not to mention he was the farm director and there is nothing there.
njbirdsfan
As opposed to blaming the government when your small business failed during covid instead of your incompetence?
Emilia
Had that been said, it would totally be correct. Fauci the fraud ruined a lot for a great many people.
johnsilver
No wonder Crochet remained with Chicago at the deadline. I can see Rushing, but top flight pitching prospects, in the present are of higher value than most top flight position prospects. Not even a free trader, like Dombrowski would have been foolish enough to give away 6y of Painter.
Aiden Awe
White Sox don’t need a catcher. They need high quality OF prospects.
Samuel
Aiden Awe;
They need everything.
Get the best players they can back, even if they are AAA guys. They’re so far away from having a decent 26 man roster that to expect one in 2025 or 2026 is unrealistic.
Catcher is the most important position on a MLB team. If they have 2 developed they can always get multiple quality prospects back for one of them.
oh cey can you see
Too bad the White Sox didn’t play the Angels 162 times – they would have set a record for most wins in a season instead of losses. They went 5-1 against the Angels!
njbirdsfan
If you honestly believe any manager in the history of baseball could take this roster to even .500 I’ve got an amazing investment opportunity for you.
mlb fan
Leadership almost always comes from the top on down. Without good solid ownership it’s virtually impossible to be successful in MLB.
njbirdsfan
Boom. Exactly.
Which is why I’m pulling my hair out listening to my Pirates fans here thinking firing Shelton and Cherington is going to change anything.
Replace them, give them the same resources, MAYBE you get to .500. If everything breaks your way.
raz427
Chicago resident here and lived all my life, I have many close friendswho are diehard White Sox fans and even their parents before Jerry bought the team. They have the mentality as most Sox fans. Their spirits are broken, their love for the team and the game has been broken, the disconnect between Jerry and the fanbase continues to grow game by game and year by year. They are tired of the 2005 talk. It was nearly four presidents ago. They keep talking about how it’s embarrassing to wear any Sox gear or have the pride of being a Sox fan publicly. All of that stems from Jerry being clueless on how to run a modern day MLB franchise in 2024 and not in 1994. They tell me the same things I read on this site for Sox articles. They have zero hope that front office and ownership will hire a guy who can come in and reestablish a winning and healthy environment. They believe it will be Sizemore because that’s what Jerry does, he lowballs 1st year managers. If you don’t believe me look at the trend, Jerry Manuel, Ozzie, Robin, Renteria and Grifol. The international scouting is a joke as well. They have not made it a priority to draft hitters and when they do, they take guys that do not fit their timeline. The organizational chart and values that most MLB implement, this team does not have a damn sense of what to do when a player is in a slump, neither do the broadcasters both on TV and radio. Most organizations would send down a guy like Andrew Vaughn to reestablish his swing and power, most organizations would send a message to their “best players” that lack of hustle, accountability and professionalism is mandatory. This team might as well move to Nashville because as long as Jerry is alive, this team will not sniff the playoffs, yet a world series. If you think those 18-22 pitching prospects will fetch you a real MLB team filled with quality hitters then you are apart of the problem that Jerry loves to brainwash. Noah Schultz? Do you honestly think before his arbitration cases start early next decade will sniff the playoffs as long he is a member of the White Sox? Same goes with Drew Thorpe, Hagen Smith and the list goes on and on. The strength and conditioning is an issue too. So many injuries to the SAME players for multiple years. It’s like Groundhog Day for Sox fans since 2017. 2020 and 2021 was a mirage and there were real red flags top to bottom within this franchise, but it was swept away because they made playoffs back to back years for the first time in their history. They can’t even sell 2025 tickets for their 125th anniversary because of the horrendous and historic 2024 season. You want a better product for baseball? Watch the Brewers and see how they sustain their winning ways (assuming you won’t ever root for the Cubs). If you’re looking for a competent owner with accountability and willingness and desire to win and sustain it for multiple years with payroll, minor leagues, etc then you’re looking at the wrong place on 35th and Shields because it’s a cemetery where fans hopes are dead, and players careers will wither away to virtually non-existence.
And no I am not a former White Sox employee or spokesman for anybody who previously played or worked within the organization.
Aiden Awe
I hear you. They hit rock bottom. They’ll make the postseason one more time before Jerry is dead sooner nor later. But after this season, they have anywhere but to go up. Solutions don’t happen overnight.
Emilia
Moncada and Viciedo would like to chime in.
Behn Wilson
Life long fan here too who drifted from baseball because of how bad the Sox have been. Relocated to AZ and rediscovered enjoyable baseball through the Diamondbacks. Competent front office, good manager and they have speed and play defense. Refreshing change from JR and his organization.
raz427
Behn, that’s exactly what a few of my Sox friends are saying these days. Arizona is a well managed, well constructed clubhouse with fundamentally sound players who have high baseball IQ. It’s a no brainer to me if I was you or him.
30 Parks
Fire Chris Getz.
sss847
Grady’s traits that we’re looking for: willing to work for 15$/hour
Behn Wilson
Yawn Moncada gets tired counting his $$.
mlb fan
Good thing I’m ALWAYS available to help count other people’s money. I have extremely reasonable rates too.
Edp007
Sox have been let down by the Moncado Eloy Luis Jr gang
8======D
“40 mill us greens pre tax says he don’t give a hoot what you all internet trolls think”
-Edp007
They are at what? 150 million us green backs pre tax? I doubt they give a hoot what you think
letitbelowenstein
How about Mike Matheny? Or, just to give fans a chuckle, John Farrell?