MLB Insider Offers Scathing Assessment on Pedro Grifol’s White Sox Professional Status originally appeared in NBC Sports Chicago
O Chicago White Sox are ready for a second consecutive 100-loss season, but will the club pull the trigger on a management change?
According to to Bob Nightengale of USA TodayThe White Sox have “no immediate plans” to remove Pedro Grifol as manager, even in the midst of one of the worst stretches of play in team history.
“The White Sox believe it would make no sense to hire and pay another manager when the team’s fortunes will not change, no matter who is in the dugout,” Nightengale wrote.
Grifol is owed $3 million next season, and the White Sox are “expected to reevaluate” his position with the club after the season.
O White Sox recently set a franchise record for the longest losing streak in a single season, losing 14 consecutive games before beating the Boston Red Sox on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The White Sox entered Monday’s game against the Seattle Mariners with a 17-49 record, 26 games out of first place and owners of the worst run differential in Major League Baseball at minus-144. They have scored 203 runs this season, the fewest in the majors.
In 228 games with the White Sox, Grifol posted a 78-150 record, with his .342 winning percentage being the worst in team history.
Grifol has repeatedly said he is not worried about his professional situation, focusing on the task at hand as he tries to turn around the team’s fortunes after a terrible start to the season.
“I care about this, everyone around here, my job,” he told CHGO this week. “I will do my best every day, no matter what, because that’s what I live for, that’s what I’m passionate about. This is what I was born for. In my mind, in my heart, this is what I was born to do.”
