Mets just joined White Sox's Pedro Grifol in a club managers are terrified to join

Of all the recent disasters by the Chicago White Sox, none rings louder than the hiring of former manager Pedro Grifol. The former Royals coach was advertised as an analytically-savvy leader who would pick the White Sox up after a disappointing 2022 season. Instead, his tenure in Chicago was the complete opposite. The White Sox struggles reached an all-time high and initiated a full-scale rebuild. With the 2026 New York Mets currently in a free-fall, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has joined Grifol on an unfortunate list.

It’s not a guaranteed death sentence for Carlos Mendoza’s managerial career, but the only manager on the list still employed by their team is Dbacks manager Torey Lovullo, who took Arizona to the World Series the very next year. The Mets and Mendoza are spiraling, and if they’re not careful, they’ll end up in the same place the White Sox and Grifol ended up. 

The Pedro Grifol experiment was the worst era in White Sox history

To be honest, the 2023 and 2024 White Sox were the most miserable I’ve ever been as a baseball fan. The rough part about 2023 was the expectation that things would be better. The White Sox finished 81-81 in 2022 and brought most of the team back, adding Andrew Benintendi to the outfield. The White Sox and their fans expected a bounce-back, but instead were left with a disaster that led to the firing of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams. It seemed the White Sox were always in the news for all the wrong reasons, with clubhouse drama and embarrassing play a regular occurrence. 

Entering 2024, White Sox fans knew it wasn’t going to be great. The team traded away most of their talent and added defensive role players. But I don’t think anyone anticipated just how bad it was going to be. Not only did Pedro Grifol and the White Sox lose 12 straight games as indicated on the list above, but the White Sox tied the American League record with 21 straight losses and set the all-time mark with 121 for the season. As for Grifol, he didn’t make it through the season, finishing his White Sox stint with a .319 winning percentage, one of the worst marks for a manager in MLB history. 

As bad as the Mets spiral has been, they’re a significantly more talented team than the 2023 or 2024 White Sox, so it’s highly unlikely their free-fall extends this far. Even if 2026 isn’t their year, with the wealthiest owner in baseball, they’re certain to address their needs effectively this winter. But it could easily spell the end for Carlos Mendoza in New York, and he may exit with his last accomplishment being an unfortunate one. 

It’s our hope that as White Sox fans, we never have to go through another 2023-2024 in our lifetime. In fact, I wouldn’t wish that kind of sports misery on our biggest rival (okay, I lied. I would.). Things feel a bit better now. The team improved by 19 games in 2025 and even the questionable decisions by Will Venable don't seen near the same level as the Grifol disaster. The White Sox aren't yet a good team, but they're on the way up, and they've put the infamous Grifol-era behind them.

For the sanity of Mets fans, I hope their luck turns around soon. The Pedro Grifol era is a time period that many White Sox fans are trying to permanently block from their memory, and if things don't turn around, Mets fans could soon feel the same way about Carlos Mendoza.

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