2 ways Grifol has been better than La Russa and 1 way he's been the same
2022 was an absolute disaster for the Chicago White Sox in many ways. They didn't play well for the majority of the season and still managed to go 81-81 and come in second place.
There are a lot of reasons for that but a lot of the blame has to go to two factors. The first factor is injury. There are a lot of really good players that spent time on the Injured List which will obviously make the team worse.
There was also a problem with the manager. Tony La Russa was one of the greatest managers of all time but his second stint with the White Sox did not go well at all.
There were a lot of issues with his ability to manage at that point including his health. Now, the team has moved on to Pedro Grifol who has taken over as the manager. He comes from the Kansas City Royals where he was most recently serving as the bench coach.
The Chicago White Sox need everyone to be at their best in 2023.
When he was first hired and all the way through the off-season, he said all of the right things and so has general manager Rick Hahn. With that in mind, talk is cheap after a year like 2022. Everyone wanted to see how it went on the field first before jumping to any conclusions.
Through spring training and the first five games of the season, he has already been an upgrade over La Russa in a few ways and there are still some things for him to work on. These are the two ways that he has been better than TLR and one way he has been the same:
There are two ways that Pedro Grifol has been better than Tony La Russa.
1. Lineups
The lineups haven't been perfect so far from Pedro Grifol but we also don't know what is perfect just yet as the season is still so young.
It would be nice to see Andrew Benintendi out of the three-hole. He is not a power-hitting run producer so it just seems weird to keep him there.
However, that is not as egregious as having Leury Garcia batting second or first. Grifol won't be set in his ways either. Unlike the manager before him, it is obvious that Grifol will make adjustments when necessary. Again, it hasn't been perfect but it's been an improvement.
2. Good vibes
The vibes were awful under Tony La Russa. The team looked like they didn't want to be there on most days, they didn't work hard for their coach, and it seemed like a very lethargic group.
That has not been the case for Pedro Grifol's crew. We don't know for sure if he is a good manager or not yet but we do know that the players enjoy playing for him so far.
We have seen good effort from everyone all the time no matter what. That is a sign that as the players start to get their legs going even more, they can combine that with a tremendous effort which will allow them to win more baseball games than they did last year.
You saw the vibes get better with Miguel Cairo at the end of 2022 but it was too little too late. Now, they have something to work with here in 2023 with Pedro Grifol.
There is one area that Pedro Grifol has been the same as Tony La Russa.
1. Pitching management
In his second stint with the White Sox, Tony La Russa didn't handle the pitching all that well. In fact, he was borderline awful. Some of the things he did with starters and relievers made people really scratch their heads and wonder why.
So far in 2023, Pedro Grifol hasn't been much of an upgrade. For one, he has used Jake Diekman and Jose Ruiz in way too many different situations. Those guys should be reserved for games that are out of reach one way or another.
He also left Michael Kopech in the game for far too long in the home opener. There was no reason for him to have to give up four home runs in one inning when it wasn't that early in the outing anymore. That didn't do Kopech or the team any favors.
In this area of managing, Pedro Grifol has looked like a rookie manager. At least he doesn't have the "Hall of Fame baseball person" mentality to rely on and stay stuck in his ways. He might be smart enough to make adjustments to his style so that the bullpen and starters can succeed.
If Pedro Grifol continues to improve and the team responds, they could end up being a playoff team. If that did happen, we could be talking about someone in consideration for manager of the year. Hopefully, that ends up being the case.
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