The Chicago White Sox had a dismal 2023. There is no denying that. They didn’t play nearly as well as anyone had hoped that they would and stumbled virtually right out of the gate.
There are several reasons why they couldn’t do what their fans wanted them to (win games and make the playoffs). While there are many reasons for this failure, there are three glaring mistakes that the White Sox made that helped to set them on a path toward destruction for the 2023 season.
We are going to look at those mistakes and try to figure out what went wrong. Finally, we will see if it’s something that the White Sox can correct in 2024, or if it’s too late for this year and they will have to suffer through another year of the mistakes.
So, without further ado, let us take a look at the three biggest mistakes the White Sox made in 2023 and whether or not they will make them again in 2024.
Hiring Pedro Grifol
Simply put, hiring Pedro Grifol was the biggest mistake the White Sox made in 2024. They brought on board a manager with no real Major League managing experience to run a team that was poised to make the playoffs. I believe that it was Grifol that allowed the clubhouse to get out of control and thus allow for all the internal issues that the White Sox suffered from in 2023. All the turmoil that we know about, plus all that we don’t know about, is a direct cause of his hiring.
The White Sox didn’t make things right and have brought Grifol back for another year. We can only hope Grifol has seen the light, so to speak, and is now ready to become a big-league manager. The White Sox wanted to give him another shot at making things right and he better do that in 2024 or else he’s going to be gone at the end of the season. I wouldn’t take bets on that.
The White Sox tend to do things a bit opposite of the way that many people think that they should be done.
Let’s hope that Grifol cleans it up and becomes the manager that the White Sox and their fans hoped he would be when he was hired last year.