3 biggest mistakes that doomed the White Sox in 2023
The three biggest mistakes that doomed the Chicago White Sox in 2023.
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.
Not Trading Tim Anderson
The Chicago White Sox hit the trade deadline hard last year with several trades that seemed to make sense. They got rid of some deadweight on the mound and in return got a little something for the future. Now, I guess you could blame it on the fact that Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams were still in charge at the trade deadline and maybe they had some intentions of bringing shortstop Tim Anderson back in 2024. However, if they didn’t, they really should have traded him knowing he wasn’t going to be on the team this year.
Anderson wasn’t a hot commodity last year, but he could have brought something to the table for the White Sox. Something in return for his services is much better than what they are going to get now and that’s nothing. Of course, teams aren’t necessarily in a rush to try and sign him right now, but he still should have had a return on the trade market in 2023.
Hindsight is 20/20 and you can’t blame the current general manager, Chris Getz, for this one. Chalk it up to a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, the Sox can’t go back and have a do-over.
Not Hiring a General Manager from the Outside
This is a problem that is going to continue this year and that’s unfortunate. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf got his guy without interviewing anyone from anywhere else. That was a mistake.
If this team needed a new GM, which they did, they needed someone from outside the organization with fresh ideas and a fresh perspective on things. That tends to work well in some organizations but maybe not the White Sox? Who knows, but at least the owner could have gone out and interviewed someone outside of the organization to gain ideas and learn more about other organizations.
Having the same guy there, in Getz, almost defeats the purpose of firing Hahn and Williams. You are still stuck with the same thing, aren’t you? We’ll see.
Getz hasn’t wowed anyone with his offseason yet and probably won’t. And this flat offseason is going to lead to an even worse season where some think that the White Sox won’t even win 70 games. Change was necessary, change is what we got, but not the kind of change that this team needed.
They must now give Getz a chance to either look great or look terrible. A decision won’t come this year and probably not next year, either. Let’s just hope Getz “gets” his stuff together and the White Sox perform well because the way it looks right now, it appears as if another dismal season is ahead of us.