It was speculated Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol would not keep his job if the team was swept by the Minnesota Twins.
Well, he was allowed on the plane to head out to Oakland.
Do not fret that he will never be removed as the manager. According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, it is a moment of when and not if he gets fired.
The problem with keeping Grifol in charge of the lineup card is the owner has signaled he is fine with this historic losing streak.
There are two speculated reasons Grifol still has a job despite his overall record now being 100 games under .500. The first reason is that owner Jerry Reinsdorf does not want to pay Grifol to sit at home for the two months.
That is a terrible reason because Grifol is going to be owed his money no matter if he is managing or not. With how terribly he has led this team, it would be better to pay him to go home.
The second reason to stick it out with Grifol for the rest of the year is that this team is going to be awful no matter who is the manager. While it is a sound idea, it completely abdicates accountability in this situation.
That is why this losing streak is frustrating or embarrassing but falls just short of upsetting. You cannot be upset with how bad things have gotten because it has been awful all season long.
It is embarrassing that the ownership is comfortable with keeping Grifol in charge just for the sake of getting a bang for the buck attached to what is owed to him. Economics is driving this decision when it should be trying to avoid being historically awful that should be driving decisions.
Sad is the best way to describe the situation. This team has decayed into being awful well before this season. It is also sad the owner has not reached a level of embarrassment where he has not allowed his general manager to make a move. Accepting that it is the current state and not even trying to do anything different to get a victory is depressing.