The Chicago White Sox introduced Pedro Grifol as the 42nd manager in team history on Thursday morning. It came out that he would be the guy earlier in the week but now it is officially official. He has a lot of work to do with this organization and now it begins for real.
It doesn't mean much to "win the press conference" but White Sox managerial hires usually don't even do that usually. You have to go back to Ozzie Guillen in 2004 to find a good introductory presser from a White Sox manager hire. He said all of the right things.
Grifol made it clear that he believes in analytics while also having a good feel for the game. The White Sox haven't been a good analytical team ever. He is the first person to come without a former White Sox tie in a very long time which makes sense based on this analytics fact.
That is the type of difference that this White Sox team needs. He already made it feel different than what they've had over the last few years. The vibes are already different around this man compared to those who came before him.
Grifol also didn't sugarcoat anything during his presser. He believes in finding out what made certain players regress in 2022 and whether or not they can fix it. That may take some time but it is good to know that he will be okay with moving on from people that don't perform.
The Chicago White Sox saw Pedro Grifol have an outstanding first presser.
Rick Hahn also spoke during this presser. He made it obvious that he is much happier these days than he previously was. You can take that as a shot at the former manager and staff or you can take it as he is happy to have moved on to Pedro Grifol.
Hahn was finally able to be a part of a managerial hire following his rebuild that brought in so many talented players. Although you can argue that he should have been let go after 2022 as well, we can now truly judge him with a manager that he picked out. This one wasn't forced on him.
The GM also talked a little bit about the roster. He made it clear that he is aware of the fact that too many people played out of position last year. He recognized that there might be a need for some roster changes to get players into the positions that suit them the best. That was good to hear.
Now, talk is cheap. Matt Nagy was amazing on the microphone early too. It is time to see what they can do to fix this roster's holes and get back to their winning ways. There is some talent in the division that they need to overcome. This is a great first step.