The Chicago White Sox need to have each and every player on the roster that impacted the 2023 team graded. There isn’t going to be much pretty going on here but everyone needs a letter grade for their performance.
We are going to start here with Yasmani Grandal. Grandal signed with the White Sox in 2019 and received (at the time) the highest-paid contract in the history of the franchise. Since then, there have been some ups and downs.
The 2022 season was certainly a down for Grandal so he wanted to bounce back this time around. 2023 was slightly better for him but it wasn’t good enough to consider bringing him back now that his bad contract is up. Even for a considerable discount, the answer is no.
Grandal was still a negative WAR player in 2023 as he finished with -0.7. He slashed .234/.309/.339 with an OPS of .647. Those numbers are terrible so seeing that he only had 8 home runs, 33 RBIs, and 33 runs scored makes it even worse. His time of being a dominant hitter is done.
The Chicago White Sox didn't have much luck with Yasmani Grandal.
As far as defense, it is hard to get worse as a catcher. He was a great player in that area as well once upon a time but the game has passed him by in that area as well. It got to the point where he looked lost back there.
The clubhouse was not a healthy thriving one in 2023 and Grandal played a part in that as well. Instead of being a leader (both on and off the field), he was just a part of the problem.
When people remember Grandal’s time with the White Sox, they’ll probably remember that he was mostly disappointing. However, some may choose to remember 2021 as he was brilliant.
Final Grade: F
The Chicago White Sox will be getting a lot of F’s this season. Most of their players were horrible and Grandal was one of them. It is mostly because of the fact that his body started to show signs of decline after all of those years as a catcher.
He couldn't hit for power with regularity anymore and there were other young players that deserved to play more at times.
2024 outlook
2024 is going to be a very interesting year for Yasmani Grandal. If he doesn't retire, he may get a tryout somewhere but don't expect to have the all-world catcher back ever again. Two really bad years in a row just about does it for him at this age.