The Chicago White Sox have had a managerial issue for a long time now. They have only made bad decisions with their hires since losing Ozzie Guillen in 2012.
Robin Ventura and Rick Renteria were both hired after Ozzie but before the rebuild. Neither of them was good at their job and a lot of losing went down under them.
Renteria was there for a little bit after the rebuild was in motion and he proved that he can have his guys ready to play hard every single day. He was fired after the 2020 season due to strategy-related reasons.
From there, the White Sox started an even worse trend with their managerial hires. Jerry Reinsdorf forced Tony La Russa into management's hands to make up for a mistake he made 40 years prior.
He was as bad as expected and the team was never the same despite having tons of talent. They were good despite him in 2021 but the warts started to show in 2022.
The Chicago White Sox made another horrific decision after TLR left.
Health issues forced him out and they hired Pedro Grifol to take his place. Grifol ended up being even worse than La Russa which is saying something. As a result of that, the White Sox were one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball in 2023.
You'd think that they'd fire Grifol after that 61-101 season. They already fired Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams who were in charge when Grifol was hired so they had no loyalty to Grifol anymore. New GM Chris Getz would be better off hiring his manager and giving someone else a chance.
Grifol was as bad as any manager in team history. The bullpen management was terrible, the in-game strategy was nasty, and the players looked like they had no interest in playing hard for him.
There were locker room issues as well. There was a serious culture problem and no rules were implemented. The leadership was non-existent and Grifol was in charge of it all.
The frustration even took place on the field. You might remember when Tim Anderson got into a fight with Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians.
There were even reports of a physical altercation between Anderson and Yasmani Grandal in the clubhouse before the All-Star break. Things were just bad.
Even the postgame interviews that Grifol gave made him look bad. He acted like they were still in the race in August when they were well below .500. Either he was delusional or he thought the media and fans were dumb.
By the end of the season, it felt like Grifol was a babysitter for a bunch of kids who didn't want to behave. It was so clear that they didn't care. Managers usually get fired after years like that.
There is no reason for Grifol to be brought back as a result of all these issues. However, it is very on-brand for this organization to ignore all of those issues and bring Grifol back. They should not be keeping him for the 2024 season, but they are.