Tony La Russa was not a good manager at all in 2022. He made terrible decisions in terms of strategy, made horrible in-game adjustments, and had lousy bullpen management. Of course, we wish him nothing but the best with his health but he wasn’t a good manager anymore.
Now, the Chicago White Sox have moved on. Instead of going back and hiring old recycled managers that failed in other places, they hired a bright bench coach that deserved a shot to be the new manager in charge.
That person is Pedro Grifol who spent the last few years with the Kansas City Royals. He has had a lot of success there and he knows the AL Central Division very well. We don’t know if this was a good hire or not but we will soon find out.
On Saturday, the White Sox released a quote from Pedro Grifol that takes guts to say. He made the claim that expectations are high and that he doesn’t believe this is a rebuild situation. That is a good thing to hear from him.
Looking to do special things with this team. pic.twitter.com/AzKoIOeVpX
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) February 4, 2023
Pedro Grifol has high hopes for his Chicago White Sox squad in 2023.
There are some people that might roll their eyes at that. For one, the team was very lethargic in 2022 and didn’t show the compete level needed on a daily basis. They were also extremely unhealthy. In addition, this is an unproven manager saying these things.
Still, that is better than him saying the opposite. This team has a lot of talent and deserves a manager that is going to go out there and convince his team that they can win. They just might believe him. With that kind of attitude, good things could happen.
The White Sox are going to look a little bit different this year. Andrew Vaughn is going to be the starting first baseman because Jose Abreu has moved on. Andrew Benintendi is now the richest player in team history. Dylan Cease is the ace from day one.
A lot of these things are risky but they seem to be in a good mindset with a positive coach at the help. It doesn’t seem like attitude is going to be an issue for this team as it was in 2022 and at times in 2021.
You might remember the Rick Renteria days. He wasn’t amazing with X’s and O’s but he had those boys playing hard every single day no matter what. If Grifol can get them back to that and be a bit better with the baseball managing part, this team could be good again.
Don’t underestimate good vibes in pro sports. It was evident early last season that they didn’t have good vibes. Once the injuries started to pile up, you saw what happened.