White Sox Scapegoats: 1 to fire, 1 to put on the hot seat, and one to be patient with
The Chicago White Sox are not in an ideal position right now. They don't win more than they lose and the future isn't particularly bright.
A lot of that has to do with the poor decision-making made by multiple different people. No one person is at fault for this thing not working. Everyone deserves the blame.
Although the players should take some heat, you can't fire them all. Yes, you can make moves to get rid of some but the scapegoats are always front-office people.
There are some scapegoats that should be fired or on the hot seat and some that deserve patience. This is one White Sox person that deserves to be fired, one that deserves that hot seat, and one that people should be patient with:
1. Should be fired: Rick Hahn
Rick Hahn does not deserve to be with the Chicago White Sox anymore.
Rick Hahn has been the general manager of the Chicago White Sox for a long time and very little success has come from it.
It is not his fault that Jerry Reinsdorf went above him and hired Tony La Russa (which was a terrible decision) but that isn't the only reason that this team is bad.
Hahn has made some horrific decisions that can be named as reasons that the rebuild has failed. It looked promising at first but has since fallen off.
He is also someone who doesn't give good answers when talking to the media. He talks like everyone listening is incapable of picking up what is actually going on. It is insulting.
The White Sox would be making a terrible mistake if they let Rick Hahn be the leader of another rebuild.
2. Should be on the hot seat: Pedro Grifol
The Chicago White Sox should see Pedro Grifol on the hot seat.
The Chicago White Sox hired Pedro Grifol during the 2022-23 off-season to replace Tony La Russa who was horrific in his second tenure as Chicago White Sox manager.
Grifol came into an impossible situation that not many would have succeded in. This team is bad and poorly managed above him which makes his job difficult.
At times, it seems as if the players like playing for him and he helps them feel good about their games.
However, he should still be on the hot seat. For one, nobody in a position of true power should be excused for the way this season is going. Grifol is included in that.
He also hasn't done that good of a job managing in his own right. The lineups have been weird, he seems stuck in his ways when something clearly isn't going right, and his strategy in-game is off.
Grifol shouldn't necessarily be fired right now but the team should be evaluating him with the chance of letting him go at some point. In other words, he is on the hot seat but he has a chance to get off it still.
3. Deserves patience: Ethan Katz
Ethan Katz doesn't deserve to be blamed for anything with this team.
When you think about all of the players that the White Sox might be able to trade because of their value, most of them are pitchers.
Ethan Katz, although some may disagree, has done a good job as the team's pitching coach since taking over for Don Cooper.
Katz was an assistant pitching coach with the San Francisco Giants before his job with the White Sox. He is famous for being the high school pitching coach for Lucas Giolito, Jack Flaherty, and Max Fried. His success doesn't end there either.
The White Sox have mostly had good pitching during his tenure. There have been a couple of pitchers that have fallen off like Aaron Bummer, Dallas Keuchel, and Jake Diekman but those guys would pretty much be bad pitching like this with any pitching coach.
This isn't to say that Katz deserves a lifetime contract or has even been a savior but it would be nice to see him as a pitching coach on a team with sustained success. People sure liked him in 2021 when everything was going right for the team as a whole.
Next. The 15 worst contracts in Chicago White Sox history. dark