The clock is ticking for Pedro Grifol.
The question is when Grifol will be relieved of his duties as the second-year manager of the MLB-worst division White Sox, a team that bears little resemblance to a major league team. According to The Athletic.
The White Sox have lost 12 straight games entering Wednesday’s city matchup against the Cubs.
“All preparations are in place for a managerial change,” MLB insider Ken Rosenthal wrote. “The only question is when it will happen.”
The White Sox are a completely terrible team, and it’s usually the managers, not the players, who pay the price, so the excitement in Grifol’s seat is to be expected.
Grifol leads the White Sox with a 76-147 record (34.1%).
Grifol may have made a mistake last month when he called the team “crazy as hell” after a loss to the Orioles on May 26 and then didn’t retract that comment the next day.
One player told The Athletic that Grifol made a mistake by publicly communicating that sentiment to the team after previously expressing the same sentiment in a team meeting.
Another factor working against the 54-year-old is that he was succeeded by the current administration.
Former White Sox general manager Rick Hahn hired Grifol to succeed Tony La Russa as the team’s manager in November 2022.
The Hahn-Grifol pairing lasted less than a season, and Chicago fired Hahn and executive vice president Kenny Williams last August as the White Sox finished the season with a 61-101 record.
The White Sox hired Chris Getz to replace Hahn, a former assistant general manager, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he made the hire himself.
Rosenthal speculated that Getz may have to decide whether to keep Grifol or cut him if the White Sox decide to promote some of their top prospects later this summer.
He’ll have to consider whether Grifol is creating an environment that helps rookies develop, or if it would be better to take another step forward with the addition of younger players.
There’s also the fact that this lineup was created by Getz and Hahn, not Grifol, and a manager can only work with the pieces he’s given.
But ultimately, the decision will rest with unpredictable owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
“Reinsdorf is acting on his own whim, no one else’s,” Rosenthal writes.
