Grifol is the Southside Scapegoat

It’s been a year to forget for the Chicago White Sox. Their lowlights have included a 2-15 start to the season, a 21-game losing streak, and they’re on pace to pass the 1962 Mets for MLB’s all-time loss record. It’s hard to believe just a few years ago this team won 93 games, an AL Central title, and went to the ALCS. 

But they’ve fallen a long way since then. Almost every player who was part of that run, except for Luis Robert Jr and a couple others, are gone. Things have gone from bad to worse on the Southside, and it was just a matter of time before someone lost their job.

That someone turned out to be manager Pedro Grifol. 

Grifol, in just his second year in the White Sox dugout, was fired earlier this week. And I get it. I really do. Going 28-91 with a double-digit losing streak mixed in isn’t a formula for job security. But Grifol isn’t the problem. He was saddled with a subpar roster and put in an impossible situation.

It’s a miracle he won 61 games last year. And what exactly was the front office expecting this year? Even the best managers can only do so much with a poorly constructed team. And make no mistake…this White Sox team is poorly constructed. I’m not saying Grifol should’ve kept his job, but I’m not saying he should’ve lost it either. 

But at least give the guy a fair shake. Give him a roster that’s, at the very least, competitive. Instead, the White Sox made Grifol the scapegoat and are in search of their next manager. And for whoever that ends up being, I have two words of free advice: good luck.

Because with a stingy owner like Jerry Reinsdorf holding the purse strings it doesn’t matter who’s in the dugout.