Grifol wants less talk, more winning going forward

September 16th, 2023

CHICAGO -- The time for talking involving the White Sox and their future is over, based on manager Pedro Grifol’s comments prior to a 10-2 loss to the Twins on Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Actions must now speak louder than words.

“Nobody wants to hear the talk anymore,” Grifol said. “Everybody just wants to see us win baseball games.

“I'm not going to sit here and promise anything. They've heard it for a long, long time. It's about us winning baseball games.”

Grifol will enter his second year as White Sox manager under drastically different circumstances compared to his inaugural campaign.

Rick Hahn, who was the White Sox general manager at the time, introduced Grifol as the new man in charge on November 3 by stressing how Grifol really earned the job with an overwhelmingly impressive initial interview. At that day’s press conference and throughout Spring Training, Grifol said all the right things.

But ultimately those sorts of wins don’t mean much, not with a team expected to contend, and the White Sox failed in pretty much every aspect possible on the field and seemingly in the clubhouse for an extended period in ‘23.

Their second straight loss to the Twins, who are well on their way to winning the American League Central, dropped the White Sox to a dismal 56-92 overall. The White Sox are 3-11 in September, beginning a stretch of 16 straight games within the division.

While the White Sox officially are eliminated, moments of frustration still exist. After 26 starts, Michael Kopech made his third relief appearance in Friday’s setback and allowed four runs in the ninth. He struck out two and topped out at 96.5 mph with his fastball, according to Statcast, but yielded five hits.

His night ended with Kopech slamming his glove into the dugout bench three times after the inning was complete.

“This game, we all care a lot,” White Sox catcher Korey Lee said. “I think that shows to this entire team. Everyone is caring, trying to get to where they need to be. That’s nothing but good things to see. He’s wanting to be out there and have success.”

“He’s going to get this right. He’s extremely talented,” said Grifol of Kopech. “We believe in him, we believe in the work he’s doing. We’ll be singing a different song, hopefully, next year at this time.”

There’s talk from White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to new general manager Chris Getz to Grifol concerning playoff contention in ‘24. That jump appears to be a seismic one when looking at this year’s product, even factoring in the six pitchers and Jake Burger being moved at the Trade Deadline.

Are there mixed messages being delivered?

In a conversation with media in Detroit this past weekend, Getz stressed how he wanted all players coming to Spring Training with the focus of breaking camp with the team including the top prospects. Grifol spoke Friday of being on the same page as his boss, although Grifol’s comments had slightly more of a rebuild to the rebuild feel to them.

“My suggestion, my advice to everybody who’s going to come to our camp next year in 2024, if they truly want to play in the big leagues, they’ve got to come in with that mindset because they’re going to have an opportunity,” Grifol said. “They really are.

“So if you’re coming to Spring Training with us in 2024 and you really have goals to make a big league team, you’re probably not going to have a better opportunity than with the 2024 White Sox,” Grifol added.

Talk is cheap or really out of play for the White Sox at this point. The fans’ response to this sort of commentary falls somewhere in the category of "show me that promised success before we believe a word."

“Until a couple of weeks into [next] season, that's when everybody should have an opinion and make a decision whether they like what we put on the field or not,” Grifol said. “It's all going to be based on wins and losses.

“I don't think we can talk our way into anything other than winning baseball games at the start of next season. That's what you'll hear from me all winter long. I'm done with talking about any type of core or talent or talent on paper. I'm done with that stuff. We've got to prove it there.”