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It seemed inevitable that Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol would be fired during the team’s dismal 2024 season, and it happened on Thursday.
Chicago announced Grifol’s firing after a 28-89 start to this season, his second as manager of the club.
The move comes two days after the White Sox snapped a 21-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Oakland Athletics. The streak was tied with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the longest in AL history.
Chicago’s winning ways didn’t last long, as it lost the series finale 3-2 to the A’s on Wednesday. The White Sox led 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, but Touki Toussaint allowed three runs on two hits and one walk in 0.1 innings of work.
Grifol’s first year as manager did not go as hoped, as the White Sox went 61-101 in 2023 and finished with a losing record for the first time in four seasons. Despite the difficult start to his first manager job, it was reasonable for Chicago to hope for a quick turnaround.
After all, Grifol had plenty of other experience to fall back on seeing how he worked for the Seattle Mariners for 13 years as a coach, scout and manager before joining the Kansas City Royals for 10 seasons in a variety of roles.
Kansas City won the 2015 World Series when he was part of the staff, and he eventually elevated to bench coach before the White Sox hired him.
Yet the 2024 campaign couldn’t have started worse for the American League Central team.
Chicago started 3-22 and then proceeded to lose 14 straight in May and June. Somehow, that wasn’t the low point for a team that also traded away Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham, Michael Kopech, Paul DeJong, Tanner Banks and Eloy Jiménez.
The National League record for consecutive losses belongs to the 1900 Philadelphia Phillies with 23 in a row. Then there was the 1889 Louisville Colonels, which lost 26 straight games while playing in the American Association.
It was clear the losing streak and historical stakes were wearing on the White Sox.
“At the end of the day, we’ve lost 20 in a row. That’s painful. That sucks,” Grifol told reporters after a 20th straight defeat. “We’ve just got to find a way to put that behind us and go out there and be professionals and do what we have to do tomorrow.”
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Aug. 4 during the streak that team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Chris Getz met with Grifol and decided not to fire him at the time even though he “could still be fired any day.”
Nightengale also listed Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker as a leading candidate to become Chicago’s next manager.
The position is now open following the decision to fire Grifol.