GLENDALE, Ariz. — Pedro Grifol was asked about one of his pitcher’s bullpen sessions Friday on Day 3 of Chicago White Sox camp, with the understanding the second-year manager probably wouldn’t remember any of this in a month.
“I actually think I will,” Grifol replied. “I’m taking wins out of each day and making sure that I jot them down, because that’s the progress we need to make to be able to be ready for opening day. I’m not going to forget these days. These days are really important to us.”
“That communication I was talking about, that’s important for us. Those clubhouse meetings we’re having, pitchers, catchers and everybody else, that’s really important for us. Those are wins that we’re taking out of each day and putting them in the wins column that are really important to our progression plan.
“So today, Corey Knebel’s bullpen and Dominic Leone’s bullpen, I’m not going to forget those.”
We’ll check back on March 16 to see if Grifol still remembers. If he does, kudos to him. I can barely remember what happened yesterday much less something from a month ago.
But this is the way it has to be for Grifol, who already is chalking up wins before the first Cactus League game and glowing over what he has seen so far in Sox camp. Building confidence is imperative for a team coming off 101 losses and expected to finish at or near the bottom of the American League Central. You can’t blame a man for trying.
General manager Chris Getz retained Grifol after a disastrous debut season, announcing the news on his first day of replacing Rick Hahn. Getz has given Grifol the leeway to do things the way he feels and gave him some new coaches, including hitting coach Marcus Thames, first-base coach Jason Bourgeois and bullpen coach Matt Wise.
Grifol stressed more communication and on Friday remarked that “the communication today was spectacular.” No one needs to be reminded that the clubhouse culture was an issue last year, thanks to the accusations of excessive lollygagging in the clubhouse by former reliever Keynan Middleton, a whistleblower who stood by his words.
“I don’t know how you police good culture if there’s no rules and there’s no guidelines to follow, because it’s kind of just everybody doing their own thing,” Middleton said in August after being dealt to the New York Yankees. “And then how are you supposed to say anything about it? Because there’s no rules.
“You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game. You have guys missing meetings. You have guys missing (pitchers fielding practices), and there’s no consequences for any of this stuff.”
While the Sox brass denied Middleton’s accusations, the fact most of the players from the 2023 team are gone says all you need to know. Grifol has a fresh slate, with a clubhouse that should provide a better culture because there are fewer players with long-term contracts and most are just fighting for a job.
“I feel like it’s something that’s going to happen naturally and organically,” Garrett Crochet said Friday. “Do I see a difference right now? Well, we’re on Day 3, so it’s kind of hard to say. The real test is in the heat of the season, when you’re in month two and everybody is kind of starting to feel the heaviness and the legs set in. I feel like that’s when we’ll know.
“But I feel like so far we’re meshing and a pretty cohesive unit at the moment. A lot of new faces but everyone has blended in seamlessly and we’re working together well.”
Grifol is under the spotlight, though it’s mostly from fans, not his bosses who believe he was blameless in the implosion. They also felt the same way in 2022 about Tony La Russa, who is back at camp daily and giving Grifol advice.
“I actually push him every day to give me more,” Grifol said on the first day of camp. “He’s got a wealth of knowledge and it’s not just knowledge. He’s got a story for everything. He’s been around the game that long where he can give some wisdom and share a story too, behind the wisdom. So it’s not just giving me knowledge. He is an example.”
Grifol often sounded defensive and agitated during postgame news conferences last year, so perhaps they are kindred spirits. Maybe we’ll get a lemon-scented version in 2024?
During Friday’s workout I asked Getz what Grifol has to do to show he’s the guy for the long haul.
“Foundationally, the skill set he has, his communication ability, his leadership style, his ability to connect with players, he’s very good at that,” Getz said. “He’s gone through a year now as a manager at the major-league level. He was new to the organization.
“I’m going to do everything I can to support him with the needs that we have. Obviously we’ve had some changes to the coaching staff. There was a thought process behind that to put him in a position for him to comfortably lead.
“To say specifically he needs to hit this marker and this marker and this marker is not how we’re operating. We’re in this together and we’re going to make adjustments along the way. We have a really solid relationship. And more than anything we’re going to look at this window of spring training with the goal that at the end we can reflect back and say we did everything we can in spring training, and we’ll do the same thing as the season progresses.”
It’s going to be a process that bears watching. Sox fans will be watching and listening to Grifol for clues that he’s the right man to turn things around.
How much more comfortable is Grifol in his second spring as Sox manager?
“How’s it look?” he replied.
“You look comfortable,” I told him.
“Yeah, I’m pretty good,” he said.
So you feel it?
“I’m comfortable and confident,” he said.
Grifol turned and waited for another questioner to ask something.
Enough said.
