The Chicago White Sox managerial search officially began two months ago with the firing of Pedro Grifol, and the revelation by general manager Chris Getz that he planned to hire someone from outside the organization not named A.J. Pierzynski or Ozzie Guillen.
Preferably it would be someone already in a major-league uniform, Getz said, which narrowed the field somewhat and eliminated the likes of David Ross and Terry Francona.
On Thursday we learned Francona was coming out of retirement after one year off to manage the Cincinnati Reds, a surprising move that left the Sox as the only current team with an opening.
Bringing a Hall of Fame-bound manager out of retirement to manage the Sox was not a realistic option. They already tried something like that a couple of years ago with Tony La Russa and it didn’t work out as planned. His decision to leave for health reasons in 2022 led to a wide-ranging search of 30 candidates by former GM Rick Hahn that eventually brought them to Grifol, the bench coach for the Kansas City Royals.
Hahn said Grifol interviewed so well he was the unanimous pick of executive vice president Ken Williams, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and himself. To make a long story short, Grifol did not succeed, leaving the Sox in their current situation, looking for their sixth manager since 2020 after Rick Renteria, La Russa, Miguel Cairo, Grifol and Grady Sizemore.
In a letter to Sox fans last week, Reinsdorf said Getz “has identified the key attributes and preferences for our next manager and has already begun an exhaustive search with a wide range of candidates to lead the White Sox in the clubhouse and dugout.”
What are those “key attributes” and “preferences”? Getz hasn’t said, but he has left some clues.
When he fired Grifol, he said “experience can be valuable” but then pointed to Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who retired in 2022 and served as a bullpen and quality control coach for the Seattle Mariners in ‘23. Vogt could be the American League Manager of the Year for leading the Guardians to a division title and No. 2 seed in the playoffs, so perhaps experience is overrated.
“I think that it really comes down to the individual,” Getz said in August. “You know, although they might be green on their resume, they might be a brilliant mind and can be an effective leader and can be molded quickly.
“And then you’ve got others that, you know, have perhaps a longer history of success at the major league level and walk into a room and have instant credibility. And that could be a great fit for us as well. So, you know, I still think it’s a wide range of possibilities on who’s going to be our next manager. But we certainly are as open-minded as we need to be.”
Sizemore’s chances zoomed at the end of the record-setting 121-loss season when Getz announced he would be considered for the job after all, ignoring Sizemore’s 13-32 record. Players heartily endorsed him, and team leader Garrett Crochet bluntly said: “I would put my name behind Grady.”
It’s not unusual for replacement managers to earn the support of the players. In 2010, Cubs players endorsed Mike Quade, who replaced Lou Piniella in August after a 5-20 skid and finished 24-13 the rest of the way.
“Speaking on behalf of the rest of the team, we’d really like to see Quade get the job,” catcher Koyie Hill said. Ryan Dempster added he loved “every minute” of playing for Quade.
As a bonus, Quade was willing to take the job for next to nothing.
“This is an unbelievable opportunity for Mike Quade, and money is not getting in the way, period,” Quade said at the end of the season.
To make another long story short: Quade was hired. The Cubs struggled through 2011. Dempster, Hill and many players changed their minds about him. Then new President Theo Epstein came in in October and fired Quade after several hours of a “debriefing” interview.
Like Quade, Sizemore should be available to return at the right price (cheap) and would not have to learn the organization like some outside candidates. Because no one expects the Sox to improve much in 2025, Sizemore would be under no pressure to turn things around. He worked well with Getz and basically let pitching coach Ethan Katz do his own thing with the pitching staff. He was an “organizational” man who knew his job, even when it came to benching Yoán Moncada.
Sizemore’s lack of experience might be a drawback, and the Sox might need a bigger “name” to convince fans they’re trying. A more obvious pick would be former Florida Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who also lost 100 games this season but was named National League Manager of the Year in 2023 after taking them to the playoffs.
Schumaker was considered a strong possibility in Cincinnati before the Reds pounced on Francona and likely would come with the hearty endorsement of La Russa, his mentor and former manager in St. Louis. La Russa, an adviser to Getz, insists he has no real power and only gives advice.
La Russa, however, is the one man left in the front office who has Reinsdorf’s ear now that Williams is gone. They sat together on occasion during games, no doubt harrumphing in unison at the disaster on the field.
Like Hahn, Williams tried to steer Reinsdorf in another direction when he hired La Russa, but to no avail. Asked recently by The Athletic about La Russa’s second stint as Sox manager, Williams replied: “I don’t yet have a way to talk about that period of time because it takes me to a bad place, and it will take me from the person I aspire to be.”
If Reinsdorf wanted Schumaker, would Getz be able to tell him no? And since Reinsdorf didn’t listen to either Williams or Hahn, would he listen to Getz?
Los Angeles Dodgers coach Clayton McCullough, a dark-horse candidate under consideration, according to sources, would bring a new perspective without the baggage of the La Russa connection. He’s well-respected in the game, managed in the Toronto system and was formerly the Dodgers minor-league field coordinator. Could McCullough be the “brilliant mind” Getz is seeking?
Certainly other names will surface, and due diligence will be done, as they say in every job search. All we know is that Getz must conduct an exhaustive search to show they have the right man. Reinsdorf, remember, neglected to search outside the organization when promoting Getz to GM.
Despite his lack of success in his first year, Getz should be able to pick his own guy. And maybe that guy is Schumaker.
But we’d never really know for sure, and some would accuse him of acquiescing to a couple of grumpy old men.
Not me, though. That’s not the person I aspire to be.
