Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol and special adviser Tony La Russa were talking at the batting cage before Tuesday’s trade deadline when assistant general manager Josh Barfield came out to summon Grifol to the clubhouse.
A few minutes later, Grifol returned to La Russa at the cage, and ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweeted that Eloy Jiménez had been dealt to the Baltimore Orioles. Five minutes later, Barfield summoned Grifol again, and he quickly disappeared to the clubhouse.
It was soon announced that lefty reliever Tanner Banks had been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.
La Russa, alone at the cage, might have been thinking about three seasons ago, when he managed the Sox to 93 wins and a division title. The postseason included the “Blackout Game” — the 12-6 win against the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the American League Division Series at Sox Park, temporarily keeping their World Series dreams alive.
Time flies.
Now the only players left from that game are Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets.
La Russa remains too. He probably will be the last survivor from that 2021 season and no doubt will be part of the conversation about when is the right time to replace Grifol and who will replace him.
In a gut-punch of a season, that scenario could be the worst news yet.
Here are three other takeaways from the trade deadline.
It seemed to stretch on forever, at least in Chicago.
Then it was over in a heartbeat, and the lack of a bombshell move by either Sox general manager Chris Getz or Cubs President Jed Hoyer left fans feeling emptier than before.
The debate in the Bill Veeck memorial press box Tuesday wasn’t about Garrett Crochet’s controversial negotiating tactics or Getz’s return for six veteran players.
The biggest question of the night was whether anyone had seen Tommy Pham smile before.
The topic was broached when Pham hit a pinch-hit grand slam in his first at-bat with the St. Louis Cardinals after being traded with Erick Fedde in a three-team deal. Pham smiled on his way to the celebratory dugout, and the video was played on an iPad in the press box, igniting the debate.
The answer, based on an unscientific poll of reporters, was “no.”
Pham’s reaction was reminiscent of Jack Nicholson’s smile in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Here was a man suddenly freed from the White Sox institution with his sanity intact, now playing for another chance to get back to October.
Flip to another video, and Christopher Morel was doing likewise in St. Petersburg, Fla., homering in his first game with the Tampa Bay Rays after the Cubs traded him in the Isaac Parades deal. Unlike Pham, Morel did nothing but smile while wearing a Cubs uniform, so it was surprise Hoyer felt he had to go.
Pham, Morel, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm and many others felt the emotional rush of a fresh start with a new team. It’s real, though oftentimes it wears off.
Remember when Jeimer Candelario hit .579 in his first five games with the Cubs last summer after arriving at the deadline from the Washington Nationals? He wound up hitting .234 for the Cubs during a forgettable stint on a team that collapsed in September.
It’s not often a good idea to make snap judgments on trades after the deadline. Yet everyone wants to know the winners and losers. In lieu of time and space, let’s just give every executive a participation trophy and pronounce them all winners.
See you all back at the winter meetings in December.
What’s next for the Cubs?
The Cubs begin a four-game series at Wrigley Field on Thursday against Pham and the Cardinals, reintroducing Paredes to Cubs fans. Some might remember Paredes was dealt to the Detroit Tigers along with Candelario at the 2017 deadline for backup catcher Alex Avila and left-handed reliever Justin Wilson.
Forgot that one, did you?
That’s OK. It came shortly after then-President Theo Epstein and then-GM Hoyer dealt top prospects Dylan Cease and Jiménez for Jose Quintana, declaring they were going for the repeat.
Even Hall of Fame-bound executives have a bad summer, and it was just that for Epstein and, by extension, Hoyer. They basically received a mulligan for 2017 after the thrilling 2015 postseason run and the 2016 championship. But in essence, Epstein and Hoyer gave up on Cease, Candelario and Paredes, who could’ve made a difference had the Cubs allowed them to develop into the players they would become.
Hoyer now is betting that Morel won’t become a superstar or he’ll take an “L” for this trade deadline as well. Paredes clearly is a better player now. But if Morel gets comfortable at another position, it could lead to more all-around success. The Rays on Tuesday played Morel at second base, which the Cubs could not do with Nico Hoerner ensconced there despite below-average offensive metrics.
The only other significant deal was Mark Leiter Jr. to the New York Yankees. Leiter, the Cubs’ best reliever the last two seasons, was more tradeable than closer Héctor Neris, whose $9 million option kicks in if he reaches 60 appearances. He’s already at 40. Do the math.
Will Hoyer will be on the hot seat? Technically. But it should be noted that his highest-paid hitters, Dansby Swanson and Cody Bellinger, share a portion of the blame for the Cubs’ downfall.
What’s next for the Sox?
There’s obviously not much to look forward on the South Side with the exception of next week’s two-game Cubs-Sox series.
And as long as Grifol remains in the dugout, Sox fans can expect tiresome platitudes about the team’s work ethic and perseverence.
Fedde, who makes his Cardinals debut Friday against the Cubs, was reminiscing in May about the post-deadline clubhouse of the 2021 Washington Nationals. That team went on a massive selling spree while the White Sox were on their way to the postseason, thinking the future was bright.
Stars Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber were among the departed Nationals players, along with veterans Jon Lester, Yan Gomes, Daniel Hudson and Josh Harrison. With a 5.05 ERA that was trending downward, Fedde was virtually untradeable and thus remained on the team to eat innings during the inevitable losing stretches in August and September.
So how does a team feel when the owner has sold off most of the major assets?
“If anything you just feel guilty when you know you could’ve played better to keep those guys around and become buyers instead of sellers,” Fedde told me.
Whether current White Sox players feel guilty about losing Fedde, Pham, Jiménez, Banks, Michael Kopech and Paul DeJong because of the team’s performance remains to be seen.
With a franchise-worst 17-game skid after Wednesday’s 10-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals, a shot at breaking the modern-day record of 120 losses, a manager who needs to update his LinkedIn page and a GM whose first trade deadline was critically panned, survival should be the only focus for everyone involved.
Except for La Russa.
He’s safe.
Who knew?
