For those who are not content to wait until February to learn how Pedro Grifol might go about his business, James Fegan talked to seven people in Grifol's past to get an idea how a baseball man is made.
He tracks Grifol's friends, teammates and bosses from the Pony League to the Royals to get an idea how he operates. The whole thing is worth reading, but there's a section in there that gets at why I was intrigued by the possibility of the White Sox hiring Ron Washington.
“When [Grifol] goes home in the offseason, he would work with certain players, even in the offseason,” Romay said. “He’s the type of guy where if you want his help, he’s going to give you everything. But you better give him back what he’s giving you, you know what I mean? He helps guys out and he trains them. He doesn’t care how long it has to be, out there developing guys. The way you repay him is giving that effort back.”
In this way, “don’t cross him,” is not a threat in the typical way. It’s an invitation to match him, and it can’t be half-accepted.
Washington has a reputation for getting the best out of his players, not with drill sergeantry and dog-housing, but by removing the excuses. Washington famously crossed the Delaware helped Marcus Semien transform into a Gold Glove finalist at short by providing all the time and resources necessary in Oakland, and he was a major cog in the Braves' defensive improvement over the course of their championship season in 2021. The way his charges tell it, Washington offered all the time, knowledge and resources, so the players only had to follow instructions.
I wouldn't count on Grifol having Washington's specific success because there aren't many non-pitching coaches who leave such an impact, but I can see the benefits in shifting from a manager who's proven everything to a manager with everything to prove. The White Sox front office did not generate the waves of talent it promised and the roster does not run itself, so they're going to need somebody to willingly take the wheel, and occasionally get under the hood.
History is on Grifol's side, at least initially. The White Sox are so lazy with addressing their non-playing personnel that any shake-up in the coaching ranks seems to generate a response. Robin Ventura peaked in his first year simply because he restored the basic priorities for the manager position after Ozzie Guillen's attempted coup. White Sox fans praised Rick Renteria at SoxFest after a 67-95 season because hearts and minds were in the right place compared to Ventura's lame duck 2016. When Renteria was dismissed despite snapping the postseason drought in the 60-game 2020 year, the presence of La Russa signified heightened expectations, and there was an urgency ... at least until the division was determined by the All-Star break.
Renteria's the only one who had a second wind after his first year, and he shares traits with Grifol -- bilingual baseball lifers who are renowned for establishing lines of communication and can't take their moment for granted. Grifol comes in with more of an emphasis on analytics, which might give him more of a shelf life, but he'll also get a refreshed coaching staff, as opposed to a cast of holdovers, internal promotions and coaches' sons.
There isn't a specific reason to believe in Grifol, because the hiring of Matt Quatraro is inspiring similar vibes in Kansas City. That part doesn't matter, at least until we start seeing specific actions behind the words. Both franchises needed to throw the status quo in the trash, and while the Royals did it more thoroughly by firing Dayton Moore, Grifol can't control who is above him, and not-too-distant history says he shouldn't try.
