Not too much known about White Sox manager search, but Grady Sizemore will be considered

Grady Sizemore isn’t in uniform with a team that isn’t the Chicago White Sox.

But Chris Getz and his front office have eschewed one of their few stated criteria for the team’s next manager to consider the guy who’s been doing the job on an interim basis.

Getz said a supposedly deep pool of candidates will still focus mostly on folks from outside the organization, folks currently “in uniform,” or working as a major league manager or coach. That came as upsetting news for any fans wishing for a second Ozzie Guillén era or hoping that A.J. Pierzynski would make his way from the broadcast booth and podcast studio to the dugout.

But “White Sox DNA,” as Rick Hahn once called it, is apparently being allowed into that deep gene pool of options as Getz & Co. search for the next full-time bench boss, an acknowledgement that Sizemore has done the kind of job they hoped he would when he took over for Pedro Grifol last month.

“Grady’s in consideration. He has a lot of traits that we’re looking for,” Getz said Tuesday. “But we certainly want to go through a full process before we make any sort of decision.

“He’s done a very good job, from our evaluation, and we feel like he deserves to be in consideration. I can’t say that he’s got a leg up on anyone, because it is going to be a deep process and we’re going to find someone that’s the best fit for us. But he deserves to be in the conversation.”

[MORE SOX: Grady Sizemore sure seems to be loving his turn as White Sox manager: Could he really be the guy?]

Sizemore has undoubtedly won plaudits from his charges, the clubhouse seemingly in universal awe of his relatively recent days as a major league iron man. Sizemore was an All-Star outfielder in Cleveland before injuries derailed one of the more promising careers in the sport. That he twice played in all 162 games in a season is a particularly impressive accomplishment for the modern players.

Getz described Sizemore on Tuesday as providing a much needed presence after Grifol exited in the wake of an AL-record 21-game losing streak. That Sizemore will be the man at the helm when this ship sails into the history books with the most losses in modern MLB history does not change that he brought positive vibes to the clubhouse.

Whether his good-vibes connection with the players — an admittedly important part of a manager’s gig — is enough to lift him above any other candidates remains to be seen. And though Getz spent a lot of time trumpeting Sizemore’s worthiness of inclusion in the team’s search for a new skipper, don’t expect this to be one of those truncated White Sox searches that don’t stretch past the corner of 35th and Shields.

Jerry Reinsdorf tabbed Tony La Russa to bring a shocking end to the managerial search before last. He didn’t interview anyone from outside the organization when he picked Getz to succeed Hahn last summer.

But Getz continues to advocate for a more wide-ranging and change-making search, even if the details remain scant.

The general manager expects to hire someone by late October or early November and discussed a desire to be respectful of teams currently employing candidates, teams that are competing in the postseason and chasing a championship.

Other than looking for a “partner” in his long-term vision, though, the requirements for the gig continue to be in short supply.

“We’re looking for someone that understands the situation that we’re presently in, that is up for the challenge. I’m looking for a partner in this to help lead this organization,” Getz said. “That comes in different forms. We built out our criteria, we’ve looked at the desired outcomes, we’ve got a deep candidate pool, and we’ll work through that and we’ll find the best fit for us.”

The candidate list also doesn’t stretch far. Apart from Sizemore, only one name has even been reported as a target: current Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. He’ll be free of the Fish after this season and apparently a highly sought after free agent. His connection to the White Sox? His status as a former charge of La Russa, currently working as a front-office adviser on the South Side, during both men’s days in St. Louis.

But if teams across baseball end up in hot pursuit of Schumaker, or any other top candidate, can the White Sox and their spot in the history books as the worst team in modern MLB history land their preferred choice?

“I’m not concerned at all. The process will take care of itself,” Getz said. “We need someone who understands our current situation, is up for the challenge. There are a lot of people in this game who want to be part of something special, and this is a tremendous opportunity to build something that can make our fans really happy and proud to have the ability to follow the White Sox back into playoff contention and eventually fighting for a World Series.”

One person who would be happy to helm the White Sox, regardless of a historically bad season, is the guy currently a part of it.

Sizemore has gone from someone with no expectation of doing anything more than his ill-defined “major league coach” role laid out to someone who loves being a big league manager. He’s been asked fairly regularly about his personal feelings on stepping into the job and where it’s taken him, and he’s talked often about how much fun he’s found in a job he didn’t dream of having.

So sign him up for more.

“I like everything about this organization,” Sizemore said Tuesday. “I like the opportunity that they’ve given me. I want to continue what I’ve started and be a part of this in any way that I can and just try to help turn this organization around as fast as we can.

“As a staff, as a whole, we’ve kind of already had those discussions, what we think the best way to turn it around is, how we want to approach spring training, what we would emphasize, what we would get better at, what our strengths and weaknesses are. We’ve already kind of had those talks and those brainstorming ideas of how to move forward and what the best path is.

“But we also know that it’s not a guarantee. We don’t really know what tomorrow is going to look like or next year. So we’ve had those talks, but we’re still kind of focused on the here and the now.”

We’ll see if Sizemore gets such a chance, or if this ends up being simply a reward for stepping into the interim role. Miguel Cairo got an interview after filling in for La Russa at the end of the 2022 season. The White Sox went outside the organization to hire Grifol.

But as long as so little remains known about who else is on Getz’s list of candidates, Sizemore moves into the spotlight, such as it is.

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