The Grady Sizemore Era begins for White Sox, even if it’s not expected to last long

The Chicago White Sox have entered their Grady Sizemore Era.

“Era” might not be the most apt descriptor. After all, no one’s going to mark the passing of geologic time during the seven-ish weeks remaining in the team’s loss-filled 2024 campaign.

Sizemore stepped into the job of interim manager after the White Sox dismissed Pedro Grifol on Thursday. And if Chris Getz gets his way, which he hammered home in the media session that followed Grifol’s firing, Sizemore isn’t here to audition for the permanent gig. The general manager wants to hire his next skipper from outside the organization.

But there’s nothing saying Sizemore can’t impress during this unexpected stint as a major league bench boss. It wasn’t too long ago that he was working as a $15-an-hour intern under Josh Barfield, now the White Sox’ assistant general manager, in the Diamondbacks’ farm system. Now, in his first season on a major league staff – holding the mysterious title of “major league coach” under Grifol – he’s been elevated to the top spot on the bench.

“Never saw that coming,” Sizemore said before Friday’s game.

Who could have?

The baseball world treated Grifol’s departure as a fait accompli for months, but there were certainly more logical temporary replacements. Bench coach Charlie Montoyo, for example, spent four seasons managing the Blue Jays.

But the White Sox like Sizemore.

“A lot of it just has to do with Grady, whether it be the first time we spoke in the offseason, to spring training, he starts getting around the players and staff, and the amount of respect that almost seemed instantaneous,” Getz said, when asked why Montoyo wasn’t the more obvious choice. “It’s very natural for him. As I observed that, as I was around it more and made this decision to make this change, it just seemed like the right fit currently, knowing we’ve got seven weeks left in the season. I felt like he would be the right voice for this current situation.”

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As confident as the team is in Sizemore, though, he isn’t expected to stay in the job past the end of the season. Getz said Thursday that Grifol’s midsummer firing allows the team to get a jump on their search for his successor. The White Sox, per Getz, will target those currently working and in uniform for other organizations, showing a preference to avoid those with “White Sox DNA,” as Rick Hahn put it back when he lamented the team’s history of insular hiring.

Hahn, though, ended up with Tony La Russa as his manager after Jerry Reinsdorf saw an opportunity to right a decades-old wrong. The White Sox got an AL Central title out of the deal before La Russa also yielded to an interim, health issues bringing an abrupt end to his second stint as the South Side skipper late in the 2022 season.

But while Getz searches for his next manager outside the confines of Guaranteed Rate Field and its minor league equivalents, it sounds like Sizemore is happy to focus on finishing this season off and not worrying about whether he’ll get his interim title removed for 2025.

“I didn’t come into this to manage. There was no appeal factor there,” Sizemore said. “It was really getting to know these guys, building trust, trying to build relationships and make an impact. I started this because I enjoyed working with some players, and I enjoyed the feedback I got from them when I was able to help. That’s what I’m trying to lean into.”

But even with an apparent expiration date on his time in the manager’s chair, he has plenty of backers. In addition to the rave reviews he got from Getz over the last two days, players showered him with praise, too, complimenting in him the same thing they’ve complimented in Getz: a history as a major leaguer that they feel gives them an important perspective.

Heck, they talked about him like he was one of them, as if one of the players was handed the keys to the car for the final seven weeks of the season.

“Grady’s been here for the whole year. Every day he brings great energy, and I think we feed off of that,” Andrew Vaughn said. “Out of all of us, I think he’s got the most experience. He’s been around the game for a long time. Great attitude, great energy.

“I think guys look up to guys like Grady. A lot of people in that clubhouse look up to him just because he was one of those ironmen. He played the game hard, he played the game right. We definitely look up to that.”

While the White Sox’ decision to fire Grifol now, as opposed to earlier in the season or after the season ended, still strikes as a little curious, Getz talked up the benefit of a fresh voice leading the team for the final weeks, to put them in somewhat of a positive position moving toward 2025. And Sizemore might be that voice, if the players’ excitement over his installation is to be believed.

Whether or not it helps the White Sox avoid the negative distinction of being the worst team in modern major league history, though, remains to be seen.

No one in the White Sox’ employ seems to be focused on the potential for a 120-loss season, or worse, as much as those of us on the outside. And at this point, considering they’re 1-18 to start the second half, winning 15 of their final 45 games to avoid matching the 1962 Mets’ woeful 120 losses seems like a tall task.

That Grifol’s firing came on the heels of an AL-record-matching 21-game losing streak, rather than earlier in the year when the team was playing just as poorly, seems to indicate a distaste for the negative attention that comes with record-setting futility.

But that’s not for Sizemore to worry about.

His job is to get the White Sox moving toward the future, where the organization’s attention is clearly focused. Three members of the player-development staff, including Triple-A manager Justin Jirschele, are up to join the major league coaching staff, creating an environment in which young players called up at season’s end might be better suited to continue their development at the big league level.

“We’ll have some additions along the way,” Getz said Friday. “I don’t know precisely when that’s going to happen and who those players will be. We want to feel like it’s going to benefit them in their career (to be moved up to the major league level). We brought up some younger players, and they’re learning the major leagues. And (in the) long term, they will benefit for that reason. I anticipate younger players joining us.”

The Sizemore Era might not be marked as the beginning of something long lasting, not if Getz’s words on his managerial search end up coming true. But just as Getz is searching for the right guy for the long term, he feels he has the right guy for this short-term moment.

“I love this team,” Sizemore said. “I love these guys. I’ve enjoyed working with these guys since Day 1. I want to help any way I can.

“I have a feeling that part of the reason Chris asked me to do this was the guys in the locker room. I owe it to them to do my best to get this team going in the right direction.”