The Chicago White Sox are, at long last, making some major changes to their management team. After their rebuilding efforts fell apart and descended into a tank job, they fired vice president Kenny Williams and general manager Rick Hahn, who have each been with the team for over 20 years and have begun looking for the next person to leap the organization forward. But a familiar face, Tony La Russa, is back to help.
La Russa served as the White Sox manager during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, taking a leave of absence due to a health-related issue in the latter season and eventually stepping down from the position. His replacement, Pedro Grifol, hasn’t done a great job. Chicago decided to trade away key players in an effort to stock their minor league teams.
Grifol's job is reportedly safe for now, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, but he will be meeting with La Russa and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to determine his immediate future. A new front office will likely desire to hire their own manager, though.
“Grifol is scheduled to meet Wednesday night with Reinsdorf and Tony La Russa, who is back working as a White Sox consultant. La Russa resigned as manager after last season to deal with lengthy cancer treatments, but has been medically cleared to work again, and recently scouted the White Sox’s minor-league system,” writes Nightengale. “Grifol is expected to be asked what went wrong this year, how does he plan to fix it, and what personnel changes are needed.”
The White Sox may not even be in Chicago for much longer. Rumors are swirling of a relocation to Nashville after their current stadium lease expires, though that still won’t be in play for years.
White Sox fans have long been frustrated that the team is directionless and has kept roughly the same management team intact despite many lost seasons. Bringing La Russa back surely feels some type of way, too. Despite the baseball acumen he possesses from being a former player and World Series-winning manager elsewhere, his return signals that Reinsdorf still isn’t eager to push the envelope on ideas of how to make the team a sustained winner.
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