Skipper Grifol turns page on past ball
Despite loss to Cubs, Cactus League opener helps put awful 2023 in rearview mirror
MESA, Ariz. — With each stepping stone of spring training, Pedro Grifol gets further away. The first day of camp helped him move on from the White Sox’ 61-101 disaster last season, his first as a major-league manager. And nine days later, game uniforms were worn and a baseball game was played against the crosstown-rival Cubs at the North Siders’ home park in Mesa on Friday.
“Are you going to ask me something about last year?” Grifol said a couple of hours before he shook hands at home plate with new Cubs manager Craig Counsell, semi-officially designating that last season is history.
“I already turned [the page].”
Finally, a game to put 2023 in the rearview mirror.
Grifol will try to prove that his hiring to replace Tony La Russa before last season was a good decision, the results notwithstanding. He faces an against-the-wind trudge with a thin rotation that could lose its ace if Dylan Cease gets traded, a bullpen full of question marks and a lineup that added no upgrades after scoring fewer runs than anyone in the majors with the exception of the hapless Athletics.
Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, whose focus these days is getting a new ballpark for the franchise, cut payroll and gave new general manager Chris Getz the keys to oversee another rebuild, one not as drastic as the recent teardown under Ken Williams and Rick Hahn that flopped and got them fired but an organizational do-over nonetheless.
Trumpeting a “play FAST” acronym (fearless, aggressive, selfless, technical) throughout camp, Grifol has effusively praised his team’s work ethic and growing number of good clubhouse guys. Stay tuned to see how far it boosts the Sox in the standings.
Above the field in the NBC Sports Chicago broadcast booth, John Schriffen admitted on air to being “nervous” working his first game as the new play-by-play voice alongside analyst Steve Stone, who predicted a different and improved Grifol, not to mention a 10game improvement from last season.
Senior adviser La Russa, the Hall of Fame manager who has observed workouts all spring, passed behind the booth and offered this: “Our boys are looking good” in camp.
Minutes later, 40-year-old reliever Jesse Chavez, assigned to pitch the first inning of the Cactus League season as he aims for one last season in the majors as a non-roster invitee, got shelled for six runs and six hits, including four for extra bases. Chavez, who had a 1.56 ERA with the Braves last season, allowed a home run to the second batter, Christopher Morel. The Sox ended up as 8-1 losers.
The four regulars brought by the Sox to Sloan Park were new middle infielders Paul DeJong and Nicky Lopez, new catcher Martin Maldonado and first baseman Andrew Vaughn. Dominic Fletcher, acquired in a trade with the Diamondbacks three weeks ago and a good bet to start in right field, started in center with veteran non-roster invitee Kevin Pillar — vying for a job as the fourth outfielder — in right.
An emphasis on improved defense was made clear in the offseason, and on a day in which the Sox had only four hits, including an opposite-field homer by first-base prospect Tim Elko (who slugged 28 in levels below Triple-A last season), a sound defensive effort might have been the best thing Grifol saw. Third-base prospect Bryan Ramos made a couple of nice plays.
“The first day of spring training, I knew I needed to talk a little about [2023],” Grifol said. “It’s important. It did happen. That was it. Today’s game we can bookmark it, but I haven’t had one thought cross my mind today about 2023. I’m just looking forward to starting the season now. These games are important to us; they really are.”
Thirty-three more Cactus League games and 162 in the regular season to go. ✶