Pedro Grifol named White Sox manager; Katz asked to return per Rosey

[Chick Mercedes]

8 hours ago, maloney.adam said:

 

Pedro with a friend. Pedro has a sandwhich.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Chick Mercedes

[SleepyWhiteSox]

7 hours ago, CWSpalehoseCWS said:

Tony would demand people buy HIM lunch. 

Liquid lunch.  Several.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

4 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

I am sure that whole call was staged.  

Of course.  But it shows he actually speaks their native language, which was definitely one of the top criteria I was hoping for.

[Chick Mercedes]

4 hours ago, SleepyWhiteSox said:

Of course.  But it shows he actually speaks their native language, which was definitely one of the top criteria I was hoping for.

I don’t know man. If people think the Sox need a guy that can speak Spanish to them before they play their best baseball, do people realize how much of an insult that is to the baseball character of the Sox?

Edited November 5, 2022 by Chick Mercedes

[southsider2k5]

10 hours ago, Chick Mercedes said:

I don’t know man. If people think the Sox need a guy that can speak Spanish to them before they play their best baseball, do people realize how much of an insult that is to the baseball character of the Sox?

That management could understand its employees being a bad thing is such an odd take.

[JoshPR]

10 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

That management could understand its employees being a bad thing is such an odd take.

I didn't get that post either

[Tnetennba]

29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

That management could understand its employees being a bad thing is such an odd take.

This.  Being upset that an org is concerned about connecting to half the player population is certainly a curious take.  

[Tnetennba]

Maybe it’s all just PR fluff, but I like that Pedro is going out of his way to endear himself to fans and players alike.  Maybe they realised how bad TLR turned everyone off and it’s more for those reasons, but I still like the effort. 

[Tnetennba]

It may ultimately mean nothing if they don’t win games, and perhaps it will soon feel hollow after moves are or aren’t made, but I’m not upset that they seem to be trying. 

[Saufley]

Ozzie on the SCORE at 10:00AM

[Vote4Pedro]

12 minutes ago, Saufley said:

Ozzie on the SCORE at 10:00AM

Cant wait

[Harold's Leg Lift]

36 minutes ago, Saufley said:

Ozzie on the SCORE at 10:00AM

hE wAs gRaNtEd aN iNtErViEw!!!!

[Saufley]

Just now, Harold's Leg Lift said:

hE wAs gRaNtEd aN iNtErViEw!!!!

I remember the last post game show when he handed a piece of paper to Garfein and said there were two names written and one would be the next manager. Hope he reveals the names.

[Chick Mercedes]

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

That management could understand its employees being a bad thing is such an odd take.

That you think the Sox understand its employees is such an odd take.

 

I certainly never said it was bad to understand employees, that was an odd read,

 

That you think the Sox needed Spanish to play good baseball, and that the Sox made the hire based on Spamish would be a sad statement on the actual quality of these players. Spanish will have nothing to to with Pedro Grifol's success (or failure)

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Chick Mercedes

[Snopek]

20 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

That you think the Sox understand its employees is such an odd take.

 

I certainly never said it was bad to understand employees, that was an odd read,

 

That you think the Sox needed Spanish to play good baseball, and that the Sox made the hire based on Spamish would be a sad statement on the actual quality of these players. Spanish will have nothing to to with Pedro Grifol's success (or failure)

 

 

I don’t know that anyone’s saying the Sox made the hire based on his ability to speak Spanish, or even that they need someone that speaks Spanish in order to get the most out of some players. But how can it possibly be seen as anything other than a good thing that he speaks the native language of a significant amount of players on the team?

[Chick Mercedes]

14 minutes ago, Snopek said:

I don’t know that anyone’s saying the Sox made the hire based on his ability to speak Spanish, or even that they need someone that speaks Spanish in order to get the most out of some players. But how can it possibly be seen as anything other than a good thing that he speaks the native language of a significant amount of players on the team?

I never said it wasn't "good". 'The hell?

Edited November 5, 2022 by Chick Mercedes

[southsider2k5]

37 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

That you think the Sox understand its employees is such an odd take.

 

I certainly never said it was bad to understand employees, that was an odd read,

 

That you think the Sox needed Spanish to play good baseball, and that the Sox made the hire based on Spamish would be a sad statement on the actual quality of these players. Spanish will have nothing to to with Pedro Grifol's success (or failure)

 

 

Again, it isn't a failure to not be able to truly understand someone who you have no cultural connection to.  There are lot of subtleties and such that are lost in translation.

We all saw what happened going from Rickey to Tony.  After reading about the fractures by culture in the locker room it isn't hard to wonder why the Latin players seemed to be on a planet of their own according to what was out there.  It is obvious whatever was going on alienated that group which also contains a large portion of these teams stars.  What was happened, also obviously wasn't working.  It makes absolute sense to do something to reach them if you want to salvage the wreck of Tony LaRussa's ship.

Look, being able to relate to the people who work for you is a large part of being an effective leader.  If you are unable to understand the largest part of their mental make up (where someone comes from) you are already behind in relating to that person. 

They didn't have to sign someone just for their ability to speak Spanish, yet when so much of the team is of some Latin origin, what a huge help it would be.

[Snopek]

8 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

I never said it wasn't "good". 'The hell?

Then I guess I’m misunderstanding your point. That it is good, but also doesn’t make any difference?

[Chick Mercedes]

30 minutes ago, Snopek said:

Then I guess I’m misunderstanding your point. That it is good, but also doesn’t make any difference?

People seem to want to assume that Moncada is going to revert to playing the way he did a number of years ago because Pedro speaks Spanish to him. Eloy is gonna stop crashing into Robert or something. Or Abreu will do something even more awesome. Or they have a championship roster, but just were failed by the manager. Or that Spanish speaking players aren't motivated by non Latino managers,. Tony failed because he let the players do whatever they wanted, and they weren't expected to hit the cutoff man. And the players themselves failed for whatever reasons. Probably overrrated. It may surprise this discussion, but MLB is filled with Latinos excelling under non Latino leadership.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Chick Mercedes

[Chick Mercedes]

36 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Again, it isn't a failure to not be able to truly understand someone who you have no cultural connection to.  There are lot of subtleties and such that are lost in translation.

We all saw what happened going from Rickey to Tony.  After reading about the fractures by culture in the locker room it isn't hard to wonder why the Latin players seemed to be on a planet of their own according to what was out there.  It is obvious whatever was going on alienated that group which also contains a large portion of these teams stars.  What was happened, also obviously wasn't working.  It makes absolute sense to do something to reach them if you want to salvage the wreck of Tony LaRussa's ship.

Look, being able to relate to the people who work for you is a large part of being an effective leader.  If you are unable to understand the largest part of their mental make up (where someone comes from) you are already behind in relating to that person. 

They didn't have to sign someone just for their ability to speak Spanish, yet when so much of the team is of some Latin origin, what a huge help it would be.

Communication is important, but I don’t believe that the non Latinos had any problems understanding what Ozzie wanted when he was here. Quite frankly I don’t understand a good portion of what Ozzie is saying on TV, but I get exactly what he is saying. The point is, players might get an extra bit of joy playing for a manger they like, but the Latino part of the equation will wear off before spring training ends. If they like him, like playing for him, they’ll keep liking him no matter his ethnicity. 

[poppysox]

12 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

People seem ro want to assume that Moncada is going to revert to playing the way he did a number of years ago because Pedro. Eloy is gonna stop crashing into Robert or something. Or Abreu will do something even more awesome. Or they have a championship roster, but just were failed by the manager. Or that Spanish speaking players aren't motivated by non Latino managers,  Tony failed because he let the players do whatever they wanted, and they weren't expected to hit the cutoff man, And the players themselves failed for whatever reasons. Probably overrrated. It may surprise this discussion, but MLB is filled with Latinos excelling under non Latino leadership.

A new manager and coaches being able to create a culture of playing to the max is the only way we can expect a championship type team next year.  Money already allotted to many underperforming players keeps us from the flexibility to go outside and acquire much help.  Pedros remarks about looking over at the White Sox players at 7:10 pm on gameday was how he knew which team the Royals would be playing that night...very telling IMO.

[Chicago White Sox]

20 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

People seem to want to assume that Moncada is going to revert to playing the way he did a number of years ago because Pedro speaks Spanish to him. Eloy is gonna stop crashing into Robert or something. Or Abreu will do something even more awesome. Or they have a championship roster, but just were failed by the manager. Or that Spanish speaking players aren't motivated by non Latino managers,. Tony failed because he let the players do whatever they wanted, and they weren't expected to hit the cutoff man. And the players themselves failed for whatever reasons. Probably overrrated. It may surprise this discussion, but MLB is filled with Latinos excelling under non Latino leadership.

I think people feel Moncada will revert closer to form because he’ll be playing for a manager with a pulse who will actually push him to give his all everyday.

[Chick Mercedes]

1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I think people feel Moncada will revert closer to form because he’ll be playing for a manager with a pulse who will actually push him to give his all everyday.

Well that would be closer to the reason, yes. I am sure the player has to be self-motivated to play at his best however. Surely he must be embarrassed at his output, and at some point he will or won’t get tired of leaving something in the clubhouse if that’s what he’s doing. What his issues are, are a mystery. Covid? Expectations appear to be too high.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Chick Mercedes

[Chicago White Sox]

6 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

Well that would be closer to the reason, yes. I am sure the player has to be self-motivated to play at his best however. Surely he must be embarrassed at his output, and at some point he will or won’t get tired of leaving something in the clubhouse if that’s what he’s doing. What his issues are, are a mystery. Covid? Expectations appear to be too high.

I just know in my career that I’ve worked with smart / talented people who routinely need a push to give their best.  Moncada comes off as that type of player and I think Sleepy Tony La Russa’s management style was the worst possible fit for someone like Yoan.  IMO, hiring Grifor will help Moncada more than any player on the roster.  He gets who Moncada is based on his “need to get him back to walking 80 times a year” comment.  Yoan will never be a perfect player, but if we can turn him back into an OBP machine who provides plus defense at 3B he will be a 4 win player.

[Snopek]

28 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

People seem to want to assume that Moncada is going to revert to playing the way he did a number of years ago because Pedro speaks Spanish to him. Eloy is gonna stop crashing into Robert or something. Or Abreu will do something even more awesome. Or they have a championship roster, but just were failed by the manager. Or that Spanish speaking players aren't motivated by non Latino managers,. Tony failed because he let the players do whatever they wanted, and they weren't expected to hit the cutoff man. And the players themselves failed for whatever reasons. Probably overrrated. It may surprise this discussion, but MLB is filled with Latinos excelling under non Latino leadership.

See that’s where it seems we’re interpreting things differently. I don’t see anyone saying that Yoan or any of these guys will magically be fixed by a Spanish speaking manager. It’s more of, this team and its players have so many issues and so many things that need to be improved upon, they need all the help they can get. And having a manager that (in theory) can communicate better with them should only help. How much? Who knows, but I think Grifol proving leadership as a Latino would, at worst, make no difference. But at best, could facilitate better communication, a better culture and clubhouse, and ultimately better performance.