Exactly one month after Tony La Russa announced his retirement due to health concerns, the White Sox officially named Pedro Grifol as his successor on Thursday.
In the past few weeks leading up to the hire, rumors have swirled about potential candidates and front-runners for the job. Though we still don’t know all of the specifics, we now have a better glimpse at how things played out behind the scenes.
Senior Vice President and General Manager Rick Hahn started off Grifol’s introductory press conference on Thursday morning with no shortage of excitement regarding the hiring and the process that the team underwent. Some common words used to describe the organization’s search included “exhaustive,” “extensive,” and “expansive.”
“We’re very proud of the process that led us to Pedro,” Hahn said at one point. “It was an exhaustive and expansive search.”
Hahn went on to explain that the initial list of possible managerial candidates sat around 22-24 people at the beginning of the process. After speaking with people both inside and outside of the organization, that group swelled to roughly 30 candidates.
From that batch, the White Sox front office honed in on eight for the first round of interviews. Hahn revealed that seven of those eight people came from different organizations, with Grifol obviously being a part of that group.
Involved in the initial interviews from a front-office perspective were Daniel Zien (Director of Baseball Ops), Chris Getz (Assistant GM/Player Development), Jeremy Haber (Assistant GM), and Hahn. From there, several candidates had conversations with Hahn and Kenny Williams (Executive VP) prior to the final-round interview with Jerry Reinsdorf, Williams, and Hahn in Arizona.
Hahn did not make mention of any of the other finalists. However, given what we know, the first-round interviews may have included a combination of Grifol (Royals), Matt Quatraro (Rays), Miguel Cairo (White Sox), Ron Washington (Braves), Carlos Mendoza (Yankees), Joe Espada (Astros), Kevin Long (Phillies), and Ozzie Guillen.
Eight candidates, seven organizations? It’s tough to know based on purely rumors alone. What we do know for certain is that Grifol was the second of the eight candidates to meet with the front office and made a very strong first impression.
“From about an hour into our conversation, it became very clear that the bar had been risen,” Hahn said. “And that the rest of the group that we were going to be meeting with over the course of the following week or 10 days had a high standard to meet based on what Pedro presented that day.”
Hahn made mention that he told Grifol after their initial meeting that he believed it wouldn’t be very long until Grifol received a managerial opportunity, whether it was with the White Sox or someone else. Turns out, the fit on the South Side was right as the general manager expanded upon further.
“In Pedro, we are hiring someone who is a renowned communicator,” Hahn said. “A modern baseball mind who is seeking to build a cohesive and inclusive clubhouse environment, and one where the attention to detail and the accountability will be priorities.”
“At the end of the day, after Jerry, Kenny, and I sat down with Pedro, it was very clear to all three of us he would be the unanimous choice to address some of the things we needed to improve in.” Hahn added while trying to contain his excitement.”
One other nugget came out a little later during the Q&A where Hahn said owner Jerry Reinsdorf compared this process to the Bulls’ hiring of Executive VP of Basketball Operations Artūras Karnišovas.
“That made me proud,” Hahn said in response to Reinsdorf’s comment. “because although we did not necessarily coordinate with [the Bulls] or get any sort of blueprint from them, I know they went about it in a way where they were open-minded, looked outside the organization, got recommendations from a numerous, diverse group of individuals from around the game and wound up making what, at least in my opinion, is a sensational hire.”
To hear more from Hahn and Grifol at today’s press conference, check out our recap here or watch it in its entirety below.
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