Pedro Grifol looks to be next White Sox manager

On Tuesday, news began to break that Kansas City bench coach and Royals organization mainstay Pedro Grifol would be named the next manager of the White Sox.

This news has been a long time coming, given that the White Sox were the last club with an opening to fill it.

Monday, the breaking news on the South Side in regards to the managerial search was the White Sox having gotten permission to interview Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, fans found out Mendoza was actually interviewed not over the weekend, but 12 days ago.

Mendoza is the bench coach in the Bronx, having played 13 seasons in the minor leagues before becoming a coach in the Yankees system. In 2017, he became the infield coach for the major league club, and he was promoted to bench coach for the 2020 season. Mendoza has been working under Aaron Boone for the last two years, and certainly knows what it is like to win, even if there hasn’t been a World Series ring in New York for 13 seasons. Mendoza certainly checked off the criteria of being outside the White Sox organization and having recent championship experience.

But on Tuesday morning, it was reported that Mendoza along with Pedro Grifol were the two finalists competing for the job.

A mere minute later, Buster Olney broke the news that Grifol is going to be named the next manager. I guess you can forget everything I just told you about Mendoza.

Grifol is a candidate that has been been named since the managerial search started, but given that he is a part of the Royals organization, doesn’t fit in the recent championship experience category. Grifol, 52, played nine seasons in the minor leagues in the 90s and has been with the Royals organization since 2013.

Ken Rosenthal confirmed this news and started answering fans next question. What does this mean for the rest of the coaching staff?

While this news isn’t official until the White Sox release a statement, it does seem likely that Grifol is their guy. The hire is unexciting, and seems likely it was the team’s backup plan when the original plan fell through, but such is the White Sox way.