It’s official: Chris Getz named White Sox general manager

We no longer have to listen to HahnSpeak, but the new guy is more of the same. Today’s press conference involved many monotone sounds emitting from a live Ken doll with a microphone and podium. If you want to waste 30 minutes of your life, you can watch it in its entirety here.

The presser started with words from Jerry Reinsdorf, who promptly told us that it has been the worst he’s ever felt in his 41 years of owning the White Sox. Join the club, Jerry. Join the club.

Reinsdorf rationalized his decision in choosing Chris Getz to be the new senior vice president/general manager of the Chicago White Sox because he wants to get better now: “The conclusion I came to is what we owe our fans and ourselves is to not waste any time.”

I mean, really, who needs to do a comprehensive search with interviews and such for a Major League Baseball team when we can hire a yes-man we already have? Apparently, not the Sox, because Jerry made a list but admitted he conducted no interviews. He didn’t need to — he knows everyone on the list, so talking to them is unnecessary.

You can’t make this stuff up. You really can’t.

Next, Chris Getz was introduced and stepped up to the mic. It’s unfortunate that they couldn’t give the guy a teleprompter because he looked extremely uncomfortable espousing his own words from whatever notes he had in front of him. Then again, teleprompters probably fall outside of the budget.

If Getz’s goal was to circle around and not answer any questions, I can confidently say he won the press conference. If he said it once, he said it at least a half dozen times that his primary focus was going to be talking to Pedro [Grifol] and the players to do whatever is necessary to be better in 2024. I have a hard time believing talking is going to fix anything.

He didn’t share a direction or philosophy about how to go about changing anything other than taking a deep dive into the organization and trying to fill the gaps to put the organization back on track. However, we know that Jerry still controls the purse strings, and while Jerry admitted that he was willing to spend in free agency this offseason, he also stated, “We’re not going to be in any [Shohei] Ohtani race. I’ll tell you that.” So I hope Getz’s big plans don’t include big spending, or he’ll be sorely disappointed.

Getz mentioned a few times that the Sox are lucky to play in the AL Central, alluding to it being easier to get competitive quickly, because it sucks. It’s just what we all wanted to hear. Let’s try to scratch hard enough to win a terrible AL Central, and call it a day. It feels like we’ve been there before, doesn’t it?

One of the reporters asked Getz if he would have done anything different or what he learned regarding the Omar Vizquel/Wes Helms situation. He doubled down, saying, “I will say that I was very proud with our organization and how it was handled.” Wow, if that doesn’t give you the confidence that this organization is heading in the right direction.

I wish I could summarize this press conference and leave our fans with some iota of hope, but hopefulness was not the vibe. The face may have changed, but the narrative has not. Unfortunately, it was just more of the same: insular, vague, generic front office, yada, yada.