White Sox GM Chris Getz under growing scrutiny entering second year in charge
SAN ANTONIO — At his first general managers meetings last November as the White Sox’ man in charge, Chris Getz said he didn’t like his team. The clip with some of the best sound bites made the rounds, and Getz’s frank assessment was appreciated.
What was there to like? The Sox had completed a 101-loss season weeks earlier in manager Pedro Grifol’s first season. Longtime front office chiefs Ken Williams and Rick Hahn had been fired three months previously, and Getz was promoted from assistant general manager to GM and primary decision-maker for chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
As for the team Getz fielded in his first season at the helm, there was even less to like, as the Sox’ 121 losses in 2024 set a low bar for baseball in the modern era.
The Sox, who have been to the postseason only three times since winning the 2005 World Series — the 20th anniversary of which will be celebrated at the next SoxFest and throughout next season — know the rebuild drill. This is their second one in nine years, the first having fallen far short of the goal of multiple championships and sustained success.
In Year 1 of this rebuild, Getz expected to lose, but not to the tune of putting the 1962 Mets back in the news.
So now, the scrutiny gets turned up on the 41-year-old former farm director. When Getz was hired, Reinsdorf waved off the opportunity to look outside the organization for an up-and-coming bright executive to overhaul everything that ailed his operation. Instead, he went with Getz, saying fans were owed a quicker turnaround that could happen under someone who knew the Sox’ ins and outs.
“The speed is of the essence, and I don’t want this to be a long-term proposition,” Reins-dorf said the day Getz was hired. “I came to the conclusion that if I’ve got a guy inside who could do the job, why not? Why not do it inside and save a year?”
A year is now gone, and a return to competitiveness could be more than two seasons away. Payroll will be reduced for a second straight year. Andrew Benintendi, Andrew Vaughn and Luis Robert Jr. will be counted on at the plate to remedy baseball’s worst offense. Forget about pricey free agents to spruce up the lineup.
“You know the skills that they have, their capabilities,” Getz said. “We need to find a way to get them off to good starts right from the jump.”
Untested and unproven, Getz deserved the benefit of the doubt to show what he could do in the GM chair in his first year. He said he never saw that many losses coming in a season that left Reinsdorf frustrated and disillusioned. But now he’s changing infrastructure, bringing in decision-makers and help from outside and reorganizing scouting depart-ments. Last week, he hired his first manager, former Rangers associate manager Will Venable — a “coup,” in the words of a prominent national baseball writer.
There were no such plaudits when Hahn hired Grifol two years ago, so there’s that. Getz had a hand in directing Grifol from the Royals to the Sox, the two having ties in Kansas City, and Gene Watson, the Sox’ director of pro personnel, likely had a say as well, even though he was with the Royals at the time.
It’s imperative that this hire plays out better than that one. Venable will have lower expectations to win than Grifol did after inheriting a team supposedly built to compete in the American League Central. Getz is giving Venable a team that’s likely built to lose, but that doesn’t mean Getz won’t feel the pressure. It’s on him to remove the Sox from the state of disarray the rest of baseball sees.
NOTE: The Sox claimed right-hander Penn Murfee off waivers from the Astros and announced that right-handers Matt Foster and Jimmy Lambert elected free agency over accepting outright assignments.
Murfee, 30, spent the entire season on the injured list after Tommy John surgery. The Braves signed him as a free agent last November before the Astros claimed him off waivers in late March.