The Chicago White Sox were off to a pathetic start, so bad the general manager began searching for a new manager as the current one squirmed in the dugout.
‘’We’re 7-17, I can’t worry about feelings,” the general manager said, adding that if the manager got fired “the players will fire him.”
“They have not responded to him,” he said. “It’s the same old story. It’s not always the manager’s fault. But I don’t know of any other way to go. You don’t get rid of the players. The club is 7-17. That’s the bottom line.”
The general manager was Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, who had played pool at a suite at the Palmer House Hotel until 3 a.m. the previous morning. His pool partner was New York Yankees broadcaster Billy Martin, whom Harrelson wanted to hire to replace manager Tony La Russa.
It was as unseemly as it sounds. Even La Russa detractors couldn’t believe White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf would let his GM publicly humiliate his manager. Some Sox players wore T-shirts reading “Save Our Skipper.” The circus atmosphere was ridiculous, even by Sox standards.
The losing pitcher that night was veteran Tom Seaver, 41 and in the final year of his career. Seaver was the symbol of the 1986 Sox, a team that looked old and tired and ready for a nap, with the exception of promising infielder Bobby Bonilla.
After Harrelson’s courting of Martin — the longtime major-league manager — became the focus of the Sox’s season, they lost to the Yankees the next day, falling to 7-18. The Sox went on a brief run before another long losing stretch. Harrelson fired La Russa in June and hired Jim Fregosi as his replacement. The Sox would not become competitive again until 1990, finishing last in the American League in attendance in 1989.
The Sox’s 7-18 start after Wednesday’s 8-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays is their worst since 1986 and has the same kind of “we’re so toast” vibes. They struck out 17 times Wednesday and have hit .128 and scored six runs in the last five losses of their seven-game losing streak.
1986 was a memorable year for all the wrong reasons. This year could be a repeat, but only if the Sox don’t act fast and start making changes. Thanks to playing in the mediocre American League Central , the 2023 season remains salvageable.
But there are no do-overs, and the Sox begin a four-game series against Tampa Bay on Thursday with the look of Dead Team Walking.
At least Pedro Grifol doesn’t have to worry about suffering the same fate as La Russa 1.0.
Grifol last fall replaced La Russa 2.0, the manager who returned to the Sox in 2021 because Reinsdorf spent more than three decades regretting his decision to let Harrelson fire him in the first place.
Being a Sox fan means going through cycles of insanity and then reliving those cycles decades later with some of the same personnel. That 1986 team also featured the September call-up of rookie Ken Williams, who as executive vice president remains the symbol of Reinsdorf’s undying loyalty to friends.
Williams and general manager Rick Hahn can’t be blamed for La Russa 2.0, but Grifol is their guy and will be judged on whether he’s able to turn this around before it’s too late. If not, he’s Terry Bevington 2.0.
Grifol got here while the free-fall already was underway. The lack of free-agent signings in the offseason should’ve been a red flag, but optimism from spring training trumped reality, and the loss of Tim Anderson to a left knee injury proved to be the one that put the team into a deep sleep.
Grifol mentioned to reporters in Toronto that “somebody showed me not too long ago that this club plays way better with (Anderson) than without him.”
Sox fans have known that for quite a while. But kudos to the Sox for finally letting their manager know the truth. A good relationship thrives on not keeping secrets from each other.
Though Grifol is safe, many of the players should probably keep their bags packed, including Lance Lynn, who has begun to resemble the 1986 version of Seaver, albeit without the charm or intellect. Lynn opened up recently with podcaster and former Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, saying: “I have been throwing the ball like (bleep), to be honest with you. … I haven’t been myself so far. That’s got to change too.”
Lynn has lasted six innings once in five starts, looking gassed by the new pitch-clock rules. Sox analyst Steve Stone remarked Tuesday on WSCR-AM 670 that “maybe a couple salads would help” Lynn. He always succeeded before as a heavy starter, but it’s crunchtime and he has to figure things out.
If the Sox are going to salvage anything from this season, players such as Lynn, Yoán Moncada, Mike Clevinger, Kendall Graveman and Lucas Giolito must step up the next three months so Hahn can at least get something in return before the trade deadline.
The lowlight of the season might have been the sight of outfielders Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert Jr. arguing Tuesday over Robert stealing two possible Jimenez catches. Jiménez was correct in telling Robert off, but the body language was so bad you worried Jiménez would injure himself shaking his head so much.
Nothing would surprise Sox fans at this point.
The promise of 2023 has turned into a reboot of 1986, and it’s an episode no one wants to watch again.
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