NOVEMBER 3: At today’s press conference introducing Grifol, GM Rick Hahn told reporters (including The Athletic’s James Fegan) that Montoyo, Katz, and Hasler would be on the coaching staff. The White Sox will be looking outside the organization to fill the bulk of the other coaching roles.
NOVEMBER 1: The White Sox landed on their new skipper this morning, with various reports indicating that Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol will take over the dugout. Grifol has apparently already tabbed his top lieutenant. Former Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo will join Chicago’s staff as bench coach, as first reported on Twitter by Northbrook Bob.
It could be the start of a significant coaching staff overhaul on the South Side, as Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic tweeted this morning that a number of the members from Tony La Russa’s staff will not return. Pitching coach Ethan Katz is a seeming exception, as Rosenthal notes he’s expected back for a third season. Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times hears the same and reports that bullpen coach Curt Hasler is likely to stick around as well. The rest of the staff makeup seems to be up in the air.
Most notably, that includes now-former bench coach Miguel Cairo. The longtime big league infielder was hired as La Russa’s right-hand man going into the 2021 season. He spent two years as Chicago’s bench coach and took over as acting manager at the end of this past season when La Russa stepped away to attend to the health problems that eventually led him to vacate the managerial position. Cairo got an interview from the Sox for the full-time managerial position, but he obviously didn’t land that job. Now, it’s an open question whether he’ll return to the organization in any capacity.
Montoyo adds an experienced voice to the Chicago coaching staff. The 57-year-old has coached or managed in the majors for the past seven years. After more than a decade and a half managing in the Rays farm system, Montoyo got a bump to the MLB staff as Kevin Cash’s bench coach heading into the 2016 campaign. He held the role for three seasons before the Blue Jays hired him as their skipper over the 2018-19 offseason.
The Puerto Rico native managed the Jays for three-plus seasons, leading Toronto to a playoff berth in 2020. The Jays narrowly missed the postseason last year. Toronto started the 2022 campaign 46-42 and held a playoff spot as the All-Star Break approached, but the Jays decided to go in another direction and fired Montoyo on July 13. Bench coach John Schneider was promoted and guided the team to a 46-28 record down the stretch, clinching a Wild Card berth before losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Mariners.
Montoyo’s past bench coach and managerial experience should be welcome for Grifol, who’ll manage an MLB team for the first time. He and the front office figure to build out the remainder of his staff over the coming weeks. Hitting coach Frank Menechino, assistant hitting coach Howie Clark and base coaches Daryl Boston and Joe McEwing are among those who appear to have uncertain futures as the Sox shuffle their staff.
Good for you Charlie. Good luck.
You can say that again.
Good for you Charlie.
Good on Montoyo. Bench coach is where he belongs. Terrible MLB manager. Can’t lead and handle a room.
Yeah, exactly what the Sox need in their leaderless locker room.. :::Eyeroll:::
So they named him second in command lol.
He should really help the White Sox in that role. Should help out with the young guys in particular, not to mention his experience in general as both a bench coach and manager before should give Grifol some further support.
Good man is Charlie. Glad to see him back in MLB , after they underperform for the next year and a half , he’ll get the main gig.
What is he Charlie Brown
A very oddly formatted sentence.
Wasn’t Montoyo still due to be paid one more year of his managerial contract by the Blue Jays? If so, how does that work now? Does that mean the Blue Jays are still on the hook for paying Montoyo next year instead of the White Sox, or does he get to double dip?
Good question. I think double dip.
Side hustling Charlie
He also Uber and Doordash
And he’s a bouncer and DJ
Actually an accomplished musician
Course golf pro, talk show host, private dick, he’s Fletch! Or Chevy Chase.
Must be hard to be a skip then take a back seat all of a sudden.
He will get paid the full contract owed to him. The blue jays would only owe the difference of the two salary’s
But why would there be a difference? I would assume his contract with the Blue Jays as manager pays more than his contract with the White Sox as bench coach. That’s why I was wondering if the Blue Jays are just on the hook for his whole salary since there’s not a minimum bench coach salary (at least not that I’m aware of) to deduct from what the Blue Jays have to pay.
Blue jays would pay the difference between the amount he’s earning in Chicago vs the amount owed. Say his Chicago salary is 1million and jays salary was 1.5. Would mean Chicago pays his 1 million and jays only have to pay .5 of the 1.5 they originally owed him
Ah. Got it. Thanks.
Is there a source for this info because it sounds like when a player gets released and the new team only has to pay MLB minimum. I would imagine he double dips because these are two different contracts from two different teams and he is not covered by MLBPA rules.
Management is different than player’s contract. Pension, MLB Insurance and licensing all factor into someone willing to basically work for no additional salary. It also speaks volumes about one’s desire to stay in the game he loves.
Montoya could take three jobs if he wanted and the Jays would still be obligated to abide by the terms of their contract with him. His contract with the Sox is irrelevant to whateve arrangement he had with the Jays.
There’s no “coaches union”; Montoya’s contract with the Jays is not affected by him accepting employment elsewhere. Each contract stands on it’s own, assuming there is no clause that allows a team to fire someone and not be obligated to fullfill the terms of their agreement, which would be absurd.
The Blue Jays should at least throw in a monthly bus pass, international calling card, and a free year of roadside assistance sheesh
I’ll be more impressed when the Sox get a condition staff that has Herm Schneider 2.0
This is an under the radar good signing. I think this is gonna translate to some Sox wins
Agreed. Charlie isn’t a great coach per se, but a solid bench coach as was seen in Tampa
Got that Latin fever goin’. Bring back abreu on a 2/25 with an option
That’s fine by me. It would also mean that one of Eloy Jimenez or Andrew Vaughn needs to be traded this offseason to accommodate ‘Pito’ at 1B and/or DH. The White Sox absolutely cannot have Jimenez, Vaughn or even 1B Gavin Sheets manning a corner OF position on a daily basis like they did in 2022.
Eloy has such tantalizing talent , if I’m a white Sox fan not sure I want to give that up
He can’t hit while sitting on the bench.
I love Eloy, but he’s never going to play a full season.
Sure, time to send Vaughn off, high floor limited ceiling kind of guy who’s relatively easy to replace. Whereas Eloy has MVP Yordan Alvarez upside.
Clearly the White Sox will only use Jimenez or Vaughn as a centerpiece in a significant trade to upgrade a position of weakness. I’m equally fine rolling with those two and not re-signing Abreu if JR is uncharacteristically willing to pony up significant $$ on another free agent or three.
Trading Vaughn or Eloy would be stupid. As a guy who teaches hitting lessons, I can tell you, those two young guys have elite hitting skills that will only get better with experience. I would like to see Eloy at DH and Vaughn at 1B so they can concentrate on hitting and stay healthy.
We need a new hitting coach
What’s needed is a new hitting philosophy, one that incorporates BB’s!
They are the most undisciplined and impatient hitting team in the majors.
Guys are swinging from the on deck circle and every opposing team knows it and game plans for it.
Fire the hitting coach anyway he’s been garbage. But bring in a ex-player known for patience at the plate.
We don’t have to be the Billy Bean Oakland A’s, but something resembling an average MLB team would help.
Jack, how about Konerko or Crede. Both were great 2 strike clutch hitters.
Pro sports is very ego driven. Montoyo was fired as a manager and will now play second fiddle to a rookie manager. As I know, Montoyo’s name wasn’t bandied about in any of the gossip for any of the managerial openings. As an MLB manager, Montoyo is yesterday’s man.
This makes me wonder how bitter Montoyo will be if he is of the belief that he got hooped by the Jays and the stigma from that was the reason he wasn’t interviewed for a recent managerial vacancy, Couple that with his being the bench boss for a rookie manager.
Cut off the wrong guy while you are driving, and he might fill you full of lead, so if Montoyo is the petty, bitter and vengeful type, he might not be initially able to accept that the path back to being an MLB manager is as a coach. You would hope he isn’t so short-sighted and narrow minded, but who knows. I don’t trust the Sox brain trust to properly vet any of their hires.
One hopes that if the new manager is allowed to hire his own staff, there will be at least one guy who actually played in the majors and ideally had a pretty good career.
Says the guy with zero MLB experience
Id suggest white sox promote some aaa coaches, but they have problems there.
Chris johnson is aaa hitting coach, not sure if same 3b chris from the braves and indians.
Bring back Frank Thomas as hitting coach! He has made enough TV money.
OR Walt Hriniak! He is only a year older than TLR.
frank thomas as a coach will need his own coach since every time he was on base a coach would have to tell hm to take a lead.
How about steve stone, white sox gm?
Northbrook Bob! Which Bob is the What About Danks Bob?
Great hire. Grifol and this guy will work great together. We need a GREAT hitting coach now.
Have no fear, Mike Tosar will soon be here! https://www.soxon35th.com/report-mike-tosar-to-be-named-white-sox-hitting-coach/
The ChiSox positions were poorly manned. I thought they were the worst defensive team in MLB. I also think the players don’t make a good team and needs to be stirred up.
Katz deserves a raise. Sox are very fortunate to have him as he’s done a fantastic job getting some of these pitchers to elite status.
Thank you, Mrs. Katz!
Except for Ethan Katz’ supposed prize pupil Lucas Giolito whom he has mentored since they were together as coach and pitcher at Harvard-Westlake HS in Los Angeles.
Where’s James McCann when we most need him? Perhaps the White Sox and Mets can work out a bad contract deal and reverse their current catching dilemmas.
whipppidity doo!
For a quick second I thought that was Greg Maddux in Blue Jays gear.
A new manager and some new coaches. That should fix the Sox league worst defense, inability to hit righties since 2020, the fact that they have no legit rightfielder on their roster, and that they have done literally nothing to intelligently improve their roster since 2020.
Until they change their philosophy on signing free agents worlds better than Grandal, this is all just noise and will make little to no difference at all in the grand scheme of things. Aaron Judge would not make this a championship team, and yet they need to a big signing like him to at least move this trainwreck in the right direction – with an ownership completely unwilling to do so. All but hopeless until Jerry sells the damn team.
We’ll talk to you when Jerry is dead then.
Until then, we’ll all be in reality where Jerry is only roughly 20% of the financial interest of the Chicago White Sox.
It’s clear the White Sox made mistakes. Their owner appears to understand that bad management = bad for biz. But the operating confines haven’t changed much for Rick other than the 2 wasted years. Blame him all you want. But the sun is still yellow.
Their owner hired Tony. That demonstrates an understanding of 0.0 when it comes to bad management. It was the stupidest and most ridiculous hiring in the history of professional sports, a 25 year age gap between TLR and the average MLB manger.
And at the end of the day, any team whose “big free agent acquisition” during a rebuild gets less than an 80M net contract, less than half what the Cubs gave Lester nearly a decade ago, has chances of actually winning a World Series that are basically zero. Blame it on Jerry or who he reports to, the results are the same, and the adjective to describe it all is CHEAP. Add incompetence to cheap, and you get franchise histories like the Sox and Bears. Complete futility. As in one championship per century, and never coming close outside of that, really.
It doesn’t matter how I feel about it. That’s why I don’t use adjectives to describe it.
It’s reality.
You live in a fantasy.
I like the new coaching personnel. Let’s also find a coach who knows a lot about fielding and team defense. The Sox are going all the way in 2023.