With the hire of Pedro Grifol as the next White Sox manager, extensive changes are expected to the team’s coaching staff.
Matt Spiegel of 670 The Score reported on Tuesday that the team is not expected to retain first-base coach Daryl Boston and third-base coach Joe McEwing. Instead, Grifol is said to have the upper hand when it comes to bringing in his own staff.
Spiegel provided some explanation to his otherwise vague tweet (above) during the first hour of Tuesday’s Parkins & Spiegel Show.
“Here’s what I love: they are letting him bring in his own freaking people,” Spiegel said with regards to the White Sox and Grifol. “Goodbye to Joe McEwing and to Daryl Boston.”
“We don’t know that for sure yet,” Danny Parkins interjected. “I do. I can share that with you,” Spiegel responded.
Boston, 59, just completed his 10th season as the White Sox’s first base coach and 25th as a coach within the organization. He originally spent the 1998-2012 seasons in the player development system, including the last 12 of that stretch as the minor-league outfielder instructor. He also served as hitting coach at Advanced Rookie Bristol (1998), Class A Burlington (1999), and Class A Winston-Salem (2000) during the early going.
McEwing, 50, has been in the White Sox organization for 16 seasons and served as the third base coach for seven of them (2012-16, 2021-22). Under former manager Rick Renteria, McEwing was the team’s bench coach during the 2017-20 seasons and managed on several occasions in Renteria’s absence. Also spending time as a coach within the minor-league system, McEwing has been praised by the Sox as playing an instrumental part in Tim Anderson’s development. However, McEwing’s base-running sends have been aggressive in a bad way, leading to the fanbase growing tired of his antics and wanting a change at third base coach.
With changes coming to the corner coaching boxes, it’s hard to predict who will land in those roles. Some names Kansas City journalists have thrown around include Alec Zumwalt (Royals’ Director of Hitting Performance/Player Development) and Mike Tosar (Royals’ Special Assignment Hitting Coach).
As it relates to the rest of the previous coaching staff, Ken Rosenthal shared in a tweet on Tuesday that “a number of White Sox coaches are not being asked back.” We do know, however, that pitching coach Ethan Katz and bullpen coach Curt Hassler appear to be the lone returners. One whose status is still unknown is bench coach Miguel Cairo, though some clarity should be on the way in the coming days as additional coaching hires are announced.
At the end of the day, these changes signal a more important thing: cutting ties with loyalty hires. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf has long been known to hang on to personnel and could very well reassign Boston, McEwing, and others to new roles within the organization, according to Spiegel. But it appears Grifol has been handed a considerable amount of power when it comes to choosing who he wants on his staff, as any new manager should.
With further updates likely coming over the next few days and weeks, we will have full coverage here and on social media @SoxOn35th. Follow along with us!
Related Articles:
- Report: White Sox to name Pedro Grifol as manager
- Report: Charlie Montoyo to be named White Sox bench coach
- Report: Ethan Katz to return as White Sox pitching coach
Featured Photo: © Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports
If any of these speculations come true we might become the Chicago Royals
I had not issues with D-Bo, but McEwing was a rally killer.
Until we see the press release from clown show that impersonates as an MLB franchise… I will remain skeptical.