Pregame notes: The Grady Sizemore Era begins

Newly hired managers are often reactions to the previous one. Rather than scan the baseball world for Pedro Grifol's opposite, the White Sox were limited to who was already on the payroll, but it can at least be enlightening to see what they're emphasizing as Grady Sizemore is tasked with navigating them away from infamy.

"Guy played 162 games in one season," said Andrew Vaughn. "He gets the game and he gets what it takes. I think guys look up to guys like Grady. A lot of people in that clubhouse look up to him just because he was one of those ironmen. He played the game hard, he played the game right."

"They know what August is like, they know what September is like," Gavin Sheets said of the value of a former big leaguer in the manager's seat. "They know what a losing streak's like, they know what a hitless streak's like. They've been in our shoes. It gives them a different aspect on the game. There's a level of respect for people who have done this and been in our shoes."

In the realm of pro baseball, Grifol's playing experience as a no-hit catcher toiling in the minors seems more universal than Sizemore's prior existence as a five-tool superstar and the subject of one of the most lascivious articles put to print this millennium. But the universality of playing experience is all about how effectively it's leveraged to make connections.

By all indications, Grifol struggled to do so in a way that produced results for the White Sox, creating a moment where they're longing for someone who can model success. Or, a roster heavy on under-performers who will be fighting for smaller roles if they're in the majors at all next year, were dealt Sizemore as interim manager by their bosses, and are focusing on what jumps out at them.

"It's a piece of it," said assistant GM Josh Barfield of what role Sizemore's playing resume plays into how active players respond to him. "You're always curious: how did they get all that out, every ounce of their ability out on the field? But I think a lot of it is the human being that he is. He is such a good person and good connector. He's smart. Sometimes you get around guys that are quick to show you how much they know. They want to talk over you. They want to tell you what the know. Grady's not like that. He's a good listener and he finds a good way to meet everybody at their needs."

Barfield first met Sizemore in the White Sox ballpark, when they both played in the 2003 Futures Game (fitting the theme, Sizemore was the game's MVP) and can claim a lot of responsibility for getting Sizemore into coaching. He put Sizemore in touch with former White Sox outfielder Trayce Thompson--who idolized him as a player--during the COVID shutdown of sports in 2020. More than the results of their work together, which saw Thompson return to the majors three years after he once seemed to be a prospect flameout, Barfield felt the dedicated nature with which Sizemore parsed through and broke down at-bats after buying an MiLB.TV subscription just to follow Thompson, portended a coaching future.

When Sizemore was not deterred by the 110-degree heat and general chaos of coaching in the Arizona Complex League as a $15/hour intern with the Diamondbacks organization last year, there was no remaining doubt about it. But where Grifol earned the White Sox job after decades of specifically striving for the manager role and carried himself as a man who had to tout his qualifications regularly, the whiplash-inducement placement of Sizemore into this temporary finds him claiming no ambitions, and deferring to others to guide him through.

"I don't even know, we'll find out," Sizemore said of his managing style. "I didn’t come in this to manage. There was no appeal factor there. It was really getting to know these guys, building trust, trying to build relationships and make an impact. I started this because I enjoyed working with some players and I enjoyed the feedback I get from them when I was able to help. That’s what I’m trying to lean in to."

"I think he was completely caught off-guard when Getzy brought it up, because he was so focused on where his feet were planted and finding ways to help in the role he was in," Barfield said. "At times you don't even know what you're capable of until you're put in a situation."

That unfamiliarity offers a lot of open references to leaning on other's expertise, which managers tasked with taking up the mantle as the central decision-maker for all that happens on the field are disinclined to profess so openly. Friday was probably the first time hitting coach Marcus Thames was directly credited with helping make out the lineup, and Sizemore made it clear that Ethan Katz and Matt Wise will factor heavily into the first pitching change of his career.

It's not a normal rhetorical tactic for a manager to take, especially when managers have typically had to make their case for why they're more qualified than a large field of contenders. But it succeeds in striking a different chord after ~300 games of Grifol claiming to be carrying out a plan as the results suggested otherwise.

Also, Sizemore making a big show of knowing what he's doing just wouldn't be true.

"You want a guy who is going to be honest with you and you want a guy that’s just going to put you in a position to succeed," Sizemore said of what he'd want from a manager in an interim situation. "I’ve had tons of managers and everyone does it their own way. But I think the guys who are the most authentic and themselves usually get the most respect and are the funnest to play for."

But this is an interim situation, and the people who put Sizemore in that situation have made it clear that it will go no further. It's hard to get excited about a plan that has such a defined ceiling on it, but the White Sox have the benefit of knowing it can't get any worse, and Sizemore has the benefit of walking into another unique qualification.

"A lot of the really good managers, the first time through maybe it didn't go so well and you talk them afterwards and it's 'Man, I learned so much,'" Barfield said. "I'm sure he'll make some mistakes and he'll learn and grow from it. But I think he'll take everything he learns from this and whether it's as a coach, as a manager, whether it's something on the front office side, the experience he'll take from this vantage point, sitting in that seat, I think he'll learn so much."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Cubs

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