MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 6, 2022

Pedro Grifol

Chicago White Sox

Press Conference

Q. Pedro, what's this like for you being here at this Winter Meetings as like a Big League manager for the first time?

PEDRO GRIFOL: First of all, I haven't been to Winter Meetings since probably 2011. Prior to that, I've been six or seven times, but as a manager, it's a little bit different.

Obviously we haven't had this, I think, in two or three years, but I'm excited. I'm excited to see everybody. The welcome has been really, really good. The feedback has been good. I'm excited to be a part of it.

Q. Rick said you've already -- I think you touched on this a little bit. You've already started kind of building bonds with players, talking to some players. How has that gone so far? How many have you met with face to face or by Zoom or whatever way you're connecting?

PEDRO GRIFOL: I've met with a couple face to face. I started this almost right at the day of the press conference. I think I spoke to a couple of them before the press conference, but as of right now, maybe I have two or three left.

But they've been good. Been good dialogue. Some of them I've spoken to a couple, three, four times. It's been really good so far. And now our coaches are starting to reach out. So I've kind of backed off a little bit. I don't want to continue to bother these guys. These guys are in the off-season.

But I do want relationships to start with our coaches, so they're in the process of doing that now.

Q. Was the message different or more specific than what you shared with us at your press conference, or was it basically the same kind of gist?

PEDRO GRIFOL: Same. We haven't gotten into expectations or anything like that, but we did get into some 2023 stuff without getting too deep into it. But it's been good conversations.

I think they're all, everyone is excited, the coaching staff, the players, to get going and see if we can do something special.

Q. What are players telling you that this team needs coming off of the disappointment of last season?

PEDRO GRIFOL: We really didn't get into 2022. We just talked about what we need to do in 2023. So it was just a high energy Spring Training, just the work itself wasn't -- it's not going to be like -- it's just going to be quality work, not quantity work. Get them in, get them out, work hard. Speed up the game a little bit. Speed up the practices a little bit.

And that's what we're going to focus on. We're in the process of putting that together as a staff. Eddie Rodriguez is probably going to run the majority of Spring Training. He's done it many, many years.

So we're in the process now of putting that together and getting really creative with our drills just to speed up the pace of our practices.

Q. Along those lines, you've mentioned, and Rick has mentioned, pregame, so in season pregame prep. Is it going to look -- is it something unique? Is it something different than what we've seen in baseball for a hundred years?

PEDRO GRIFOL: I don't think it's going to be -- I don't think it's something unique, but it's not going to be something you've seen in baseball for a hundred years. It's a creativity thing.

You might see something the first week, and then you won't see it again until June. It's just going to be on an individual basis of what they need.

For example, Eddie Rodriguez used to do specific drills with Mike Moustakas. He did it every day. He didn't do it with the other guys, but he did it with him.

So you'll see things happening maybe in April that you won't see again until May because he's just doing other thing, but the creativity is going to be in full display when it comes to how we go about it.

Q. I'm not sure if you've talked about this before, so my apology if you have, but getting a guy like Charlie to be your bench coach with his experience as a manager and his respect around the game with a lot of players, how important was that in terms of a staff hiring, and how much of a resource do you think he'll be for you?

PEDRO GRIFOL: He was a big key to this. When I was looking for a bench coach it was in the interview process. You're interviewing with all these teams, and you're trying to put a staff together.

I asked a buddy of mine if he had any names, and it just so happens that he gave me Charlie's name, and when he gave me Charlie's name, I was like that's the guy. When I mentioned it to Rick, he was like that's the guy.

So it almost happened simultaneously to where we were both on board immediately, and we were able to get him done pretty quick. I'm super excited to have him. He's been in the dugout for a long time. He's got managerial experience. He's bilingual. He's versatile. He's going to be coordinating the base running and really touching everything else. He's a very versatile coach.

Q. Rick talked about your fresh eyes and how he's valuing your kind of insights and stuff, from hiring outside the organization. What kind of voice have you been having in these meetings, here and before, about player roster construction, what they're trying to do with free agency trades?

PEDRO GRIFOL: The communication is really good, and Rick does a phenomenal job communicating with me and our needs and what he's trying to do with his staff. We're in constant communication.

We're here at the Winter Meetings, and things pop up, and we discuss it. But, again, they're doing their job right now. They're trying to assemble a roster, and obviously we're in constant communication with them.

Q. Being here, how would you size up the roster?

PEDRO GRIFOL: It's a work in progress right now. We lost Abreu obviously, and we're just trying to put a roster together that we feel is going to be able to compete in the Central.

Q. You watched him for a number of years playing against (indiscernible). Obviously with the roster configuration, it makes sense for them. It was a good move for him. How do you feel when you see Abreu now playing for Houston, the defending world champion?

PEDRO GRIFOL: Abreu is a great player. He'll be missed of course. We've got to move on. It's next man up. We're in the process of trying to assemble a roster that, again, we feel is going to be able to compete.

Q. What do you think are the primary needs at this point, signing Clevinger?

PEDRO GRIFOL: Clevinger was a really good pick for us. It rounds up our rotation. Needs, per se, I think there's versatility in this club, but we're in the process of going through that.

Again, we want a fast-paced, faster paced club, athletic club. So when it comes to specific needs, I don't think there's one. I think we're looking at just building a better roster.

Q. You kind of have that if some of the guys stay healthy from last year? The faster paced athletic. You have Tim Anderson (indiscernible) who just weren't healthy last year.

PEDRO GRIFOL: They weren't healthy. We're kind of expecting him to pick up their game when it comes to running bases and doing the things that help us win baseball games.

Q. You hear a lot that a manager's value is equated to players playing for that guy. You just want a guy who will play hard, play hard for them. What does that mean to you as a manager in terms of that?

PEDRO GRIFOL: I think it's everything really. When players want to get to the ballpark to play for each other and play for an organization and a manager and a staff, everything comes together.

That enjoyment that players need to be able to perform on a daily basis and motivate themselves on a daily basis and be motivated by us, it's really important.

So part of my job is to delegate to our staff, allow them to work, allow the players to be themselves, whatever that is. And obviously we'll have our rules here and there. Everybody's got to stay in between those lines, but for the most part, those lines are flexible. Go ahead and be yourself and enjoy the game.

When you get that type of environment, I think you're setting yourself up for pretty good things.

Q. Do you think you can get the most out of Eloy if he's a DH most of the time?

PEDRO GRIFOL: I haven't spoken to him about that. He's a huge part of this ball club. There are very few guys in this game that just want to be a DH. I don't expect my conversations with him to be, hey, you're going to be a DH, and it's like, oh, yeah, great. Very few players are like that. Players want to play, and I'm assuming he's going to want to do the same thing.

So he's going to prepare to play the outfield. Obviously the DH role is a role that he can fill as well, but we've got to get him ready in Spring Training to be able to play some defense as well.

Q. For you, just how would you describe what the swing was like being from part of the process and going through the process in to coming here and accepting this position?

PEDRO GRIFOL: Obviously my time in Kansas City was memorable. We did some really nice things over there. Going through the process with the Marlins and here and in Kansas City, after I was done with it all and was able to reflect, I feel like this is the perfect spot for me. This is a really good ball club, really good people. It felt like family right away.

I know you've heard Rick talk about that, and I felt the same way from day one. I remember my wife asking me how did it go, and I said, It felt a little different. I think I've gone through like seven interviews, and this one just felt a little different. It felt like family right away. It felt like we connected.

So I'm grateful and excited for this opportunity.

Q. Were you emotional at all? I'm thinking specifically talking about how maybe the conversation you would have had with Perez since you guys are so close. What was that like? I'm assuming he was happy for you, but what was the feeling?

PEDRO GRIFOL: It was emotional, and not just with him. He's like my son. I've had him for ten years, and you've heard him speak on that relationship.

But guys like Dozier and Nick Lopez and even Alex Gordon that's not there, of course there's a lot of really good friendships built over time, but it's time to move on.

This is the way the game is, right? We're not gone. Obviously we're great friends, and now we're going to compete against each other, but it's time to move on and do something else in another place, and that's here in Chicago.

Q. What are your impressions of both watching Luis Robert potentially clearly as when you're facing him and now the conversations you start to have with him about how he's maybe preparing for 2023 after a physically difficult year?

PEDRO GRIFOL: My first impression on Luis is this guy's an MVP candidate when I first laid eyes on him. Then watching him control center field in Kaufmann Stadium and what he was able to do, I haven't seen somebody do that since really Lorenzo Cain and Michael Taylor. Then you watch him hit, and he's hitting balls 115, 118 miles an hour, and he's a plus plus runner. There's nothing on the baseball field he can't do.

We've just got to keep him healthy, got to keep him healthy. My conversations with him this off-season have been really good. I went and visited him. Jose Castro went with me. Mike Tosar went with me. His family was there. So we were able to spend some quality time with him.

He's excited to get going. He's in the process of getting healthy. He feels great. So we're looking for big things from him this year.

Q. You talked to Grandal to see kind of where he's at? Obviously he had a pretty tough season last year?

PEDRO GRIFOL: I have met with him. I've spoken to him probably three or four times as well. I saw him the day after the press conference. He's got a good mind. He's extremely creative. He's always looking to get better. He's always looking for things to help our club get better. He feels good. He's healthy.

Again, we've got to get him going. He's motivated too. So that's a good thing. When you have players with his type of ability that are motivated to have a comeback year, it's a really good thing.

Q. Is it a little bit weird to come in as a first-time manager with a new organization with the World Baseball Classic, you'll probably have players coming in and out of camp. Does that make it more difficult on you to kind of get up and running with this group?

PEDRO GRIFOL: You know what, it's not, and the reason I say that because I've coordinated camps before during the WBC. Most of the players that go to the WBC are everyday players. You're just giving an opportunity -- those guys are going to get ready, and they're going to go play really good baseball.

You're just giving other guys an opportunity to showcase themselves in Spring Training, and you never know, somebody might make a team or somebody might impress to a point where something happens during the year, we have a really good idea of what he can do, this particular player can do in the Big Leagues.

So it's just really next man up while we watch those guys compete for something they love.

Q. How can that benefit a guy like Robert and Mondanda, how can that benefit them to play in those conditions?

PEDRO GRIFOL: They've got to be ready to go. You're talking beginning, middle of March. They've got to be ready to go. That's the big stage. They're playing for something that doesn't happen every year. It happens every four years. This will be the first time that, if it does happen, this will be the first time that they can go back and play for team Cuba.

I just think that these guys, they're not taking that lightly. Their preparation right now is geared to, I've got to be ready to go come beginning of March. They'll just carry that right on to the beginning of the season for us.

Q. So it's an amount of pressure for those guys too. It's a big deal.

PEDRO GRIFOL: No doubt. The pressure is real in WBC. It's real. Obviously I live in Miami. I think the stadium is sold out. There's not a ticket to be had there. You can't even get tickets for family to go in.

It's real pressure. It's good baseball. You're going to see some excitement. We have guys playing in the WBC. Hey, they know they've got to be ready to play. They're on the big stage.

Q. When you're talking with Rick, talking about potential moves, do you -- did Rick come with a lot of input, or do you kind of lay back and see how they work? How do you strike that balance?

PEDRO GRIFOL: I just answer questions when they ask me. It's a different eye, different look from the outside coming in.

Again, I'm the manager. We got a really good front office that knows what they're doing and know how to assemble clubs. I'm completely confident that, when it comes time, we'll have a nice roster to work with.