It’s hard to draw any conclusions yet about new Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, though at first glance he appears to be a pretty serious guy.
‘I can be,” Grifol said Saturday at Camelback Ranch.
Is there any joking around in the Sox clubhouse when Grifol holds his daily meetings with players, or is it all business for the first-year manager?
“No, I’ve got my joking side,” he said. “But you might not see it that often. They’ll see it. It’s going to be a loose environment. I just take this part of it really seriously.
“This is important. This is our preparation. This is our foundation. This is how we build our identity and our culture and I take it really seriously. Especially these first five days because these are the little things, these are the things that matter.
“But in there, you might catch me smiling once in a while.”
Hopefully someone can Instagram it for the record. This has not been one of those Sox camps in which everyone is walking around smiling and happy, with the obvious exception of Eloy Jimenez’s permanent smile.
There have already been two emotional moments — from reliever Kendall Graveman and pitching coach Ethan Katz — in the first four days. Graveman’s eyes watered up Thursday when talking about being selected to Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Katz choked up Saturday when discussing Liam Hendriks’s battle with cancer.
When you see someone unafraid to show the feels in public, you understand this is about more than a game.
But then there’s the flip side of raw emotion, the unstoppable soap opera featuring newly signed starter Mike Clevinger, who drew praise from some teammates this week for quickly addressing the distraction created by MLB’s investigation into alleged domestic violence against the mother of one of his children.
After voicing confidence in a news conference that he would be exonerated for what he called “nonsense,” Clevenger created yet another distraction Friday by threatening to sue WSCR-AM 670 for giving the alleged victim an outlet to refute his denial and provide more details about her allegations.
“My lawyers are paying attention,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “My lawyers are getting in contact with them and they probably already sent cease-and-desist for defamation. So (the station) just got themselves involved in this, too, so good for them.”
A White Sox player suing the flagship station of the Chicago Cubs for defamation would bring the crosstown rivalry to another level and would create plenty of content for sports writers to opine about.
I doubt it will happen. But in case he were serious, I gave Clevinger a chance to explain his reason for threatening a lawsuit against a sports radio station.
“I don’t need your chance, bro,” he said, walking away without making eye contact.
Sorry, bro, but you opened the can of worms and you can’t unopen it now.
The Sox also declined to discuss the pitcher’s latest controversy, saying it was between Clevinger and the station. WSCR operations director Mitch Rosen did not return a message. I’m sure everyone hopes it all just goes away.
How this will affect the station’s coverage of Clevinger remains to be seen, but if he continues to pitch for the Sox, it should be interesting to say the least.
Clevinger is here and busy being a baseball player. He threw a bullpen Saturday in front of Katz and Grifol, showing the fastball that led to general manager Rick Hahn thinking he would be a bargain on a one-year, $12 million deal. He was an outstanding pitcher with the Cleveland Guardians, and if healthy, Clevinger could make a strong rotation that much better.
With Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech and Clevinger and a deep bullpen even without Hendriks, it’s hard to believe some projections have the Sox finishing under .500.
“Whatever,” Katz said. “Honestly, I don’t care. Project whatever. We’ve got to play games. There’s a lot of teams that have done really well and the projections weren’t good, and a lot of teams that were projected to do well and didn’t do well.”
Katz named a group of young, no-name pitchers who could be stretched out this spring. If Clevinger is unavailable to start the season, the Sox shouldn’t be caught off guard.
“If we need some starter help, those guys will be ready,” Katz said.
But the Sox aren’t really looking for that scenario to happen. They seem to believe in Clevinger’s innocence and are going forward with him as if he’ll be here all season. They would prefer he stop talking about the investigation until it’s complete, but he didn’t get the hint until Saturday.
Clevinger’s big speech to the team apparently worked well, though some players were more effusive in their reaction to it than others. Asked about it Saturday, Giolito simply said: “Yeah, I mean, I thought it was cool with everything going on. He was able to get up and address what was going on. We appreciate that as a whole.”
Joe Kelly said Thursday it took “a lot of (guts).” Either way, Clevinger appreciated the support.
“I made a promise to them,” he said Wednesday. “They made a promise to me that they were supporting me. So I’m going to be there for this team, be here for these guys and the fan base and do this for my family.”
After Saturday’s workout, Clevinger headed from the back fields to the Sox complex on the back of a golf cart. Several players, including Cease and Kopech, stopped and signed autographs for fans. But a stone-faced Clevinger rolled past on the speeding golf cart, making no eye contact with the ones asking for his.
If the first four days are any indication, it’s going to be a long camp, bro.
