The White Sox search for a new manager was extensive.
Tony La Russa announced he was stepping down due to health concerns on Oct. 3, kick-starting the process for his replacement with a few days still left in the 2022 season.
Exactly one month later, the White Sox named Pedro Grifol their new manager.
What went into the process? Grifol and Rick Hahn met the media for 45 minutes on Thursday, which shed some light on things.
“We’re very proud of the process that led us to Pedro,” Hahn said. “It was an exhaustive and expansive search.”
Hahn said the White Sox initially compiled a list of around 22-24 potential managerial candidates, a list that grew to about 30 as people inside and outside the organization offered feedback.
That list was soon chopped to eight for the first round of interviews, a group that obviously included Grifol. Hahn and executives Jeremy Haber, Chris Getz and Daniel Zien were involved in those interviews.
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Some of the reported candidates to interview include Joe Espada, Ozzie Guillén and Carlos Mendoza, along with Grifol.
Hahn and Kenny Williams also sat down with a "few candidates," Hahn said, and the final round of interviews was later conducted in Arizona with Hahn, Williams and Jerry Reinsdorf.
Grifol, the second of the eight candidates the Sox met with, clearly made a strong impression.
“From about an hour into our conversation it became very clear that the bar had been risen,” Hahn said. “And that the rest of the group that we were going to be meeting with over the course of the following week or 10 days had a high standard to meet based on what Pedro presented that day.
“At the end of the day,” Hahn added, “after Jerry, Kenny and I sat down with Pedro, it was very clear to all three of us he would be the unanimous choice to address some of the things we needed to improve in.”