You could be forgiven for losing track of what Grady Sizemore has been up to in recent years, as the former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder last played in the major leagues in 2015. From there, he moved into an organizational role with Cleveland for a short while before stepping aside to spend more time with his young children.
That all changed last year when Sizemore re-engaged with baseball by taking an internship with the Diamondbacks, which led to him landing a spot on the Chicago White Sox coaching staff in time for the 2024 season.
Now, just a few months later, Sizemore finds himself thrust into the managerial role on an interim basis after the White Sox mercifully fired their hapless skipper Pedro Grifol as a result of a less-than-ideal 28-89 “start” to the season. At the very least, the team was able to halt their 21-game losing streak earlier this week to avoid setting the all-time futility record held by those 1961 Phillies.
Last year, Grady Sizemore took a $15-an-hour internship with the Diamondbacks because all other positions were taken.
Today, the former 3x All-Star was named the interim manager of the Chicago White Sox. pic.twitter.com/CwgoUeIoDz
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 8, 2024
Normally you’d call this a meteoric rise for someone like Sizemore, but let’s be honest and just call it what it is — the inability to get an established person in the role, so you just ask for a volunteer to throw to the wolves. To Sizemore’s credit, he is accepting the challenge.
Did former Phillie Grady Sizemore just get the worst job in baseball?
Any and all jokes about punishment aside, this is a nice opportunity for the 42-year-old Sizemore, albeit an unconventional one, if he’s serious about carving out a long-term career as a coach/manager. There is zero pressure to be had here as he attempts to simply get the White Sox through the last 40+ games of their miserable campaign.
Can he make them look respectable enough to maintain the managerial role beyond this year?
That’s highly unlikely, as the White Sox will probably be looking to delete their entire organization this offseason (they are familiar with blowups). But you can be sure that executives from around the league will look at how Sizemore performs and could be intrigued about bringing him into the fold if he shows well enough.
Way back when, Sizemore was a threee-time all-star for Cleveland, and he was regarded as one of the game’s most unheralded young stars. But that all changed in 2009 when he began suffering a series of injuries that totally derailed his career. Sizemore spent time on the shelf due to elbow, knee, and hernia surgeries, and he was never the same when he was able to get back into the lineup.
After moving on from Cleveland, Sizemore played just a few months for the Boston Red Sox, who released him, leading to the Phillies claiming him on June 24, 2014. He’d remain with the Phils for almost a calendar year until his release on June 1, 2015.
Tampa scooped him up following that, and he’d play in 58 more games, the last of his MLB career. All told, Sizemore appeared in 99 games for the Phillies, hitting three home runs with 18 RBI to go along with a .250 average for the team. It was not a memorable tenure for the two-time Gold Glover.
Prime Grady Sizemore was ELECTRIC ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/EFkDVKEc4H
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2024
Now, almost a decade after his playing days ended, Sizemore has his work cut out for him helming an absolutely awful team for the final seven weeks of the 2024 season.
It’s up for debate if the Sox can “catch” the 1962 Mets as the proverbial worst team of the modern era, and objective No. 1 for Sizemore will be to keep his club at least above that dubious standard. But it won’t be an easy task, so good luck to ex-Phil Grady Sizemore as he embarks on a thankless job. The short-term pain will hopefully pay off professionally for him.
We’re all praying for you, Grady.
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