Chicago White Sox player development czar Chris Getz is the frontrunner to become the team’s new general manager, a move that apparently is being shepherded by two-time former skipper Tony La Russa, USA Today reported Wednesday.
Getz, 39, has spent the past seven years overseeing the team’s minor league operations. He is expected to be named GM by owner Jerry Reindorf before the season is out, and former Kansas City GM Dayton Moore could join him in a front-office role, per the report.
Helping sort all of this out is La Russa, who — along with Reinsdorf — will reportedly meet with White Sox manager Pedro Grifol on Wednesday night.
Grifol replaced La Russa as manager after the latter resigned last season to focus on cancer treatments. La Russa, 78, has been medically cleared to work again, per the report.
The report comes a day after Reinsdorf fired two longtime front-office executives, relieving executive vice president Ken Williams and senior vice president and general manager Rick Hahn of their duties.
Williams was Chicago’s GM from 2001-12 before moving into the EVP role. Hahn joined the White Sox in 2000 as the assistant GM and was promoted in 2012 to replace Williams. Both helped build the 2005 White Sox club that won the World Series.
La Russa led the White Sox to the AL Central title in 2021 with a 93-69 record. The White Sox, however, were just 63-65 a year later when La Russa resigned for health reasons. La Russa went 678-644 as ChiSox skipper from 1979-86 before getting fired midseason by then GM Ken Harrelson.
Getz was drafted by the White Sox twice, the latter coming in the fourth round of the 2005 draft out of Michigan. The second baseman was a lifetime .250 batter in 459 career games with the White Sox (2008-09), Royals (2010-13) and Toronto Blue Jays (2014).
Moore, 56, is currently a senior adviser of baseball operations for the Texas Rangers. He was fired by the Royals in September in his 16th season with the club.
–Field Level Media
