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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox are promoting former infielder Chris Getz to senior vice president/general manager, the team announced Thursday.
Getz, who turned 40 on Wednesday, has been the team’s director of player development and an assistant general manager since 2017. He takes over the baseball department after former executive vice president Kenny Williams and general manager Rick Hahn were dismissed in mid-August.
“Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience within our organization to this role,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “Most importantly, he knows our players, both at the major league level and in our system, knows our staff and is familiar with all aspects of our baseball operations department.”
Getz was taken by the White Sox in the fourth round of the 2005 draft and made his MLB debut in 2008 before being traded to the Kansas City Royals in 2009. He played in parts of seven seasons, finishing his playing career with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014.
He spent the next two years in the Royals front office before returning to the White Sox to oversee their minor league system.
“I am honored and humbled to be given this leadership responsibility,” Getz said in a statement. “I understand what this team means to White Sox fans, and I am excited to begin the work today and during the remainder of this season. There is a great deal of talent within this clubhouse and within this ballpark, and we are going to diligently begin to do the work and lay the foundation for an organization and a team we all take pride in, from the staff, to the players, to our fans.”
The promotion comes with some question marks as Getz was an integral part of the previous regime that oversaw a failed rebuild. After making the postseason in 2020 and 2021, the team regressed, compiling a .500 mark in 2022 before hitting rock bottom this season.
The White Sox are fourth in the American League Central at 53-81, 16 games back.
The struggles, which included locker room strife, led to the firings of longtime executives Williams and Hahn. It’s likely manager Pedro Grifol will survive this season, as it was his first as a big league manager and some of the issues within the team predated his arrival.
“Chris has impressed me greatly over the past seven years,” Reinsdorf said in his statement. “In our conversations together this season, I have become energized by his vision, approach and sense of what this organization needs to become competitive again. With his existing knowledge of the organization, top to bottom, I believe his leadership will provide us with the quickest path forward to our goal, a consistently successful baseball team that competes and plays the game the right way. He will re-energize this organization.”
Getz will be tasked with rebuilding a pitching staff which features a rotation ranked 13th in the American League in ERA after dealing veterans Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito at the trade deadline. He’ll also need the sum to be better than the parts within his position player group as the team was too righthanded and lacked defense at key positions around the diamond.
His first decisions this offseason revolve around closer Liam Hendriks and shortstop Tim Anderson as both have team options for 2024. Hendriks is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, so its unlikely his option would be picked up. Anderson, meanwhile, underperformed after making Team USA for the World Baseball Classic in March.