Paul Sullivan: Allegations against former scouting director another black eye for White Sox management
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO — A video of former Chicago White Sox amateur scouting director Mike Shirley, lauding the organization before the 2026 draft, was still featured on the team’s website Sunday morning.
“There are just so many people contributing to what we do,” Shirley said July 10 on a Chicago Sports Network broadcast. “Major League Baseball, they’re rich departments now. A lot of people work hard at this.”
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Shirley was one of those people credited for helping build the Sox from a national embarrassment in 2024 to a potential playoff team in 2026. He joined the organization in 2000 as an area scout and worked his way up to the top of the scouting department in 2019, promoted by former general manager Rick Hahn.
Shirley was responsible for drafting prospects such as Colson Montgomery, Hagen Smith and Garrett Crochet, whom GM Chris Getz dealt to the Boston Red Sox for Braden Montgomery, Kyle Teel and Chase Meidroth, starting the Sox rebuild.
Considered a rising star in the organization, Shirley was a familiar face on team broadcasts and podcasts as the Sox promoted the talent of prospects while the major-league team floundered in the early stages of the rebuild. His last draft in July brought in the No. 1 pick, UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
But on Saturday evening the Sox abruptly announced that Shirley had resigned, inviting speculation. The move came a few hours before The Athletic published a report that Shirley was under investigation for allegedly making racist and sexist comments about and in front of coworkers.
Getz declined to comment Sunday, citing the team’s prior statement that it doesn’t respond to personnel matters.
The timing of the news couldn’t have been worse for the Sox, who are in a dogfight for a playoff spot and begin a crucial three-game series against the second-place Guardians on Monday in Cleveland. The Sox lead the Guardians by just a half-game after Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The possibility of winning the division and getting a first-round bye is in play, and the Sox also can make the postseason field as the third American League wild-card team. Or they could collapse in the final two weeks and miss the postseason entirely after spending the last 2 1/2 months in first place.
Saturday’s comeback win over the Cardinals on Randal Grichuk’s two-run, ninth-inning home run was their biggest victory in five years, momentarily putting the Shirley news on the back burner.
But the story won’t go away, even if the Sox manage to get into the playoff field and continue their dream journey.
According to The Athletic’s report by Brittany Ghiroli and Keith Law, the organization received an anonymous tip about Shirley’s alleged behavior at last month’s Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif., a showcase for high school players. A human resources investigation by the Sox began, the report said, by interviewing scouting department employees.
Citing multiple sources, The Athletic reported the investigation “included allegations of vulgar language about females and their bodies.” The report also said the Sox had investigated Shirley at least once before for inappropriate behavior, but took no disciplinary action.
The Sox have had prior incidents of inappropriate or criminal behavior by personnel, including former minor-league manager Omar Vizquel, who was fired in 2019 after an allegation that the former All-Star shortstop sexually harassed an autistic clubhouse employee of the Double-A Birmingham Barons.
According to a lawsuit filed against the Sox and Barons, Vizquel exposed himself “for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification” at least five times while wearing his towel. The lawsuit filed by the employee against the organizations for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act was settled out of court in 2022, and the incident effectively killed Vizquel’s chances of being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 2013, former senior director of player personnel David Wilder, a friend of former executive vice president Ken Williams, was sentenced to two years in prison for accepting about $440,00 in kickbacks from signing bonuses and contract buyouts of 23 prospective Latin American players between 2004-08.
While the exact details of the allegations against Shirley remain unknown, the latest incident is another off-the-field black eye for the organization.
Getz, who ran the Sox minor-league operations and player development systems from 2017-23 during the Vizquel incident, was promoted by Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf three years ago after the firing of Williams and Hahn. Reinsdorf declined to interview outside candidates, saying Getz’s hiring would speed up the rebuild because of his knowledge of the system.
After a record 121 losses in his first full season as GM in 2024, the Sox lost 102 games in 2025. But that represented a 19-game improvement under rookie manager Will Venable, and Getz signed Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami in the offseason. This year’s unexpected success has made Getz the likely favorite to be named MLB Executive of the Year, an award voted on by all 30 teams.
Getz and the Sox now hope to avoid all distractions as they attempt to get into the postseason and complete one of the most improbable comeback stories in recent baseball history.
Venable’s job just got a little harder.
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