[an0nym1z3r]

In case anyone is interested, I found a quick 'workaround' to automatically re-summon your pet in case of death while grinding.
1.) Start up ffxivminion. You MUST do this step first before modifying the ffxiv_helpers.lua file as the MD5 will be different and automatically overwrite the file if you do not.
2.) Open up ffxiv_helpers.lua in the LuaMods/ffxivminion folder with notepad/wordpad or any lua/text editor.
3.) Edit the GetNearestGrindAttackable to the following... Make sure to replace the 170 (which is the ID of Summon II) with the ID of the summon spell you wish to use.

Code:

function GetNearestGrindAttackable()
    local mypet = Player.pet
    if ( TableSize(mypet) > 0) then
        ml_debug("Name: ".. mypet.name)
    else
        ml_debug("Summoning pet")
        -- Cast Summon II for now
        local skill = ActionList:Get(170)
        if (skill ~= nil) then
            if (skill.cd == 0) then
                skill:Cast(0)
            end
        end
    end
    local level = Player.level
    local el = EntityList("nearest,alive,attackable,onmesh,minLevel="..tostring(level-1)..",maxlevel="..tostring(level+1))
    if ( el ) then
        local i,e = next(el)
        if (i~=nil and e~=nil) then
            return e
        end
    end
    ml_debug("GetNearestAttackable() failed with no entity found matching params")
    return nil
end

4.) Reload the code by going to 'Control' -> 'Reload Lua Modules'

Question for the devs. It looks like the intended way to do this would be to update the ffxiv_combat_arcanist.lua file appropriately and then add my own 'menu' item which would stop/start that script instead. Is this the intended approach?