Sure, it’s practically February, but the White Sox promised to be players in free agency.
All it took was getting Luis Robert Jr’s $20 million salary off the books for the front office to suddenly get ‘very active’ at exploring roster upgrades.
Of course, needing to dump Robert’s salary just to have operating income to acquire talent has led to a new round of criticism toward the franchise. Much of the criticism challenges the notion that aggressive teams like the Dodgers are the “downfall” of baseball when teams like the White Sox need to give away salaried players just to attempt to be competitive for the coming season.
It is hard to avoid getting frustrated with the team’s frugal ways, considering roster upgrades still could have been made even with Robert’s bloated salary included in the payroll. The club had $87 million committed to the roster per FanGraphs’ RosterResource before Robert was traded to the New York Mets.
However, we must stop getting upset over or surprised by owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s failure to reallocate revenue into player payroll. It is what it is. The hope is that this current group of talented young players, along with the promising prospects on the way, will allow the franchise to succeed despite the frugal owner.
It has happened before (although the owner eventually finds a way to ruin everything).
At least, Getz immediately reinvested Robert’s salary by signing reliever Seranthony Domínguez to a two-year, $20 million contract. He is going to be counted on to be the team’s closer, even though he has sporadic experience in that area. At the very least, he is a solid, high-leverage reliever. The bullpen desperately needed an upgrade in that area.
This club could still use a veteran outfielder to provide some cover in case Luisangel Acuña or Brooks Baldwin fail to take off with the runway they will be given. A left-handed bat off the bench would be nice to have. Another starting pitcher would be a welcome addition. That would allow the recently-signed veteran Sean Newcomb to be moved to the bullpen, where he has been more effective.
If another innings-eater is not added, then adding another high-leverage left-handed reliever must be a priority. I am not sure I trust Tyler Gilbert or Brandon Eisert to get outs in tight situations, considering they were not very good at it in 2025.
The prevalent thinking is that the White Sox should not shun the idea of acquiring any talent because of the team’s three-straight 100-loss seasons.
That was true when it came to last offseason. The club was coming off the worst season in the 162-game era. When you only win 41 games, any player available was better than what the team had.
Things changed last season when a young, talented core of players emerged in the process of losing “only” 102 games. The franchise now has young talent. It just needs that core to continue to ascend while mixing in additional prospects who are showing promise in the minors. While those prospects are still marinating, effective veterans to bridge the gap must be added (although it seems like the general manager prefers discarded talent that was once highly thought of).
I am actually fine with Getz sticking to his plan of finding former highly-regarded prospects who have not panned out yet due to a lack of consistent playing time. It cannot hurt to search for the next Brent Rooker.
If one does not exist, then Getz should be pursuing veterans where there is a good chance of still squeezing out the last good ounces of baseball those players have left.
Getz must also avoid upsetting a clubhouse that is building tremendous chemistry.
All that considered, there are three moves he must avoid making before Spring Training kicks off.
Do not trade for Nick Castellanos
There is no official rumor linking the White Sox to Castellanos. Two brothers in the White Sox content world have floated the idea. It was based on USA Today’s Bob Nightengale’s suggestion that the Philadelphia Phillies would have to dump Castellanos’ salary to sign Bo Bichette.
The Phillies will likely still try to trade Castellanos, even after failing to acquire Bichette. They added Adolis García in the offseason. The relationship between Castellanos and the organization is strained. Castellanos was benched for a game because of a tirade he had toward manager Rob Thomson over getting pulled for defensive purposes. The relationship continued to deteriorate from there.
The logic behind the White Sox adding Castellanos is that they have the payroll flexibility, so long as the Phillies eat a significant chunk of his $20 million salary. Chicago could use a veteran corner outfielder, and the cost to acquire him will likely be a lowly-regarded prospect.
However, the White Sox must avoid considering adding the combustible and declining veteran. Nightengale pointed out that any team that acquires him must be ready to play him every day, or there will be problems: “If you bring Castellanos in, you’d better play him every day, or he is going to be upset and could cause you a disturbance in the clubhouse, which is what would happen in Philadelphia.”
Castellanos’ production decline no longer makes him an everyday player, at least not in the field. He is terrible defensively, with a career -90 defensive runs saved in right and -77 outs above average per FanGraphs. The White Sox already have one terrible defensive corner outfielder in Andrew Benintendi. They should not be adding another.
The Pale Hose also must keep the DH spot as flexible as possible to make sure young players such as Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, and Lenyn Sosa get regular at-bats.
That means no regular playing time for Castellanos, and opens up a clubhouse cancer to wreak havoc. This young, impressionable roster cannot afford to be exposed to Castellanos’ temper tantrums over a lack of playing time. They need a solid, steady veteran to show the kids how to go about the business, not someone who pouts when he is asked to take a reduced role.
Speaking of younger players, Baldwin provided very similar production last season:
I would rather give Baldwin a runway to see if he can reach the Ben Zobrist ceiling that the front office believes he has, rather than seeing if Castellanos bounces back.
Signing Michael Conforto over Harrison Bader
It appears the plan for the outfield is to give Acuña a runway to prove he can still live up to his highly-regarded prospect status in center field. The Mets at least made sure he got some reps there in the minors, so here is hoping the conversion to the outfield goes better than it did for Andrew Vaughn or Gavin Sheets.
Baldwin appears slated to be the starting right fielder, with Everson Pereira in reserve. Then you’ve still got Benintendi’s atrocious defense in left.
If Derek Hill or Jarred Kelenic make the roster out of Spring Training, they can at least replace Benintendi late in the game for defensive purposes. That will still leave Baldwin or Acuña needing to play late as they still adjust to tracking fly balls.
That makes me incredibly uncomfortable, along with only having Benintendi as the only true veteran.
That is why adding another proven veteran to the outfield is a must. Signing Harrison Bader to a short-term contract would have been the ideal solution. It would have lessened the sting of losing Robert’s elite defense. He would still provide that glove to rob some doubles and singles as LRJ did. Also, Bader would have provided a huge upgrade over “Louie” Robert at the plate against right-handed pitching.
The problem with adding Bader is that he could get in the way of the front office wanting to give Acuña that runway it so desperately wants to provide. And cost — Bader signed virtually the same deal as Domínguez, getting two years and $20.5 million from the Giants on Monday — would have been another issue.
Now, the White Sox reportedly are interested in signing Michael Conforto. That rumor came out when Getz was working with a tighter budget, but knowing the White Sox it still could be true with a few more dollars to work with; never underestimate this organization’s ability to save money and bet on a veteran having a “bounce-back” season.
Rolling the dice on a proven veteran like Conforto producing better numbers than a .199/.305/.333 slash line in 2025 could make sense. Getz has a bit more cash to work with and should have used that money on Bader, who can play better defense in center and right while still having some good baseball left in him. Even with both players to choose from, it would not be a shock if Getz went with Conforto.
Bringing back Mike Clevinger as an organizational depth pitcher
Signing Mike Clevinger when no other big-league club will has become an annual tradition on the South Side, one that has become a terrible look for the Pale Hose.
First, you got his off-the-field issues with past domestic violence allegations. This organization already has enough public relations problems. Continuing to bring back this shady character only exacerbates them.
The other reason it becomes an annual embarrassment is that 29 other big-league teams won’t touch him with a minor-league deal and non-roster invite to camp. He has been available on the open market four times since the White Sox brought him to 35th and Shields. All four times, no other team showed interest.
He was placed on waivers after the trade deadline in 2023, when he was pitching well. No contender claimed him despite the pitcher being on the way to a 3.2 bWAR season. No team signed him the following offseason despite the impressive metrics. Unlike the White Sox, the rest of the league saw him for what he is — injury-prone, and a public relations nightmare.
That did not stop the organization from bringing Clevinger back in 2024, where he could not throw strikes and suffered a season-ending injury. Once again, no team touched him in the offseason except the White Sox, who thought he could be the team’s closer in 2025.
They were asking a guy coming off a major surgery to throw harder, and it went as badly as expected. Yet, the organization kept him at Triple-A after designating him for assignment.
Hopefully, that was his last run with the club. The team has to get out of the Clevinger business because the business has been bad for years now.
Twenty-nine other teams will not touch him. Hopefully, the White Sox finally become No. 30.
