PHOENIX -- Since we have a robust comment section, the negative fan reaction to the White Sox bringing back Mike Clevinger on a minor league deal doesn't need to be theorized, just observed. As a result, it does make asking Chris Getz if he weighed the inevitable blowback of the move fairly straightforward.
“Sure, it’s part of the consideration because it has been associated with Clev,” Getz said. “With that being said, we’ve been around Clev for the last couple of years. I know how he is respected with his teammates and everyone in the clubhouse. Also, we’ve learned more about the situation and we are comfortable with it.”
The comfort is not just stated, but shown, because the language around Clevinger is not of a star-level contributor that is worth taking a public relations hit for, but rather someone getting a chance to prove they've still got something. Executives and coaches usually public state their confidence that a pitcher can stick as a starter until the last possible moment. But in this case, the possibility of Clevinger converting to relief began to sound more like the accepted plan by the time Getz and Will Venable were done talking.
"It'll be great to see what it looks like in a shortened role and see how he bounces back and responds," Venable said. "We hope that there's something there that we can use."
"The stuff was there," said Getz, who said Clevinger shared his pitch data with them in addition to holding a throwing session for scouts. "We are open minded in terms of role. I know he is as well. I’ve always had a little bit of a curiosity of what it could look like in a bullpen role. He’s someone that wants a look and we are willing to give him one."
While Getz said the neck injury that required season-ending surgery for Clevinger is behind him, his inability to get stretched out last year means they're not banking on him working in that capacity until shown otherwise. He seemed to swat away that the idea that Drew Thorpe being three weeks behind other starting pitchers in his progression had any effect on this signing.
"We have a lot of guys in camp that can pitch multiple innings and can take starts," Getz said.
Fatigue from a career-high in innings, tricep soreness, an unsightly small sample major league walk rate; White Sox prospect left-hander Ky Bush felt he was over all lingering issues from the 2024 season. Then, his 2025 season ended.
"I was throwing a live; threw one pitch and felt a little pop," Bush said, with his left arm in a cumbersome brace. "When I was waiting for the MRI, it started to feel a little bit better. I was like, maybe it’d be some good news. But then, it ended up being the worst-case scenario."
There are no mitigating factors to Bush's elbow blowout. He was not a candidate for an internal brace, but instead his ulnar collateral ligament required a complete repair, putting his timeline for return at 12-15 months. Bush doesn't have to look far to find a friend in the White Sox clubhouse with a surgical scar on their pitching elbow who can advise him on the process. Eventually, he feels building back his throwing motion bit by bit will allow him to clean bad habits out of his delivery. He's also a natural back sleeper, so while the brace is not a comfortable item to account for at night, it could be worse.
But for a 25-year-old who debuted in the majors last season, 2025 was a critical window for Bush to establish himself. Few teams have a rotation situation as wide open as this White Sox club, but Bush will have to trust that he can still force his way through a more settled picture when his time comes.
"The hard work growing up and everything, to say that I made it is pretty cool," Bush said. "I just obviously want to get back and not have that be my my final line. Great experience, it was a good year, made it. And now I’m just trying to get back to where I can try and make it better."
-- A Colson Montgomery-Chase Meidroth double-play combination, Luis Robert Jr. in center, Miguel Vargas at third base (he's also taking reps at first base), a rare Oscar Colás appearance in left will all be behind the Jared Shuster-Matt Thaiss battery in Saturday's Cactus League opener against the Cubs at Sloan Park.
"Adjustments from at-bat to at-bat, defensively, obviously on the pitching side, guys being convicted of their stuff and being in the zone is probably No. 1," Venable said of what he wants to see in the opener. "Mesa on a Saturday, we know there's going to be a lot of people there and that rivalry is real. It's a Cactus League game, but we want to go in and win and execute all the things we've been working on in camp."
-- A hit-by-pitch to his hand limited Lenyn Sosa to only 25 games of feeling like the greatest player in the world in Venezuelan winter league, but he's still brimming with the confidence that hitting for a 1.216 OPS while manning shortstop can bestow on a man. Sosa said he visualized his game-tying ninth inning home run off a triple-digit Robert Suárez fastball before it happened last September, and wants to repeat that same focus level going forward.
"In this game there are too many distractions, ups and downs," Sosa said via interpreter. "Sometimes you can get off the focus and that’s when you can under perform. But to me that’s the biggest thing I learned that you can’t get too off that focus. You need to be in a good state of mind and have a good plan to have success. Then I learned that and that was what I was trying to implement last year. That was a big key for the results that I had last year."
In keeping with that, he's trying not to focus on being out of minor league options this spring.
"Maybe I am in a different position now because of that, but I just want to go out and have that desire to do better and help this team."
-- Vargas (also out of options) is not just 20 pounds heavier and manning both infield corners, but his hands will look markedly different in his batting stance from 2024. After working mid-season to remove extra movement in Vargas' hand load down the stretch last year, the White Sox now have the 25-year-old holding his hands out from his body with his bat almost fully vertical when he digs in.
"They are just getting closer where he's going to fire," said hitting coach Marcus Thames. "They're not out there that far, they're just off his shoulder, so I don't think it's going to make a huge difference [for pitchers busting him inside]. As long as he's in a good position for him, we don't care what [the opposing pitcher is] trying to do. Our job as hitters in get in our best position to have success."
