For 11 years, I've used the final 48 hours before Opening Day to rank the most essential White Sox under a set of semi-arbitrary and mostly capricious guidelines, and this year feels especially tenuous. Not only are we dealing with the limits of my foresight, but it doesn't help that the White Sox roster is effectively vaporware due to a confluence of factors.
It started with the slew of Tommy John surgeries -- Ky Bush, Prelander Berroa, Juan Carela, Drew Thorpe, and maybe Mason Adams? -- that cleanly extracted one layer of the organization's pitching depth, along with more minor health concerns throughout the ranks. Poor planning also contributed, because the White Sox seemed less prepared for a spring in which Colson Montgomery couldn't seize the starting shortstop job than his Triple-A numbers would have urged.
The structural integrity of the 40-man and 26-man rosters wouldn't pass inspection, so it stands to reason that the Most Essential White Sox list stands no chance of holding up.
Fortunately, following the White Sox already necessitates us to check reason at the door, so we're as well equipped as anybody to saddle up on this sandworm to hell. Let's ride.
No. 48: Oscar Colás (34)
He's on the 40-man roster until he isn't, but the members of the front office who signed him and championed him are nowhere to be seen. He's just around, living one of the more baffling existences in this organization.
No. 47: Brandon Drury (NA)
He's not technically a member of the White Sox after the untimely sequence of opting out of his contract, then breaking his thumb, but if he somehow comes back to the organization afterward, he provided a glimpse of the purpose he could serve.
No. 46: Nick Maton (NA)
No. 45: Tristan Gray (NA)
No. 44: Jake Amaya (NA)
With Chase Meidroth being optioned to Triple-A and Josh Rojas dealing with a toe injury, these guys are the most experienced reserve shortstops on the roster, and Amaya is the only one on the 40-man. The White Sox could always claims somebody else. Slot whichever one gets the job to No. 34.
No. 43: Jake Eder (31)
Brian Bannister's One Weird Trick didn't work, the White Sox haven't committed to using him as a starter, and they acquired a whole host of left-handed relief help over the winter, which all conspires to signal that Eder has to play himself back into consideration for any role. Staying healthy while every third White Sox pitcher succumbed to Tommy John surgery is the one thing in his favor.
No. 42: Jared Shuster (38)
Similar to Eder, except that he more or less met expectations as a long reliever/low-leverage arm last year, and the White Sox just wanted more from the role.
No. 41: Owen White (NA)
He only pitched three innings and two games during the spring, but he's coming off 208 innings thrown over the last two years, and anybody who has a puncher's chance of making a major league start this season can't be counted out.
No. 40: Wikelman González (NA)
While the White Sox were already going to give González an earnest chance at starting despite a history of control issues that suggests a future in relief, the immediate thinning of the Double-A and Triple-A rotations will give him an even greater opportunity to stretch out. That said, if he's relegated to the bullpen, there will be open lanes for a second-half audition that way as well.
No. 39: Gus Varland (NA)
Given that the White Sox optioned him to Charlotte, this tweet is no longer valid.
Gus Varland, White Sox pitcher pic.twitter.com/tbWbFPWxGB
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) December 18, 2024
But if he rediscovers the strike-throwing form he showed over the last month of last season, he'll be right back in the mix
No. 38: Brandon Eisert (NA)
He hasn't had the sort of spring that can make you think that he's likely to climb over more established lefties for an Opening Day job, but lasting until the last series of spring cuts and boarding the team charter to Chicago means that he's made a better impression than others who are waiting in the wings.
No. 37: Travis Jankowski (NA)
This assumes that Mike Tauchman's hamstring injury is going to create an opening for a lefty-batting outfielder who doesn't create any defensive concerns.
No. 36: Dominic Fletcher (6)
Fletcher fills the same void and is already on the 40-man roster, but going 4-for-33 in the spring following a season where he slugged .256 means the White Sox could look somewhere else.
No. 35: Peyton Pallette (NR)
He looks primed for a lengthy look in the White Sox bullpen at some point over the season, but since he's not on the 40-man and so many other players require a spot, an audition might not be the greatest priority for quite some time, so he'll have to hold it together.
No. 34: Nick Nastrini (5)
Were more of his peers in the upper minors healthy, the White Sox might already be plotting a course to high-leverage relief, but there's reason to keep him stretched out until/unless it becomes too cruel to watch.
No. 33: Mike Vasil (NA)
One Rule 5 pick faces steep odds against sticking on a team for an entire season. A second Rule 5 pick who hadn't shown enough this winter to make it through spring training with his original team, even more so. But he's apparently guaranteed to start the season in Chicago when nobody above him can officially (yet) say the same, so here he is.
No. 32: Michael A. Taylor (NA)
From the moment he signed, he seemed like he only really made sense in a world where Luis Robert Jr. was traded. That means that he won't really add much to this roster until Robert is traded. Given that Taylor hit .193/.253/.290 for Pittsburgh last year and turns 34 on Wednesday, the interim could feel interminable.
No. 31: Penn Murfee (NA)
The last time he pitched during a regular season, he was seen #108ing for A-ball Fayetteville (posting a 108.00 ERA over one-third of an inning). He looked great in spring training, but Monday's finale against the Athletics was his first appearance in nine games due to a sore ankle, and he retired just one of four batters he faced. He's been good before, but a lot has to go right for a right-handed reliever who doesn't hit 90, so the early obstacle invites doubt.
No. 30: Justin Anderson (NR)
After the ugliest possible spring debut, he lowered his ERA from infinity to 10.80 with six scoreless outings. Last season felt like a pretty representative example of the best that can be hoped for.
No. 29: Mike Clevinger (NA)
This is assuming 1) the White Sox add him to the roster, and 2) he ends up getting his share of closing opportunities early on. That's not what anybody should want, but that scenario means his task is preventing other unqualified relievers from being thrust into a position to fail.
No. 28: Jacob Gonzalez (NR)
It feels weird to rate Gonzalez this high, but the instability in the middle infield and the ability to play a credible shortstop gives him a lane that may not be there a year from now. This would be the time to recapture that first-round magic.
No. 27: Jairo Iriarte (19)
With Thorpe out of action until the middle of 2026, it's on Iriarte to provide any measure of impact from the Dylan Cease trade, and the game the White Sox envisioned when they acquired him still hasn't come together.
No. 26: Bryan Ramos (18)
It seemed like third base could've been a real sore spot as far as spring positional battles go, but between Miguel Vargas making his lack of options moot and Ramos being unable to throw due to elbow problems, it's more or less resolved itself for the time being. If Ramos wants to provide a midseason boost, however, the White Sox will be in a position to use one.
No. 25: Jordan Leasure (17)
He's had a nice enough spring to work his way back into the MLB bullpen picture, albeit with a couple of blips that make last year's future-closer hopes hard to rekindle, at least at the moment. We'll see what he looks like when he's out of the desert.
No 24: Fraser Ellard (NR)
No. 23: Tyler Gilbert (NA)
No. 22: Cam Booser (NA)
Three lefties, all of whom have benefited from White Sox evaluators taking a shine to them, but all of whom have options remaining if it doesn't go well. Booser's been great, Ellard's had some control lapses, and Gilbert had been sidelined for nine days before getting into a minor league game Monday, so they're covering the range of experiences between them.
No. 21: Mike Tauchman (NA)
His name probably wouldn't have appeared until the next post if it weren't for the tweaked hamstring that spoils his Opening Day availability, because he's a source of OBP the White Sox have lacked. I'd normally say, "He'll probably be fine," but after a 121-loss season, that's a phrase that must be deployed far more judiciously.
