So much of beat writing is just counting. Or parking yourself at the dugout railing and trying to identify bundled up relievers as they stretch. Or trying to remember who were all the non-roster invitees for this team anyway, since the White Sox removed the list from their website in light of, you know, spring training ending.
But from that dust has emerged the White Sox 2025 Opening Day roster, in all its glory.
Catchers (2)
Korey Lee, Matt Thaiss
Infielders (5)
Andrew Vaughn, Lenyn Sosa, Miguel Vargas, Jacob Amaya, Nick Maton
Outfielders (5)
Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Michael A. Taylor, Austin Slater, Travis Jankowski
The Leury García Role (1)
Brooks Baldwin
Starting pitchers (5)
Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, Davis Martin, Martín Pérez, Shane Smith
Relief pitchers (8)
Mike Clevinger, Jordan Leasure, Cam Booser, Fraser Ellard, Brandon Eisert, Penn Murfee, Bryse Wilson, Mike Vasil
Knowing that every player seen on the field working on Wednesday was part of the Opening Day roster helped unspool a fair bit of mystery, even with 40-man moves still required to add Clevinger, Jankowski and Maton. Alongside that, there are still some injured list placements that need to officially happen on Thursday as well, and here are some safe estimates.
Injured players
Drew Thorpe (TJ), Prelander Berroa (TJ), Ky Bush (TJ), Jesse Scholtens (rehab from TJ), Tyler Gilbert (right knee issue), Bryan Ramos (right elbow soreness), Josh Rojas (right big toe hairline fracture), Mike Tauchman (right hamstring strain).
Ramos' placement here is slightly speculative, but he's not on the initial Triple-A Charlotte roster and he certainly ain't gonna be on this one. Gilbert did pitch in a minor league game just on Monday, so he's not expected to be sidelined for very long. Meaningful improvement for the White Sox might be years off, but if you want change on the roster, just wait a day or two.
"We’ve got a lot of pitchers that have options," Chris Getz said. "That was a strategy that we had in place going into the offseason. There's tremendous value in having arms that have options because needs pop up, and that flexibility allows you to do a lot more and helps you navigate the season."
Thorpe has yet to be placed on the 60-day injured list, but the Sox will still need to clear out two more 40-man roster spots for Clevinger, Jankowski and Maton. Getz said placing Tauchman and Rojas on the IL to start the season is mostly precautionary, as the former was able to participate in Wednesday's team workout, but Jankowski and Maton probably don't make the team without those ailments. With the ability to backdate IL placements to Monday, Tauchman and Rojas could be back in action as soon as the first road trip.
If you asked Luis Robert Jr. this winter if he thought he'd be with the White Sox on Opening Day, what would he have said?
"Honestly, no," Robert said via interpreter. "I know there were a lot of rumors around there and I didn’t think I would be here. But I’m glad that I’m here."
Robert hit .300/.386/.580 in the spring, and while the four homers were cool, the six walks in 57 trips to the plate stuck out most given his stated goal to focus on his plate discipline after working out with Juan Soto a bit during the offseason. Getz said their internal numbers indicated that Robert saw more three-ball counts during this spring than any other in his career, and director of hitting Ryan Fuller said the former All-Star was an avid user of their Trajekt pitching simulator at Camelback Ranch.
There are at least some hints of a return-to-form season if Robert can tune out the noise, and he doesn't see that as an issue.
"I don’t really pay too much attention to that," Robert said via interpreter about the trade talk. "My agent is the one who keeps me posted because I don’t have Twitter. I barely see social media. I just know what he tells me and that’s it. I don’t really pay too much attention."
So long, Oscar Colás
The White Sox have replaced the international director who signed Colás for $2.7 million out of Cuba, replaced the general manager who oversaw the plan for him to assume a major league role in right field after his first full season, and only Getz, who oversaw his fraught developmental progression, really remains.
With that in mind, perhaps it's unsurprising that his DFA got no larger eulogy than an explanation that the Sox wanted to claim light-hitting, hyper-athletic defensive reserve Greg Jones off waivers from the Rockies to stash in Triple-A. It's also appropriate: There was never any notion that Colás was going to have a role on this team, and holding out a 40-man spot for an expired idea wouldn't have made sense amid all this turnover.
"Unfortunately it sometimes comes at a cost of a roster spot or a player, and in this case, it was Oscar Colás," Getz said. "We'll see how the waiver process plays out. He's a talented player, no question, but we'll see how this plays out. But we're excited about Greg Jones and how he can help our club."
Innings limits
The White Sox have intimated that neither Sean Burke nor Shane Smith won't face innings limits as strict as Garrett Crochet's from last year, because they at least have past professional history of starting to draw from. But neither have cleared 100 innings in a season save Burke in 2022, which was prior to the shoulder inflammation that made him such an underdog story in the first place.
"We'll monitor it," Getz said. "We're certainly mindful of the workload and how these players are adapting and responding to being major-league pitchers. And that's why it takes more than just a 26-man roster, and you need to have depth from the organization, and we feel like we've increased that depth to help position these guys to navigate a first full season and get a solid workload for the future."
"It's kind of a conversation we've had a little bit, but it's something that we're not really going to worry about until further down the line," Burke said. "As far as right now, I'm going out there like any normal start and I'm going to pitch until they take the ball out of my hand."
Burke is a jocular personality off the field, so it was mildly amusing to see a couple questions about his readiness for his big assignment jolt him out of easygoing answers and joking about Maryland basketball, and into steely one-line quotes delivered with unblinking eye contact.
"I promise you I'm ready for this," Burke said in response to one reporter. A similar tone came out again when he was challenged about being able to handle cold weather. "I grew up in it, man. I'm used to it."
