LAS VEGAS -- The White Sox are not busy at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. At least not the traditional sense that is usually talked about in the news, where we tend to focus on player acquisitions with the potential to alter a team's immediate trajectory.
"We were able to make a significant jump from 2024, and obviously it wasn’t too difficult given where our win total was," Getz said. "Continued development [of our young core] is vital for us to add wins. And addition to that, finding some free agents or other players from other organizations to help is a way to boost that win total. We look at our internal projections, and public projections, we’re in a spot that we should be able to anticipate a much more competitive club just based on what we currently have."
Like every team, Sox general manager Chris Getz say he's looking for starting pitching. But that pursuit is placed in terms of providing innings to "protect" younger arms because they "don't want to be too reliant and dependent" on Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz shouldering the burden of improving of a rotation that currently looks uncertain, with younger incumbents Sean Burke and Jonathan Cannon tasked with re-earning their spots this spring. The wave of potential starters who underwent Tommy John surgery last spring, headlined by Drew Thorpe, shouldn't be expected to be too relevant to the first half of the 2026 season.
Getz wants a left-handed corner infielder to counterbalance the collection of right-handed options -- Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, Curtis Mead and Bryan Ramos, seemingly in that order of priority -- and certainly felt corner outfield production on both sides of the ball was a weakness last season. But those are quite literally the margins of the roster for a front office that has focused on up-the-middle talent, as evidenced by their two young catchers, picking up Luis Robert Jr.'s $20 million club option, and their stated confidence in Colson Montgomery's revamped swing and what Chase Meidroth was able to accomplish as a rookie battling hand injuries through last season.
But just because it doesn't sound like a press conference-worthy addition is coming this winter, doesn't mean there's not plenty of fodder to sort through after Getz had a 50-minute media session.
How much are they not spending?
While he's not bringing it up as often as previous years, Getz is still using the word "opportunity" to describe what the team is offering to potential free-agent additions. He points out that could lead to some more early low-level signings, like Austin Slater signing a week after the GM meetings last year, or last-minute ones like Michael A. Taylor at the start of this spring.
But he refuted the idea that the Sox are opposed to handing out two-year deals if necessary, acknowledging that CBA uncertainty post-2026 could lead players to be reticent to settle for one-year offers. But his answer to a direct question about whether the payroll will go up for next season is the sort meant to temper expectations.
"We’ve had some discussions," Getz said. "It’s still fluid. We’re going to be able to add some free agents and identify players that we feel like could help this club. We’re going to be aggressive in the right places."
Getz said that fans shouldn't expect top-of-the-market acquisitions, and as someone who emphasized that he's tried to pull in insight from other organizations since taking over as GM, he suggested that other rebuilding teams coming off 100-plus-loss seasons should provide a guidepost for offseason expectations.
"Look at other teams that were in similar positions to ours in the last couple years that have taken significant jumps and how they went about it," Getz said. "Modeling after those clubs, that will dictate a pathway for us. The primary focus remains the continued development of these young players, without question. And that fundamentally is the right thing to do, I believe that. Now, in terms of protecting some of these players and creating depth, tapping into the free agent market might be the right decision as well."
Grant Taylor is staying in the bullpen
The Sox rotation certainly has room for more candidates and the team's caginess about Taylor's role for 2026 certainly drove plenty of speculation, Getz doesn't see him making starts next season -- though you can never rule out opener usage.
"It’s important for him to pitch multiple innings, and that goes to many of our arms in the bullpen," Getz said. "It’s more focused on the arsenal and ability to have deeper outings, rather than him grabbing starts next year."
Taylor threw a combined 63⅓ innings across Double-A Birmingham and Chicago, and more two-inning outings could allow for an incremental increase that nudges him closer to a starter workload. But the Sox feel there's reason to suspect Taylor profiles best as a reliever, and are tasking him to prove he's ready for more while working in a major league bullpen, rather than proving he can start in the minors. Taylor kept working on his kick change all last season even as his arsenal simplified at the back end of games, and that could be a crucial element of proving he can turn a lineup over multiple times.
Trading from the young catcher duo is under consideration, but less than likely this winter
The White Sox are not touting a big boost in their free agent budget, especially not after picking up Robert's option for 2026. So as Getz runs down their needs in the rotation, in the corners, and even the desire for more bullpen help, the word "repurpose" was used a lot to discuss moving players in trade.
With Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero both being recently graduated former top-100 prospects behind the plate, catcher is the clearest area of surplus on the big league roster. Presently, Teel is best bet to stay put long-term. He was the superior performer statistically in 2025, was the headliner of the signature trade of this front office's tenure, and is viewed internally as having greater defensive potential especially due to his framing, whereas Quero's receiving numbers were at the bottom of the league. But even if he lacks the same raw tools of Teel, the Sox hardly feel Quero has reached his full potential yet -- and thus, not his full trade value -- on either side of the ball. As hard as it is to imagine the club resisting the urge to use their catching surplus to fill a roster need, both their public and private answers suggest not yet.
"There could be a time for reallocation or repurpose to make the roster a little bit more functional," Getz said. "Is that time now? I don't think so. I don't. But down the road, you never know."
So who is the DH then?
The simplest solution to having two cool catchers is letting one of them DH on their days off from behind the plate. But Andrew Benintendi has two more years left on his contract, has seen his count of games in the field decline from 147 to 125 to 69 over the last three years as he once more dealt with Achilles issues, and his defensive metrics didn't hide the pain he was playing through.
"The Achilles irritation/inflammation has affected his ability to play the defense that he once did," Getz said. "That's a real factor in this. He still can play out there. I know this offseason he's really focused on getting that to calm down and not become a problem next season. But he can put together a quality at-bat for you. He's got some power. He's hit 20 home runs the past two years. There's opportunity for him in our lineup regardless of him playing the outfield or him getting DH at-bats."
Suffice it to say, with two years left on his deal, the Sox are not about to project Benintendi to play 140 games of left field next season.
"We will not be asking him to do that, I don't think Benny wants to do that," Getz quipped.
While Benintendi's left-handed bat lends some of the lineup balance and matchup versatility that Getz and Will Venable crave, that he can't be slotted for full-time outfield work is a factor that has to weigh into the decision of whether to tender arbitration to Mike Tauchman on the heels of surgery for a tear in his right meniscus, but also is part of why the DH slot won't just be a rotation of Quero and Teel.
Some details on a still-incomplete coaching staff
The White Sox have yet to announce their full major league coaching staff, with "still a couple of additions" yet to be made official. They did not renew the contract of catching coach Drew Butera after this season, but with two young and developing receivers on the roster, clearly needed to have some form of dedicated instruction on the staff. It just won't be someone taking up Butera's old title.
"Walker [McKinven] is going to be taking over the catching," Getz said. "That was his expertise in Milwaukee, going back to [Omar] Narváez and [William] Contreras, and the development of them on the coaching side. He was a big part of that. To be able to get Walker in that space now is something we’re looking to do and improve those guys. We’re excited about Walker handling that."
McKinven's catching expertise was a topline item of the rave reviews Brewers personnel offered when the White Sox hired him away last winter, but he was expected to take a small step back from his focus on it in line with his promotion to bench coach. Now for 2026, McKinven will remain the bench coach, but working with catchers will be more directly under his purview.
The Sox first base job remains open since Jason Bourgeois was allowed to depart, after overseeing baserunning and outfield defense last season. Speaking of first base coaches with baserunning and outfield defensive expertise, that's exactly the role Grady Sizemore will be filling for the Twins. The Sox said that Sizemore would be offered a job to stay in the organization after serving in an amorphous offensive coordinator role last year, but it clearly wasn't as appealing as a uniformed big league coaching gig with their division rival.
"We love Grady, we do," Getz said. "I talked to him earlier today and thanked him for the impact that he had, not only on myself but with the organization. He and Shelton have a long history together. And Grady, he was very appreciative. I know he’s going to miss being here, but I think this is a really good opportunity for him with Shelt in Minnesota. Unfortunately it’s in Minnesota, a division rival. But the person, yeah, we’re going to miss him."
Odds & Ends
-- Of potential left-handed corner infield additions, Getz said "it would be nice if they can play a little bit of third base," but that it's not a requirement given Vargas and even Montgomery's ability to play there. Whoever it was in Sam Antonacci's life that is responsible for him swinging left-handed might have set him up to play a role on the 2026 team sooner than he might have otherwise, such is the Sox's desire for lineup balance.
-- Prelander Berroa blew out his elbow in the first game of Cactus League last year, and doesn't need to be built up for multiple innings. For those reasons, he is the one member of last spring's rash of Tommy John surgeries most likely to help in the first half of the season.
-- He's not in consideration for Opening Day, but that the White Sox think Braden Montgomery could crack the majors in 2026 certainly could affect the type of outfielder who is actually in place at the start of the season.
"The way he's finishing off this '25 season leads me to believe there's a chance he finds his way to the major leagues," Getz said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he made his way up to Chicago. He still has areas that need to be improved, he does. He only has so many at-bats at the Double-A level."
