Derek Hill was the last in, but he won't be the first out.
Hill, who joined the White Sox on a waiver claim for the final week of the 2025 season, was tendered a one-year, $900,000 contract by the White Sox for 2026. Meanwhile, the Sox further pared their roster by non-tendering Mike Tauchman, Cam Booser and Tim Elko, reducing the 40-man to 34.
Little about Hill's profile suggested he'd be the lone survivor of a series of cuts, but it helps that this is a split contract where he’s set to make $450,000 if he's sent to the minors. The White Sox are Hill’s sixth team in as many seasons, and he's coming off a 2025 in which he hit .216/.281/.328 over 149 plate appearances, all but eight of them with the Marlins. His 70 wRC+ was more or less in line with his career mark (73), and he spent three different stints on the injured list for a sprained wrist, a sprained finger and a hamstring strain.
In Hill's favor, he's an excellent center fielder who posted the fifth-highest sprint speed among 579 qualified players, and the White Sox have a dearth of options behind Luis Robert Jr., who isn't the surest bet himself. As a fifth outfielder, you could certainly do worse. It's just that none of the White Sox's other four outfielders can be expected to play even 100 games out there.
Hill wasn't the only surprising decision. Working down from "unexpected" to "foreshadowed," Booser certainly disappointed in 2025, with a 5.52 ERA over 39 games with the White Sox that could've been worse (6.26 FIP), and an even worse performance in Charlotte. He ended up yielding 13 homers on top of 29 walks over 45⅔ innings between the two levels, and while Booser’s major league career is young, he's post-prime by conventional standards, so a rebound at age 34 couldn't be assured.
Still, they were under no pressure to remove him from the roster, both because he wouldn't reach arbitration for another two years and he had two options remaining. Nevertheless, the White Sox went from actively acquiring him to actively releasing him over the course of exactly 11 months, and now we'll see whether Yhoiker Fajardo makes Chris Getz lose sleep.
Elko underwent surgery for a torn ACL in his right knee at the end of October, with an estimated eight-month timetable for recovery. He's overcome steep odds before, but a knee surgery on top of 30 strikeouts over 72 MLB plate appearances would have likely put his 40-man status on the chopping block at some point over the winter, so the White Sox probably consider this getting out ahead of it.
Tauchman's non-tender somehow was the most expected transaction of the bunch, even though he was by far the most productive big leaguer. The Cubs non-tendered him for less money last winter even though he played in more games, he underwent surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee at the season’s close and Chris Getz always stopped short of guaranteeing Tauchman's spot on the 2026 roster while lauding his presence on the 2025 team. The last time Tauchman was non-tendered, he ended up signing with the White Sox for less money ($1.9 million) than his arb estimate ($2.5 million), and that could very well be the case again, as MLB Trade Rumors projected him for a $3.4 million salary in 2026. He just wouldn't do much to address the shortage of outfielders who can post, as a series of leg injuries limited him to 66 starts in right field.
