Chris Getz spends a lot of time emphasizing that "the most important thing is the development of our young players," but for his first time as GM, has some real additions to hawk as the White Sox opened SoxFest activities at the McCartin Boys & Girls Club in Bridgeport on Thursday.
The player at the center of most questions in Getz's introductory presser was still Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, whom the team announced won't be able to attend the festivities this weekend as he completes his visa application. The Sox outfield depth chart is such that a lot time spent on Luisangel Acuña is confirming whether he's in the inevitable position of directly replacing Luis Robert Jr. But the addition of Seranthony Domínguez still only just became official on Thursday, and Getz apparently has been doing this job long enough to perceive that fans will never be as happy with him as they are when a new addition is in the works.
"I believe that there are going to be more adds," Getz said, when asked if more could come before spring. "To what level, unsure. We are continuing to have conversations with agents, just to bring in some more free agents on top of that. We are having conversations with other teams with potentially trades as well. After we did the Luis move, I said that we were going to be active. We’ve remained active."
Where the Sox will add is something Getz found a way to slightly obfuscate with the way he spoke about their two most acute areas of need. He continued a recent trend of describing the current outfield depth chart as more defensive-minded rather than simply unfinished, and said "the strength of the club right now from a starting pitching standpoint is the depth that we’ve been able to create."
Since Getz issued these quotes, the White Sox signed right-handed reliever Lucas Sims, who was a trusted — if walk-addled — setup man for the Reds as recently as the first half of 2024. So in sum, they’ve added again already and not to either of the areas I would have most anticipated, so point to Getz.
Center field depth chart
There's no one in the new Sox center field mix that the club has more of a mandate to give a runway to than Acuña, whose recent winter league reps in the outfield were cited as an asset on the night the Robert trade was completed. But despite how surprising it was that late-September waiver claim Derek Hill was the sole survivor of the White Sox arbitration eligibles, perhaps more eye-opening is he's been regularly brought up as a glove-first center field option throughout the offseason.
"[Hill] has historically been a very good defender," Getz said. "We have Everson Pereira who is a high-level of prospect who hasn’t gotten a whole lot of runway at the major league level, who is a strong defender in center field and the wings. Those three guys right there, we feel like we can cover plenty of ground and have some offensive potential. Brooks Baldwin has played center field and he’s getting more and more comfortable in the outfield. We’ll continue to look at availability on the market and trades as well."
Seranthony Domínguez gets as close as Will Venable will get to declaring a closer
"He’s gonna be finishing a lot of games for us, I think that’s clear," Venable said, after an opening spiel about why he doesn't like strict labeling of bullpen roles. "We definitely view him as somebody that is going to lock us down at the back end. Now, on certain days if that means he’s pitching in the eighth inning and that’s the closer, and the save right there, then we’ll do it. But we intend to use him toward the back end of games."
At the GM meetings, Getz mentioned wanting Grant Taylor to have more multi-inning opportunities in 2026, and not wanting Taylor made unavailable for days afterward was oft-cited by coaches for why he didn't get that many down the stretch in 2025. Domínguez probably won't take all the saves from Taylor, but it seems like he should enable some more of that.
Beyond Domínguez, Getz talked about Taylor, Jordan Leasure and Mike Vasil as givens to handle the Sox's supply of leverage options, and mentioned left-hander Chris Murphy -- acquired in a trade with the Red Sox in November -- as a "Swiss Army knife." But otherwise, Getz pointed to the bullpen as where there will be the most open competition in spring.
Favored NRIs
Speaking of the bullpen competition, I don't think GMs normally name their favorite minor league free-agent signings. But this one did, and it would be a shame to waste such an unique supply of clarity.
"Jarred Kelenic is a guy that we’re excited about bringing in here," Getz said. "He’s a higher-profile player that played in Seattle and Atlanta. Hasn’t quite been able to tap into his potential, but we’re really excited to be able to work with him to be able to see what we can get out of Jarred and if he can help us out. Ryan Borucki is an arm we feel like can fit into our bullpen. He’s pitched in the big leagues and he’s been very effective against lefties, he’s developing some weapons to help combat righties as well. Those are probably the two standouts at this point from outside the organization."
As Jim noted, Kelenic got the rare introductory Zoom for a non-roster invitee, though his direct work in Nashville with Ryan Fuller was probably more of a leg up. On the other hand, a recent memorable case of a Zoom for a Sox NRI was Jonathan Lucroy in 2021 after he was signed to try to win the backup catcher job behind Yasmani Grandal. Instead, former first-round pick Zack Collins won the gig, caught Carlos Rodón's no-hitter, and Lucroy went on to play just seven more big league games for two different teams before retiring.
Even with the addition of Sims, the Sox still have brought in the fewest outside NRIs of the Getz era, which he took as a positive indicator of improved internal depth.
The top prospect
From the looks of it, many Sox Machine commenters already have picked out their own farmhands that they're most miffed about not getting a spring invite. But given that Getz was being asked if he pays attention to top prospect lists -- not seriously, but he likes when they say nice things was the gist -- I asked how much consideration he gave to giving Caleb Bonemer a big league invite, since some outlets have the infielder as the best prospect in the organization.
Bonemer can't legally drink and has played one season of professional ball, but also finished out last year looking not at all bothered by High-A pitching, and less advanced players have earned invites in the past.
"We considered it; being that this is his second spring training, we didn’t feel like it was the right time," Getz said. "But we also know there’s going to be plenty of opportunity to bring him over to major-league games and participate and play in those games, and get comfortable being in minor league camp."
So, who knows what the Sox will add to their outfield, but there's some Bonemer at-bats to look forward to (and possibly compare to the outfield options).
Is anyone new hurt yet?
For what it's worth at this stage, Getz said no.
