PHOENIX -- Famed Japanese slugger and new White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami is getting a new nameplate for his locker; one where his name is spelled correctly.
"We certainly are getting that fixed, if we haven't already," said Chris Getz, who arrived in Arizona on Monday. "
February isn't 10 days old and due to a flurry of post-Luis Robert Jr. salary purge activity, this was Getz's third media availability of the month. With apologies to reserve catcher Josh Breaux and the minor league deal he signed Monday, Getz following up on his marquee free-agent acquisition's Instagram story might be the newsiest item he could comment on, especially since he couldn't yet comment on the only other contender.
"That’s not official," Getz said of the pending Erick Fedde signing. "He’s a guy that we’ve had discussions with his agent and he had a lot of success here not too long ago."
Fedde's has four more good months in a White Sox uniform than Murakami at this point, and there are plenty of evaluators out there who think that gap will remain. But the first baseman represents the highest-ceiling buy-low swing of the many the White Sox have taken since Getz took over, and even if one could wonder how many Japanese media would be around if Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki weren't in the same complex, the attention Murakami is bringing looks real. So for now, the level of onboarding and trust-building Sox coaches can pull off around the WBC seems like their most compelling project.
"The point of coming out here right now too is to prepare for the WBC, get to know his teammates and get ready for the season," Getz said. "He's gonna be here for a couple weeks, and I know that [the coaching staff is] already starting to talk to him. Most importantly, we want him to feel comfortable. Really talented player that's accomplished a lot. There's gonna be some needed adjustments along the way, because that applies to every hitter at the major league level. But we've got plenty of time, we do. Whether it be Ryan Fuller or Derek Shomon, they've got an ability to communicate to all ranges of hitters, and they're building a really strong relationship right now, and that's gonna serve the White Sox well throughout the season."
Murakami is also on the rare tier of White Sox player who enters with enough status that he has a definitive job title: starting first baseman. Meanwhile, Fedde coming in on a guaranteed deal is the sort of addition that exemplifies the somewhat intentional state of flux the rotation is in. Maybe it's not intentional in the sense that the Sox perused the market more proven starters before using the rest of their Robert savings to take on Jordan Hicks' salary to buy a prospect in David Sandlin, and now are talking like a team that only has low-level moves in their sights from here.
"We’ve got flexibility, we do, but we do feel good about the group we have in here," Getz said.
But it's intentional in the sense that outside of presumed slots for Shane Smith, Davis Martin and Anthony Kay, who specifically came over from Japan for a shot to start, the Sox are piling up guys who will compete for an amorphous amount of starting opportunities. In that way, getting the band back together with Fedde is just stacking their odds that they can fill out their rotation between him, Sean Burke's efforts to revive his slider, Jonathan Cannon's reversion to a two-seam fastball, and stretching out Sean Newcomb and Mike Vasil to swingman roles with a chance for more.
Or, the rotation is just Smith, Martin, Kay, Burke and Fedde and everyone else exists in case injuries and underperformance undermine Plan A, and there's no reason to talk down about backup options ahead of time. But the days of Don Cooper speaking frankly about who the five starters are in February are clearly long past. A lot of the concepts of roster-building from those days are. After back-to-back seasons of over 60 players used, even making the team out of spring doesn't mean what it used to.
"We have a handful of guys who are, we plan on building up in multi-inning roles; some of them will be starters, some of them will be relievers," said Getz, who projected confidence about being able to manage the inevitable disappointment that some will feel at the end of such an open tryout. "You are open and honest. You talk about all the different options that can happen for guys. Will [Venable] and the staff and myself will sit down with each guy at the beginning of camp, we’ll start doing it tomorrow and talk about what we are aiming to accomplish this camp and the possibilities that might come out of it."
If it couldn't already be deduced from the hires they have made, the White Sox admire the way the Brewers and Rays operate, especially since their similar payrolls make them an example for how to succeed within their current limitations. Well, the Brewers traded their starting third baseman on Monday, after already flipping their starting left fielder earlier this winter, and the Rays' feelings about ever naming a five-man rotation in any form is best described as agnostic, bordering on atheist.
So along with the fact that their pitching staff is just not proven enough to have five no-doubt starting pitchers yet, the White Sox stacking arms who offer length rather than saying who their starting five is, signing Austin Hays and saying he'll play "on the wings," or just Getz not anointing Luisangel Acuña the starting center fielder even though he could, is just the sort of behavior we should start to get used to.
"He’s going to play a fair amount of center field out here, he played a fair amount in winter ball, but we are not closing the door on the infield either," Getz said. "I view it as options. I could see him playing great out there and just taking off, and that would be welcomed as well. But most importantly, we've created versatility. He's got versatility. It's a huge weapon for him, and for us."
According to the GM, there are still no injuries yet -- at least not ready to publicize -- so it's the best time of year to speak in open-ended terms. For a team that only speaks of their expectations as a group in the vaguest language, it fits that the labor force would be in a similar boat. That could change down the road, but it'll have to be earned.
"We’re a team that we feel like we can go out there and compete on a regular basis," Getz said on his team's odds of contending in the AL Central. "We showed that in the second half, regardless of who we were playing against. We won some really good series against some good ballclubs. We hope to take that same mindset and approach into this year. There’s no reason why we can’t get off to a really good start and see where the year takes us."
