Speaking as someone with no relevant knowledge of event venue logistics, The Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport feels like playing at an easier difficulty level than their previous venues like the Palmer House Hilton downtown or McCormick Place.
At least when it comes to selling this current version of the White Sox
The space is wrapped around the main stage in a manner that commands attention more than an endless array of chairs in a rectangular hotel conference room. There are multiple centrally located bars to keep the audience lubricated. SoxFest Live finds this team actually on their South Side home turf rather than aspiring to transcend it. It's also, most obviously, smaller, giving the crowd of diehards who are showing up -- amid a snowstorm -- to a fan festival after three straight 100-loss seasons a better chance of filling it.
But what exactly are these resilient people, who have hung on through the darkest stretch of the franchise's history, now being sold? Not a finished product, for one.
"You look at what we did in the second half, you solved the culture issue, we have a team, we have a core, you have guys that you know are going to be there next year," said Davis Martin. "It's exciting. But at the same time, I think we all realize that we did only win 61 games last year."
Because the White Sox last rebuild was so darn recent, where even Luis Robert Jr. was traded less than two weeks ago, it's easy to notice the difference in messaging discipline. Like any GM in competitive sports, Chris Getz may yet have his words used against him sometime in the future when his team subverts his own expectations, but it won't be because he promised to contend by a certain date, pledged to win a World Series, or deferred a question to be answered "after the parade."
The benefits of such prudence go beyond avoiding the GM looking foolish, since it also ducks creating false incentives, or arbitrary checkpoints to chase. The White Sox certainly can't be accused of rushing Colson Montgomery up to rescue the last two seasons, or quickly trading pieces of the old roster core for the sake of turning the page. A front office that's been more content to tout operational improvements than make promises is in many ways healthier, and leads to things like Montgomery spending a chunk of his media availability in the Ramova tap room Friday rhapsodizing about how helpful he finds the Trajekt machine to be.
But measured comments rarely double as rallying cries, which really becomes apparent at the annual event specifically dedicated to inspiring excitement for the season.
"I think we are going to make a meaningful step forward," Getz said on Thursday in his media session opening the weekend. "We’ve added to the group of talent currently there. The process is only getting stronger. We do feel like we are going to take another step forward."
Developmental wins make up half the player guest list to this event. While Robert's scheduled appearance was obviously canceled, free-agent signing Anthony Kay was added to the SoxFest roster and his boffo NPB stats sound pretty compelling when Gene Honda yells them out. A video message from Munetaka Murakami drew a big applause. Improved process and additions to the talent pool sound vague until the Rule 5 pick-turned-All-Star (Shane Smith) is standing between the resuscitated franchise shortstop (Montgomery) and the ascendant top-100 prospect (Tanner McDougal) on the same stage.
At the same time, the depths of recent years means vague promises of improvement can easily be heard as promising very little. There have been enough acquisitions made--two in the last week alone, with Getz forced to dance around Austin Hays' yet-to-be official deal in a panel Saturday night--to feel like a lot has been done and the needs of the roster have been addressed, but one look at a payroll still sitting near the bottom of the league puts a ceiling on the ambition level. The 19-win jump the White Sox enjoyed in 2025 still produced the second-worst record in the league, ahead only of a Rockies club that challenged their 2024 record. If the Sox vault to being say, the 22nd-best team in MLB this year, it would represent a meaningful step forward, and also is such a humble-sounding goal that a player on the team would likely find it insulting.
Thankfully the players tend to talk a bit bigger, at least in January.
"It's really good, it's really huge playing in the World Series," said new closer Seranthony Domínguez, who took the ball five times in seven games for the Blue Jays against the Dodgers last October. "I feel like I'm still missing something because I didn't win. I hope to erase that with the White Sox."
"I felt like there was no doubt in our ability at the end of the year," Montgomery said. "Even when we played the Yankees and those guys, we competed with them well and I think that was a really good eye-opening moment for us. If we just put our nose down, just go out and play the best that we can and not try to control everybody else, things can turn for us."
Part of why athletes are compelling figures is that they see winning a lot of games as the logical next step from being in a lot of games, rather than some brand of gradual improvement.
"We want to go to the playoffs and I think we're in the right division to do it." said Miguel Vargas, who was both saddened by the departure of his friend Robert and also felt like immediate FaceTiming with Luisangel Acuña was part of his duty as a team leader. "This team just welcomed me with the open arms, and I really appreciate them letting me be myself. They love me, so I love them, too."
"The standard is set high, and I feel like that's how it should be," said Kyle Teel, who says he's bulked up by 20 pounds in the name of adding strength.
"I think people are underestimating the Sox as a whole," said McDougal. "I think this team is going to turn a lot of heads, and is going to surprise a lot of people."
This is a starkly different tune from the type of verbal gymnastics required for Sox players to put a positive spin on things in 2024, but irrational confidence is sort of a prerequisite for stepping onto the field in professional sports. A young and hungry roster that will look to push the timeline is already baked into the calculations of White Sox leadership that is nevertheless preparing the public for incremental gains.
"You have to embrace it," Will Venable said in response to some of his players setting the postseason as a goal. "It makes my job easier if they already believe. And that's great and those goals are great, but my job is to say, 'This is what we have to do to get there,' right? That is part of the ground-up approach; saying, 'Hey, we spent an offseason with our imaginations and growing and believing in what this thing could be. If you want to get there at all, we're going to have to commit to these things and make it part of our daily habits.'"
If Vargas cracking himself up by how many times he found himself saying "consistency" in his answer about his focus for 2026 is any indication, that message resonates to the players well enough. What this stripped-down SoxFest Live effort seems to offer up is a forum for people who have been following this operation closely, or have ordered enough drinks, or have resolved to enjoy their Friday night to justify the ticket price, and were ready to cheer the signs of progress offered. He didn't match the response received by Montgomery or highlight reels of Murakami home runs, but Getz took the stage to cheers for a panel with Venable, hosted by Connor McKnight.
The questions from season ticket-holders were pre-approved, but the first fan brought on stage immediately offered the Sox GM a question he's parried in different forms when it came from media over the last couple of years: after a 19-win improvement last season, what should fans expect in 2026?
"How about 19 more?" Getz offered, even repeating it to make sure the room heard his playful response. This is the dichotomy of the current state of the Sox. Back-to-back 19-win jumps would be truly remarkable, require a significantly more difficult and impressive improvement than last season represented, and quickly make the Sox the subject of national feature stories about their exciting progress. Executive of the year, or manager of the year votes might even follow.
It was also, in effect, a GM floating a losing record (80-82) as a season ambition to a crowd that applauded his boldness in response. That's perhaps a pretty good example for why slapping specific goals upon this White Sox team has held less appeal than simply pointing at indicators of a changing direction. They can better speak to how this coming season is supposed to feel, for the next question was whether this coming year was going to be about player development, or about winning games, and Venable took charge in answering.
"Both," he said.
