MILWAUKEE -- White Sox manager Will Venable has a laundry list of action items -- control the strike zone and running game for pitchers, two-strike approaches for hitters, emphasizing defensive versatility on the diamond -- that all seem like more tangible goals for his players than instructing them to win 80 games in 2026.
Most of the highest-ceiling arms in the organization reside in the Triple-A Charlotte rotation at present, whereas the major league outfield will have post-hype prove-it projects like Everson Pereira and Luisangel Acuña in the Opening Day lineup. So general manager Chris Getz unsurprisingly alluded to a roster that will transform over the course of the year, making an improved product by year's end a more central goal than a specific win total.
"You want to look at once we get through this season, reflect back on what 2026 was for us, a better idea of where we are in the development of this major league club and the organization as a whole," said Getz, who also specified that the Sox should win more games this year. "You are going to take your lumps like any team does. We are going to learn more about what these players are capable of doing. It’s a pretty strong group of players in a healthy clubhouse that we hope leads to good things this upcoming season."
Colson Montgomery, the most essential White Sox, is simply pleading ignorance about the expectations entirely, so as to completely avoid the sort of narrative framework that is rampant this time of year.
"Everyone on this team knows their roles and knows what they need to do, and if we just go out there and do that to the best of our abilities, you never know what can happen," Montgomery said. "I can't even tell you if we even have heard. I don't know that number, the wins or where we're supposed to be or anything like that. I bet everyone else can tell you the same thing. We just know that we believe in what Getzy and Skip [Venable] have done in this offseason about going out and getting guys to really improve us for the year. We're firm believers in all that, and we're firm believers in that we're getting better each year."
The White Sox aren't at the nadir of the most gruesome rebuild in franchise (or all of baseball?) history anymore, but they've not reached the point where their goals are "playoffs or bust" either. And if Wednesday's workout day at American Family Field is any indication, unless the stated goal is winning something at the end of the year, the preseason rallying cry is going to sound a little vague.
"Hopefully this is one of 30-plus [starts] and you put together a strong year, but there's always a lot of emphasis on Opening Day just because it's the start of the year," said Thursday's starter Shane Smith.
One thing that is thankfully put to bed is that Munetaka Murakami now has a clear use to the White Sox beyond hopefully addressing their historical dearth of left-handed power. A famed Japanese slugger on a short-term deal, trying to prove he can hack it against major league pitching, is guaranteed to talk in ways that cut through the thousand-yard process-oriented stare that those engaged in slowly pulling the White Sox up from the ocean floor are forced to adapt.
"Every day is about grinding and getting at-bats and coming up with everyday results," Murakami said via interpreter. "The results are all that matters."
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Statcast sure loved Reese McGuire's defense last year, putting him in the top quarter of the league for blocking, and top-10 among qualified framers for shadow strike rate, so there's no hiding the ball for why the White Sox preferred him over Korey Lee.
"An area that we certainly prioritize is the catcher receiving, framing, quite honestly," Getz said. "The chance to bring in a Reese McGuire, who has established himself as a strong receiver, and then on top of that, a left-handed bat that complements Edgar Quero as well. So, yeah, it made sense to look, to find that upgrade."
Getz further acknowledged that the level of player movement at the end of spring has made it a separate period for teams to hunt value adds -- with Mike Vasil last season obviously serving as testament -- but Kyle Teel lightly jogging in left field during the Sox workout as he rehabs a right hamstring strain is a reminder that McGuire could be providing an upgrade in a tight window.
"Maybe I don't use the superlatives that Kyle Teel likes to use," said Getz, who termed the second-year catcher as a couple of weeks away. "But the medical feedback has been positive. Obviously, we're talking about a hamstring injury, to the grade 2 level. He is recovering well. We're not going to push it just because we know that's not an injury that you want to get overly aggressive on."
What they do have to get aggressive on is onboarding McGuire after he spent the spring working elsewhere.
"It's been quick, I probably talked to him the most today," Smith said. "It's really nice having a catcher who's been around, similar to Matt Thaiss last year. Somebody who's been around and done it and will jell with us quickly."
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The update on Brooks Baldwin's sprained right elbow, which has kept him from playing for nearly three weeks now and made him absent from the team workout, was more vague to the point of ominous, and involved language typically reserved for someone considering what brand of medical intervention to pursue.
"We should find out something fairly soon here," Getz said. "He's been rehabbing. He is improving, but you know, the real test will be here in the coming days to figure out the avenue he'll take."
In Baldwin's absence has come this six-outfielder Opening Day roster, where both Derek Hill and Tristan Peters are defensive-minded reserves, and Acuña is both the primary starter in center and also will be regularly flexed to the infield mid-game when the White Sox are protecting a lead.
"Not a lot of teams have that luxury. For us, we’re definitely going to take advantage of that," Venable said of moving Acuña around defensively mid-game. "[Hill and Peters] really complement each other well, where they can play center field, they can play on the corners, give us help in a bunch of different ways; come off the bench and do some dynamic things with their legs."
It certainly provides the White Sox with multiple ways to sub out Andrew Benintendi's glove late, though with Teel out, he will open the season batting cleanup and at designated hitter, which could be a common early season configuration.
"Might have him out in the outfield on game 2 of this, but yeah, he’s going to DH a lot, he’s going to be in left a lot," Venable said. "We’ll have different looks for our outfield on a daily basis."
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David Sandlin, slowed by back and elbow discomfort in spring, is expected to be ready to pitch at Triple-A by late April, provided his ramp-up in Arizona goes smoothly. He's supposed to get up to three innings during his last complex outing before shipping out to Charlotte. His absence facilitates making some sense of an already loaded Knights rotation that is touting Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz, Tanner McDougal, Jonathan Cannon and Duncan Davitt, and has to turn aside typical qualified risers like Riley Gowens.
Speaking of too many starters, the White Sox have Jedixson Páez, Sean Newcomb, Chris Murphy and Grant Taylor in their bullpen. All of them have multi-inning swingman capability, if not outright rotation ambitions, but they won't all be able to work in large, three-inning chunks.
"Roles are going to change as we get through this," Venable said. "It’s nice to have guys that can cover multiple innings and having a few of those guys is huge. We know the needs of every game is going to change as we get through this, so it’s nice to have guys who can do different stuff."
Venable promised that openers will once more be a part of the equation this season, which provides an immediate potential use for lefties with length, Tyler Gilbert included.
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Talk to different evaluators, receive different reports.
"His English is getting better, a lot better," Montgomery said of Murakami. "From the first time he came, it was iffy. But then he came back from Japan and the World Baseball Classic and I was able to actually talk to him pretty good. I credit him for that."
"I don’t really think I improved in English, to be honest," Murakami countered via interpreter. "Colson always comes back and says, ‘Huh?’" [Here Murakami paused the cadence of his answer to mime out, in detail, a confused, squinting facial expression] I’ll try not to force him to do that anymore."
Venable was asked if he had his Opening Day lineup ready and not only affirmed he did, but read it off immediately from memory.
- Chase Meidroth, 2B
- Colson Montgomery, SS
- Miguel Vargas, 3B
- Andrew Benintendi, DH
- Austin Hays, LF
- Munetaka Murakami, 1B
- Everson Pereira, RF
- Edgar Quero, C
- Luisangel Acuña, CF
It's hard to imagine a successful season for Quero that sees him bat this low all year. Meidroth and Acuña seem like player types who could alternate their current slots based on whose OBP is running higher at the time, but the person who is most likely to win that battle is starting out on top. The alternating handedness structure is unsurprising and likely to be the most stable element of a Venable lineup.
All that said, obviously the most surprising element is marquee addition Murakami batting sixth, least of all pushed down there by Benintendi, who has a surprising amount of synergy with the fan base about assessing his first three years with the franchise. Oh well.
"It doesn’t really matter about the lineup," Murakami said via interpreter. "Anything I can do to contribute to the win for this team is what I will do at the end."
