So much for my Opening Day roster projection.
The White Sox effectively announced six cuts on Friday, two of which eliminated players from what I thought could be a part of the most likely 26-man arrangement for opening day. LaMonte Wade Jr. was among the four veterans who were released from major league camp, while the White Sox informed Jarred Kelenic that he wouldn’t break camp with the team.
Wade did me the solid of homering twice in his final White Sox Cactus League appearance against the Padres on Thursday, so he departs the organization with a .289/.429/.605 line over 15 games. He did what he could to make the White Sox consider carrying him as a veteran lefty bench bat.
Speaking of lefties, Kelenic wasn't officially removed from major league camp, he and Drew Romo were simply told that they aren't making the major league club out of spring training. Kelenic had a brief surge at the start of March, but went 1-for-16 with four walks against four strikeouts over his last six games, dragging his spring line down to .179/.273/.359.
Kelenic is out of options but on a minor league deal, so the White Sox can exercise their flexibility by having him open the year in Charlotte, because once he's called up, there's no guarantee he can be sent back down.
Besides Wade, Austin Voth, Lucas Sims and Ryan Borucki were all released by the White Sox. Voth only appeared in one game, but Sims and Borucki combined for 11 scoreless innings between them.
If there's a uniting theme connecting all of these moves, it's that the White Sox might want to keep some 40-man spots open. They have more decent relievers on the 40-man than they have bullpen spots, and they have a cache of backup outfielders depending on whether they want a righty (Everson Pereira), a lefty (Tristan Peters), or a defensive ace (Derek Hill). This puts them in a position to protect all out of options players if they so choose, but it also allows them to move quickly if a player of interest loses a numbers game on some other organization's depth chart, which is Mike Vasil’s White Sox origin story.
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The White Sox finalized their broadcast arrangements for the 2026 season, at least as much as they can. They're not a likely candidate to have their games flexed into national primetime slots, but spring is for hope. For the time being, the Sox only mentioned two nationally exclusive broadcasts on Peacock, both in July.
The entire broadcast team will be back, including Gordon Beckham and Dan Plesac backing up on Steve Stone's days off, and Connor McKnight filling in for John Schriffen for "select TV broadcasts."
For those fans in the Chicago market who felt burned by the White Sox abandoning the over-the-air component of the CHSN launch, the team announced that 10 games will be simulcast on WCIU Channel 26.
- Friday, May 8 vs. Seattle (6:40 p.m. CT)
- Friday, May 15 vs. Cubs (6:40 p.m. CT)
- Saturday, May 16 vs. Cubs (6:10 p.m. CT)
- Sunday, May 17 vs. Cubs (1:10 p.m. CT)
- Sunday, June 14 vs. Los Angeles-NL (1:10 p.m. CT)
- Saturday, June 27 vs. Kansas City (3:10 p.m. CT)
- Friday, July 10 vs. Athletics (6:40 p.m. CT)
- Wednesday, July 29 vs. New York-AL (6:40 p.m. CT)
- Monday, August 17 at Cubs (7:05 p.m. CT)
- Friday, September 4 vs. Minnesota (6:40 p.m. CT)
Quick math indicates that 10 free games comes up a little short of 160, but that probably qualifies as a gesture.
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The White Sox play a pair of games Saturday night, but to the extent that it could be called a split squad affair, it's divided between major leaguers and prospects, since it's the White Sox's turn to participate in MLB's Spring Breakout series. Here's the roster the White Sox are putting forth against the Dodgers in their showcase game:
Pitchers
Tyler Davis
Jackson Kelley
Jackson Nove
Christian Oppor
Landon Payne
Tyler Schweitzer
Hagen Smith
Nick Weyrich
Catchers
Stiven Flores
Grant Magill
Jose Mendoza
Infielders
Sam Antonacci
William Bergolla
Caleb Bonemer
Billy Carlson
Anthony DePino
Jacob Gonzalez
Kyle Lodise
Javier Mogollon
Rikuu Nishida
Jeral Perez
Colby Shelton
Outfielders
Caden Connor
Braden Montgomery
Jaden Fauske
George Wolkow
Samuel Zavala
MLB is planning to expand Spring Breakout into a single-elimination tournament-style format in 2027, which mostly serves to provide the league some form of programming in the event that their expected lockout carries into March.
