Pregame notes: How serious are the 2026 White Sox?

If quoting Chris Getz slightly out of context to build a spicy headline about the White Sox's plans for contending this season was the goal, it wouldn't be hard to achieve it in either direction.

Just watch:

"We feel like we can contend," Getz said pregame Friday about his team's chances in the AL Central, where the Sox sit just two games out of first place.

That approach just leaves out that Getz's very next line was "we feel like we can win series," and while that wasn't something he could state with confidence in 2024, in this case it represented him reiterating that the Sox don't want to look too far ahead from their day-to-day process. Or maybe, with some crafty editing, we could swing it all the way to the other direction.

"It's never been about 2026, it hasn't," Getz said. "We just want to continue to develop players that help us win ballgames."

Since Getz proceeded to steer the focus toward a bunch of things going on in the Sox farm system, while deflecting questions aimed at discerning if the team would really consider adding at the deadline, it could be viewed as downplaying their immediate chances. Instead, it sounded more like Getz downplaying how much the Sox would push resources toward contending, when the real question is probably if they can win enough to make any sort of selling unpalatable.

Above all, these are questions that the White Sox GM still has room to dance around on May 8.

"We'll cross that bridge," Getz said about when in the calendar the Sox closeness to a playoff spot will force the front office to pick a direction. "If we're there, I will welcome that. I assure you though that we're not going to lose sight of the big picture here. We knew going into 2026 we were going to make a meaningful step in the right direction. We wanted to really feel it by year's end. There's a way to do that without making significant moves at a trade deadline or really any level of acquisition."

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Running the bases is typically the last step for testing out a soft tissue leg injury before a rehab assignment, and Kyle Teel is reaching it once more.

A best-case scenario outcome has the White Sox catcher playing with the Charlotte Knights on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Drew Romo continues to take the bulk of the catching playing time in a way that suggests Edgar Quero could very well trade places with Teel when he's ready.

"Drew is in a really good spot, he’s doing a great job getting these pitchers through these games and navigating tough lineups," said Will Venable. "Quero is in a good spot too. He’s got to find a way to be more productive at the plate but the things he’s doing behind the plate defensively, getting some of these guys through tough spots, he’s done a nice job."

Getz said there weren't yet firm timelines on the recoveries for Austin Hays (calf strain) or Everson Pereira (pectoral strain), but that both were "still fairly early in their timeline of recovery or at least the initial expectation."

Obviously Reese McGuire serves as a counterexample to a degree, but the Sox signing Randal Grichuk to a guaranteed deal was already sort of a statement on how soon they expected to have Hays or Pereira back.

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They staggered them out to different days, but the White Sox essentially made two changes to their bullpen composition ahead of this series. Osvaldo Bido's seemingly inevitable DFA indeed took place, and Jordan Leasure was optioned, where as Trevor Richards and Tyler Schweitzer were added to the roster.

While they didn't come in leverage work, Leasure reeled off a pair of 1-2-3 innings on the road trip to lower his ERA to 6.06 on the year, so the Sox don't seem to be reacting to the height of the right-hander's struggles. But everything Getz said about the poor results of his slider still rings true.

"It’s getting more consistent with his slider, both command and shape of it; his fastball attack as well," Getz said. He’s become very reliant on fastballs up. I think it would be important for him to still drive that fastball down and keep [opposing hitters] honest. So, there are a couple of things to work on. I would say his last couple of outings were promising, they were encouraging. But this is an opportunity to bring in Trevor Richards, who has been throwing really well both in Triple-A and then the recent call-up.

So often, we are on the hunt to continue to add pitching and pitching depth. We’ve used a lot of arms. In this case, let’s bring Trevor Richards in. He’s an experienced arm that is seemingly throwing well right now. It’s an opportunity to send Jordan down and work on some things."

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If you're a devoted Sox Machine reader and sicko for pitching mechanics, you'll know that the White Sox already felt that Shane Smith's simplified delivery had his lower half and arm path working against each other. In this case on Friday, Getz was asked if he felt mechanical changes contributed to his rotator cuff issue.

"It’s something that popped up," Getz began. "He was down there working on some things and sometimes when there’s some tweaks to someone’s mechanics, through that, it can jolt the body a little bit. Perhaps that was what happened here.

Thankfully, we don’t view it as a very serious flare up. It’s there and we want to get it calmed down for a couple of weeks and get him back. He had been making strides altogether and really taking to the assignment well.

Unfortunately there was a flare up in the shoulder and we hope to get that taken care of--and it seems to be headed in that right direction--because we know he’s really important for us."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Mariners

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