Given that the White Sox figured on being at least one offseason away from making a serious push toward contending in the AL Central, Chris Getz spent last winter attempting to shore up the pitching staff with smaller bets on stopgaps, figuring that bigger investments could be made once he could ascertain what might be needed to supplement the organization's homegrown pitchers.
Had Getz had the usual success rate with pitchers who only merit short-term deals, the White Sox probably don't make the postseason. Instead, Anthony Kay (two years, $12 million) and Erick Fedde (one year, $1.5 million) both turned out to be serviceable pitchers, and the White Sox needed everything both could offer to squeak into October.
Neither pitcher wowed, but that's not the standard either are being held to. The annual board of short-term pitchers is always a minefield, and even though they entered this one twice, the only price they paid was $7.5 million for 299 innings.
| Pitcher | AAV | G | IP | BB | K | ERA | FIP | bWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahle | $10M | 27 | 149 | 46 | 137 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 1.7 |
| Eflin | $10M | 1 | 3.2 | 2 | 7 | 2.45 | 4.46 | 0.1 |
| Lorenzen | $8M | 32 | 127.1 | 54 | 90 | 7.21 | 5.45 | -2.0 |
| Soroka | $7.5M | 22 | 116 | 29 | 114 | 3.41 | 3.19 | 2.2 |
| Anderson | $7M | 49 | 108 | 43 | 114 | 3.67 | 4.28 | 1.4 |
| Littell | $7M | 26 | 124.1 | 39 | 73 | 5.21 | 6.08 | -0.5 |
| Kay | $6M* | 33 | 158 | 56 | 129 | 4.44 | 4.75 | 1.2 |
| Quintana | $6M | 11 | 48 | 20 | 25 | 5.44 | 6.08 | 0.4 |
| Civale | $6M | 34 | 111.1 | 35 | 91 | 4.20 | 4.64 | 1.4 |
| Griffin | $5.5M | 31 | 172.2 | 45 | 158 | 3.60 | 3.96 | 3.3 |
| Sugano | $5.1M | 29 | 154.1 | 36 | 96 | 5.37 | 5.39 | 1.8 |
| Giolito | $3M | 7 | 29.2 | 23 | 18 | 5.16 | 6.07 | -0.2 |
| Canning | $2.5M | 30 | 88.2 | 41 | 87 | 5.68 | 4.75 | -0.5 |
| Márquez | $1.75M | 13 | 53 | 24 | 37 | 5.26 | 6.61 | -0.2 |
| Fedde | $1.5M | 33 | 141 | 52 | 99 | 3.83 | 5.01 | 2.0 |
| Corbin | $1M | 19 | 80 | 25 | 63 | 5.51 | 4.64 | -0.2 |
The Sox technically could have done better, especially when considering the shorter leashes and special operating instructions involved, but Foster Griffin was the only pitcher who outperformed Kay and Fedde over the course of the entire season. Tyler Mahle had a 5.13 ERA over his first 18 starts with the Giants, then flipped the switch with the Braves after a minor deadline trade, posting a 1.99 ERA over nine starts with Atlanta. Michael Soroka was the only other pitcher with a case in terms of value, but while he was in the neighborhood in terms of innings, he missed two months of the season.
The White Sox have had a decent little stretch when it comes to these kind of minor investments. This is the second time Fedde has paid off, as his outstanding return stateside in 2024 allowed the White Sox to turn him into Miguel Vargas. Bryse Wilson didn't have it in 2025, but Martín Perez's $3.5 million deal was worth doing, even if elbow problems limited him to 10 starts.
The only issue is that the Sox have to revisit the starting pitcher market this season, because Sean Burke finished the season looking like a rotation mainstay. Perhaps Kay will be able to pitch deeper into games with one full MLB season's worth of experience finally under his belt, and perhaps Davis Martin will revert back to No. 4 starterdom if his calf problem was the main reason why he regressed into the ground by the end of the season. The hope was that Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith and/or Tanner McDougal might be able to join them, and all of them fell short of bankable.
Of course, if the White Sox want to shop toward the top of the market because the top of this market might be in price ranges they can stomach, perhaps the hunt for average-or-better contributions will take on shorter odds. Four pitchers merited major investments in 2026 -- Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, Framber Valdez and Michael King -- and all of provided varying balances of quantity and quality.
