The White Sox have six players heading to free agency, but two names rise to the top if Chris Getz is trying to preserve the shape of last season’s club: Sean Newcomb and Randal Grichuk.
The team said Thursday that pitchers Erick Fedde, Sean Newcomb and Trevor Richards, outfielders Randal Grichuk and Tommy Pham, and catcher Jake Rogers have all elected free agency. Several of those decisions matter, but Newcomb and Grichuk stand out as the most important fits if Chicago wants to keep some continuity after its run to the ALDS.
Newcomb may have been the most valuable of the group in 2026. He led White Sox relievers with 90.1 innings, and only Fedde threw more for the bullpen after beginning the year in the rotation before moving into a bulk-relief role.
Newcomb made that workload count, finishing with a 3.09 ERA and holding hitters to a .223 average. What made him especially useful was the range of jobs he could handle: opener, multi-inning option, late-game weapon.
He even picked up four saves.
That kind of role matters, especially because it had already been occupied by Mike Vasil, who threw 101 innings in 2025. Vasil is expected back in 2027 after Tommy John surgery, but he probably won’t be ready to absorb that same kind of load. Pairing him with Newcomb would give Will Venable much more room to move pieces around the bullpen, with a lefty and a righty both able to cover different types of assignments.
The catch is that Newcomb may not be easy to keep. He’s likely to draw plenty of attention after the season he put together, and he has made it clear he wants to start. That’s a problem for the White Sox, who gave him a shot at a rotation job in spring training before sending him to the bullpen, where his track record has been much stronger.
Grichuk is a different kind of decision, but just as meaningful. Chicago’s waiver claim on him was one of Getz’s sharpest moves last season, and once he arrived from the New York Yankees, he looked like a new player in a White Sox uniform.
Working mostly in a platoon with Andrew Benintendi, and seeing most of his chances against left-handed pitching, Grichuk produced in a big way. He hit 15 home runs and drove in 46 runs across just 265 at-bats, while batting .287 with an .880 OPS.
One of his biggest moments came on Sept. 12 against the St. Louis Cardinals, when he delivered a go-ahead ninth-inning home run with the White Sox down to their final strike and turned a 6-5 deficit into a lead.
Whether he returns will likely come down to what the White Sox decide to do with Benintendi. If Benintendi is back, the platoon setup makes a lot of sense.
Grichuk’s splits were extreme: a 1.025 OPS against lefties and a .655 mark against righties. Benintendi posted a .741 OPS against right-handers and a .500 OPS against lefties.
Together, those numbers made Chicago’s designated hitter platoon one of the most productive in baseball, ranking ahead of Ben Rice and Kyle Schwarber and trailing only Yordan Alvarez and Shohei Ohtani.
But the roster could force a different path. Caleb Bonemer is close to the majors, and Sam Antonacci already has a crowded road to steady playing time.
If the White Sox decide to eat the final year of Benintendi’s deal to open up a roster spot, Grichuk’s path back gets much thinner. In that scenario, the designated hitter spot could shift to Antonacci or become part of a wider rotation, leaving Grichuk with little room.
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