The White Sox may have a starting pitching need, but the idea of them landing Tarik Skubal lives more in dream territory than reality.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic ranked Skubal as the best free agent on his top-40 list, which comes as no surprise. What did raise eyebrows was his list of best fits, where the White Sox showed up alongside the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.
That kind of placement makes the head turn. Skubal is one of the most dominant arms in baseball, and plenty of teams would line up for him in theory. But Chicago is operating in a different financial lane than the sport’s biggest spenders, and that matters more than anything here.
Bowden projected Skubal’s next contract at $350-$500 million, depending on length. That’s the kind of number that changes the conversation entirely. The White Sox have never signed a free agent to a deal worth even $100 million, so the jump required here would be massive.
The fit on paper is easy to see. Chicago needs pitching, and its payroll is low enough that a big move could be imagined.
But that’s where the fantasy starts to fall apart. The White Sox do not operate outside their means, and based on the franchise’s track record, it’s hard to picture Jerry Reinsdorf and Chris Getz diving into a bidding war for a pitcher of this magnitude.
This is also not the same situation fans remember from 2019, when the White Sox were tied to Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Different team, different general manager, different approach.
So while the name makes sense for a team trying to strengthen its rotation, Skubal-to-Chicago still looks like a long shot. The more likely path is the one the White Sox usually take: affordable, dependable starting pitching rather than a historic free-agent splash.
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