Justin Ishbia’s money changes the conversation for the White Sox, and this offseason plan leans hard into that reality. The idea here is simple: if the club is ready to push forward, it can afford to act like it.
The biggest moves start with the players eligible for arbitration. Miguel Vargas gets the easiest call of the bunch after being labeled the team’s MVP.
Brenton Doyle is retained as a strong defensive outfielder who also showed some late offensive life. Joey Bart is kept as a veteran backup behind Kyle Teel, even if his brief White Sox sample didn’t exactly settle the question.
Huascar Brazoban stays in the bullpen as a younger arm by mileage, while Grant Taylor and Mike Vasil remain part of the pitching mix. Mike Leasure, though, has stopped earning the benefit of the doubt.
Jordan Murphy is left in the “eh” category.
Erick Fedde also comes back on a two-year, $8 million deal. That’s the kind of move that fits the tone of the whole plan, especially for the pitcher who heard his name chanted during a playoff game. Newcomb gets squeezed out by Vasil, and there’s also the possibility that Newcomb simply wants a chance to start somewhere else.
The free-agent targets are where the roster really takes shape. Freddy Peralta lands on a five-year, $135 million deal, a number that is presented with genuine shock but also with the reminder that it is legal.
Alec Bohm comes in on a two-year, $22 million contract to serve as the club’s left-handed bat against righties, with a career 131 OPS+ versus left-handed pitching and a .302/.351/.503 line against them. He also offers depth around the infield.
Brusdar Graterol arrives for one year and $2 million, giving the bullpen another arm that can reach triple digits. Yoan Moncada is mentioned only as a joke and a scare, with the note that his singing career may take off after his next IL stint.
Ha-Seong Kim signs for one year and $4 million as the shortstop solution, bringing a career 19.4% strikeout rate and a former Gold Glove to the table on a prove-it deal.
The trade market fills in the rest. Colson Montgomery, Javier Mogollon, Christian Oppor, and Seth Keener go to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left-hander Braxton Ashcraft and Khristian Curtis.
The Pirates slide Montgomery to third base to pair him long term with Konnor Griffin on the left side of the infield, while the White Sox get a pitcher to slot behind Peralta in the rotation. Mogollon could fit better in Pittsburgh’s system, Oppor and Keener give the Pirates more to work with in pitching development, and Curtis brings plus stuff even if the walks are an issue.
Another deal sends Davis Martin and Casey Saucke to the San Francisco Giants for Drew Gilbert. That move is tied to the rotation squeeze created by Peralta and Ashcraft, plus the need to keep Luis Castillo in the starting group.
Martin, outside the first two months of 2026, has been serviceable and might fit well in Oracle Park. Gilbert gives Chicago another young outfielder to evaluate if Peters falls back or Braden struggles again, and he is described as passing the vibe check.
The projected roster reflects all of that movement. Behind the plate are Teel and Bart.
The infield includes Vargas, Kim, Chase Meidroth, Munetaka Murakami, and Bohm. The outfield group is Sam Antonacci, Tristan Peters, Braden Montgomery, Doyle, and Gilbert.
Andrew Benintendi stays as the lone DH. The rotation is Peralta, Ashcraft, Sean Burke, Anthony Kay, and Castillo.
The bullpen is Fedde, Vasil, Brazoban, Taylor, Hudson, Graterol, Hagen Smith, and Hicks.
The overall point is that this team is built with some protection against regression. It’s expected that a few players come back to earth after last season’s surprise run, and there won’t be any dugout magic now that the Wizard moves to the bullpen.
Still, the foundation is there. Peralta and Ashcraft give Chicago a front-end pair that can stack up with Cleveland’s, Burke profiles as a possible strong No. 3, and Gilbert gives the club insurance if Peters regresses or Braden needs more time.
Kim handles shortstop because Chase Meidroth is viewed more as a second baseman than an everyday shortstop, and Fedde plus Vasil are the bullpen’s length options.
The total salary comes out to $137 million, though the Peralta and Bohm deals are adjusted with backloading and a signing bonus to make it work. Liam Hendriks’ $1.5 million is included in that figure.
In Other News...
White Sox Link To Superstar Starter Raises A Bigger Front Office Question
As the White Sox head toward free agency, the conversation around their roster fits is already bigger than just plugging a few holes. Starting pitching remains a need, and so does outfield depth, which is why Jim Bowden of The Athletic linked Chicago to Tarik Skubal while ranking the left-hander as the top free agent on the market and putting the Dodgers and Mets in the same bucket of possible suitors.
The tougher question is whether a club still operating under financial constraints and a fairly cautious roster-building philosophy can realistically chase that kind of impact arm. Bowdens broader point was less about a likely chase and more about the kind of decision the White Sox front office has to make if it wants to accelerate the rebuild, because the market for a star starter of this caliber is expected to test every teams appetite for spending. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Rotation Search Just Got Real About One Harsh Limit
The White Sox are already being pushed into the 2026 starting-pitching market, and the early list is a reminder of how hard it is to build a rotation from the top down. Tarik Skubal sits at the center of the conversation because he is the sort of arm every team would want to chase, but the reality is more complicated than the name alone. Chicagos search has also turned toward a handful of other free-agent and trade possibilities, with each one carrying a different mix of cost, risk and fit.
Freddy Peralta is emerging as the more realistic high-end target for the White Sox, which says plenty about where the clubs search may actually lead. Clay Holmes, meanwhile, still lingers as a name worth watching after past trade chatter, but he looks more like a fallback than a front-line answer. Beyond that, Chicago is sorting through left-handed options such as Foster Griffin and Trevor Rogers, trying to find a path that makes sense without overreaching for the wrong kind of help. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Suddenly Tied To A Pitching Splash Fans Never Expected
Tarik Skubal suddenly has the White Sox in the mix as a possible landing spot, which is not the kind of headline many around the team would have expected not long ago. After years of trying to climb back into relevance, Chicago has shown real progress in recent seasons and is now looking to keep strengthening a pitching rotation that still needs impact help if it is going to take another step.
The intrigue is less about whether Skubal fits on the field and more about whether the White Sox would be willing to push into a bidding war for a pitcher of that stature. Any serious run at him would hinge on ownership approval, and for a club still shaping its next contender, that kind of commitment would say plenty about how far it believes this roster can go. [Read more 🡒]