The White Sox offseason plan starts with the same blunt reality: the lineup looks ready enough, but the pitching staff still needs real work.
The idea here is to let the bats sort themselves out and put the heavy lifting into the rotation and bullpen. Caleb Bonemer, Noah Schultz, and the rest of the incoming or returning position-player group give the roster depth, while the pitching side is where the biggest decisions have to be made.
If a veteran hitter becomes available at the right price, great. But the real priority is building the staff around a legit ace.
That starts with a move that reshapes the whole staff. The plan has Taylor moving into the rotation, with Smith sliding into Taylor’s high-leverage role.
That would set Taylor, Burke, and Martin as the top three starters, leaving two rotation spots to solve. In the bullpen, the setup includes Smith, Hicks, Hudson, and Vasil, with four more spots open for the arms waiting in the wings.
On the arbitration side, a few names stand out as straightforward keeps. Vargas is described as the obvious choice.
Doyle’s glove still matters until someone forces him out. Brazoban and Leasure are cheap enough to be worth the gamble.
Murphy fits that same general category, but his lack of options makes him less appealing. Bart never really got his chance, and there’s uncertainty about whether he offers more than what the team already has behind Teel.
Quero is still a hopeful case, and Romo is viewed as a fine backup.
Among the players nearing free agency, Newcomb is the clearest priority. The suggested deal is 2 years, $16 million, and the assessment is simple: whatever it takes should be done to bring him back.
Grichuk is projected as a useful bench bat on a 1-year, $10 million deal, even if he may not be necessary beyond this season. Fedde is the one who inspires the most hesitation, but the write-up still comes down on keeping him.
He was effective out of the bullpen, handled the flex role well, and at 1 year, $5 million, he’s cheap enough to keep around unless he blocks someone.
The financial picture leaves room to make a big swing. The payroll is a little over $80 million, which leaves about $50 million to spend, and the assumption is that most of it will go toward a high-end starter rather than a long shopping list of additions.
For bullpen help, the targets are Bryan Abreu on a 3-year, $30 million deal with a $12 million mutual option for 2030 and a $3 million buyout, Hoby Milner at 1 year and $3.5 million, and Jordan Romano at 1 year and $1 million. Abreu is the key piece, especially with Taylor moving to the rotation.
Milner is the low-risk swing. Romano is more of a depth add, but the note is that he has had good stretches in his career and is only 33, so he could still fill a useful role.
The biggest move of all is the trade proposal: Caleb Bonemer and Noah Schultz to Tampa Bay for Shane McClanahan. The argument here is that any serious fix for the rotation probably has to begin with Bonemer, because elite starters are scarce and expensive.
McClanahan is nearing his final year of arbitration, and his number already fits the sort of contract Tampa tends to move away from. The White Sox side would then try to extend him immediately, with the suggested range landing around 5 years and $120 million.
The rationale is straightforward: the Sox need an ace, and McClanahan would allow Burke and Taylor to settle into the next two spots.
With that in place, the projected roster comes into focus. Teel at catcher.
Murakami at first. Meidroth at second.
Montgomery at short. Vargas at third.
Montgomery in right. Peters or Doyle in center.
Antonacci in left. Benintendi or Grichuk at DH.
Acuna and a backup catcher on the bench. The rotation would run McClanahan, Taylor, Burke, Martin, and Sandlin or whoever wins the last spot.
The bullpen would be Smith, Abreu, Newcomb, Hicks, Hudson, Vasil, Fedde, and Schweitzer.
That version of the roster pushes payroll to about $120 million after the McClanahan extension and the free-agent signings. From there, the idea is to try to extend Murakami for 4 years and $100 million, which would take the total to $128 million.
The longer-term hope is that Cholowsky is ready by the end of the year and starts reshaping the roster alignment, which could make Benintendi and Grichuk unnecessary next season. Baldwin might eventually take Acuna’s spot too, but for now the plan is built around this year’s group, with any returning injured player needing to win a place back.
In Other News...
Colson Montgomery Gave The White Sox Hope And One Huge Concern
Colson Montgomerys 2026 season gave the White Sox plenty to build on at shortstop. He played in 153 games, led American League shortstops with 31 home runs and 87 RBIs, and finished with a 2.8 WAR, the kind of everyday production Chicago has been waiting for from the position. Even with the offensive value, his defensive metrics stayed strong enough to suggest theres a real long-term piece here, not just a power surge.
The concern, though, is how narrow the path to that production appears to be. Montgomerys contact quality dipped from his 2025 debut, his chase rate climbed, and the swing-and-miss issues were impossible to ignore over the course of the year. The White Sox can live with some strikeouts from a power-hitting shortstop, but if the swing decisions and fastball handling do not improve, the ceiling comes with a fairly obvious catch. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Bonemer Is Giving White Sox Fans A Prospect To Watch
Caleb Bonemer has been one of the more eye-catching White Sox prospects in the Arizona Fall League, where his tools have shown up in a way that gives the organization something tangible to point to this fall. He has been standing out with his blend of raw power and speed, the sort of athletic package that tends to get noticed quickly when prospects are trying to make their case in a showcase setting.
Bonemer also turned in a big game for Glendale, adding extra-base hits in a convincing win over Mesa and reinforcing why he has become a name to keep circling on the White Sox prospect map. Within the organization, some in player development are even looking at his frame and athleticism and seeing a familiar kind of upside, which only adds to the intrigue as he continues to build momentum in front of evaluators. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Bonemer Is Giving White Sox Fans Something To Watch Closely
Several White Sox prospects have spent the fall in the Arizona Fall League, giving the organization another look at how its young players stack up against advanced competition. Caleb Bonemer has been one of the names worth following there, joining Colby Shelton, Anthony DePino, Pierce George and Mathias LaCombe on a Glendale Desert Dogs roster that has not found much traction in the standings.
The Desert Dogs have the leagues worst record and are unlikely to push into the playoffs, which has shifted the focus even more toward individual development than results. For Chicago, that makes Bonemers showing especially notable, since he has handled the assignment well while the rest of the group has produced a mixed bag, with some players getting more out of the experience than others. [Read more 🡒]