The White Sox offseason picture here starts with a simple idea: don’t force the answer at starting pitcher. Build a pile of options, shake them loose, and see which arm turns into a real piece. Call it “Starting Pitching Chaos,” the latest version of the “Outfield Chaos” approach that helped uncover an All-Star center fielder and pushed the club toward the postseason.
That plan centers on a cluster of young arms: Hagen Smith, David Sandlin, Noah Schultz, Tanner McDougal, Shane Smith, and others. The goal is not to know the answer today.
It’s to find out quickly who belongs beside Burke in a future rotation. The source lays out the philosophy plainly: throw options at a wall and see what sticks.
The biggest arm on the free-agent board is Brandon Woodruff, listed at two years and $40 million if healthy in year one, with a fallback structure if injury wipes him out again. He is described as the ideal fit for this kind of rotation experiment: a No. 2 starter when right, but coming off three straight years without a healthy season.
Even in a recent inning back from June, the velocity was lighter than hoped. Still, before the injury, he had an ERA below 3 and was striking out more than a batter per inning.
The deal on the table is unusual, but the thinking is that it may be the only way to land two years and $40 million.
Randy Arozarena is the other big swing, projected here at five years and $125 million. The belief is that somebody will pay him for four years, and somebody else will go shorter with big annual money, so winning the bidding war could take a number like this.
He stole more than 20 bags this year, still has the bat speed, and adds home run power to an already strong lineup. The downside is the glove in left field, though the piece notes he would DH some and points out the club already lived with Sammy the Ant in left last season.
It also calls him the big-ticket item of the winter and says the final year or two might not age well, but the bat is worth the gamble.
Two bullpen names follow. Pete Fairbanks is listed at one year and $5 million with incentives after the Sox previously wanted him and got burned in Miami with a 6.31 ERA.
The writeup argues that scouting is sometimes just early, citing Cam Booser and Curtis Mead, and suggests this could be the chance to be a year late instead of a year early. A.J.
Minter is next at two years and $18 million as the left-handed relief answer, and the idea is that he replaces Newcomb, who might prefer to chase starting innings somewhere else. The piece adds that it would also be fine if Newcomb accepted that deal.
On the roster-management side, Vargas is treated as an obvious tender and an extension candidate right now, with the argument that his track record makes him a value play before free agency pushes the price higher. Doyle is another tender, with the note that if you traded for him, you should keep him, and that even with his defense he is worth $3.6 million.
Brazobán gets a stronger defense from the author too, with relievers labeled volatile and the ground-ball profile viewed as worth keeping despite a short sample and possible fatigue. Bart is seen as too expensive without clarity on what he is, Leasure could come back without hurting the 40-man roster, and Murphy is not trusted enough to keep around given the lack of options.
Grichuk and Newcomb are both acknowledged as players the Sox would like to keep, but not at the prices they are expected to command. Grichuk could even become a deadline option later if a need pops up.
Richards, by contrast, is someone the piece would bring back at the league minimum. There are no other impending free agents listed.
There is also a trade proposal built around clearing the logjam created by an Arozarena signing: Andrew Benintendi and cash to the Diamondbacks for Cristofer Torin, Arizona’s 17th-ranked prospect. The reasoning is blunt.
There is no room for Benny, especially after adding Randy, so the task is to find a team that can use him. Arizona is the suggested match because of its 77 WRC+ from the DH spot.
Torin is described as a contact hitter who can handle both middle-infield spots, but with limited power that likely makes him a bench bat long term. The point of the deal is less about Torin than about getting Benintendi off the 26-man roster and shedding whatever money it takes to make it happen.
The suggested lineup against right-handers has Antonacci leading off as the DH, followed by Vargas at third, Murakami at first, Arozarena in left, Teel at catcher, Meidroth at second, Peters in center, B Montgomery in right, and C Montgomery at short. The bench would include Doyle, Quero, Baldwin, and Bergolla Jr.
The rotation picture starts with Burke and then a full-blown fight among Kay, Hagen Smith, Schultz, Martin, Sandlin, McDougal, Castillo, Shane Smith, and Woodruff. The belief is that four pitchers will sort themselves out from that group over the season, and that two more postseason starters should eventually emerge from the chaos.
In the bullpen, Taylor stays there for now, with the explanation that the club does not want to break him down or risk injury before there is a replacement. The relief group also includes Minter, Fairbanks, Hicks, Hudson, Brazoban, Schweitzer, and eventually “The Bat Mike Vasil,” along with whoever loses the starting-pitcher battle.
A few more roster notes round out the plan. Caleb Bonemer is expected to arrive at some point and push out whoever is underperforming.
Colson is projected to bat ninth and be used as a specialist defender until he proves otherwise. The central theme remains the same throughout: test the young starters, avoid blocking progress with too many veteran arms, and figure out who the future postseason pitchers are while there is still room to let them compete.
Extensions are part of the calculus too. Vargas is flagged as a priority because he is only going to get more expensive. Mune is another possible extension candidate if the price is right or if the qualifying offer goes away in the next CBA.
The budget, in the end, is described as uncertain. Too many moving parts remain, from how much Arizona might cover in a Benintendi deal to what any extensions would cost. Still, the idea is that the White Sox could add a lot of free-agent money now and sell it as an investment that rises next year before coming down after Castillo and whatever portion of Benintendi’s contract gets moved off the books.
In Other News...
White Sox Offseason Blueprint Hints At A Much Bigger Reset
The White Sox are heading into the offseason with a roster that already looks like it could use a few more layers of clarification, from arbitration-eligible players to looming free agents and a handful of moving parts left over from recent transactions. The broader picture in the clubs planning is easy enough to see: Chicago is sorting through depth, role fit and a potential lineup structure for next season, while also weighing how aggressive it wants to be as the front office keeps reshaping the roster around a long-term plan.
Recent trades have only added to the sense that this winter could bring more turnover, with the team already pulling in Braxton Ashcraft and sketching out how players like Freddy Peralta and Alec Bohm fit into the larger discussion. The intriguing part for White Sox fans is how much more movement might still be coming, because the current blueprint suggests the organization is still willing to make bigger, harder choices if it means accelerating the reset. [Read more 🡒]
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 🡒]