Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz has had mixed success with the moves he has made so far in his young career as an executive.
A big reason for the hope on the South Side right now is all of the big wins by Getz in free agency, the trade market, and the Rule 5 Draft.
The good moves by Chris Getz
The Garrett Crochet trade has worked out well for the White Sox. While Getz had to trade an ace pitcher worthy of winning a Cy Young, he got four promising young players in return - catcher Kyle Teel, infielder Chase Meidroth, outfielder Braden Montgomery, and pitcher Wikelman González.
Teel and Meidroth have become key components in the big league lineup. González is also in MLB and has the stuff to be an effective high-leverage reliever that the bullpen desperately needs. Montgomery is in Double-A, but considered the team's top prospect per MLB Pipeline.
The offseason additions he made to the outfield have also been fruitful. Mike Tauchman has been a solid professional bat at the top of the order with an OPS near .800. Michael A. Taylor has been a good defensive outfielder and is providing some decent slug with a slugging percentage over. 400. Austin Slater produced a .813 OPS against left-handed pitching.
Getz was then able to leverage Slater's production into a trade deadline deal with the New York Yankees that brought the Sox back a quality pitching prospect in Gage Ziehl.
Adding pitcher Adrian Houser early in May was a great in-season signing. He had a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts with the White Sox before Getz was able to deal him at the deadline to the Tampa Bay Rays for former top 100 prospect Curtis Mead and two pitching prospects. If Mead can develop into a solid hitting first or third baseman, then Getz will have taken 11 starts by Houser and turned that into a core player.
Pitcher Shane Smith might be the greatest Rule 5 pick ever made by the organization. Getz took him with the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft, and Smith has become an All-Star during his rookie season.
Getz has had some big misses
Not everything Getz has done has been great. In fact, he has his fair share of huge misses. This is the same general manager that constructed a roster that lost a record 121 games last season.
Trading first baseman Andrew Vaughn to Milwaukee for pitcher Aaron Civale looks worse with every home run Vaughn hits for the Brewers. He has become a folk hero in the Brew City, while Civale's ERA keeps ballooning with every start.
Getz also made four offseason moves that went horribly wrong.
1. Josh Rojas' gamble did not pay off
The logic to bring in Josh Rojas on a one-year, $3.5 million contract was sound. He was supposed to provide some veteran cover at third base in case Miguel Vargas continued to struggle. He could also play second base to give Meidroth some time to develop in the minors.
The hope was that Rojas would be a stable bat in the lineup so that he could be flipped at the trade deadline for a promising prospect.
That plan fell apart when Rojas suffered an injury to his big toe toward the end of Spring Training. He could never get going at the plate once he rejoined the lineup after coming off the IL.
Rojas hit .180 with a .512 OPS in 69 games played. His defense was even worse, with -8 defensive runs saved at third base and -2 DRS at second base this season. That was a far cry from the 7 DRS at third and 2 DRS at second base he had last season for the Seattle Mariners.
He was eventually designated for assignment and released by the White Sox.
2. Bryse Wilson was ineffective as a swing pitcher
Bryse Wilson was signed to a one-year, $1.05 million deal with the hope of him repeating the solid production he had with Milwaukee in a swing role. He had a 4.04 ERA for the Brewers in 2024.
Getz should have paid attention to Wilson's 5.09 FIP and 5.36 expected ERA in 2024 and saved himself the time of seeing if Wilson could be better.
Wilson was terrible as a starter with a 6.23 ERA and even worse as a reliever with a 7.61 ERA.
An overall 6.95 ERA with a 6.47 FIP and a 1.90 WHIP got him designated for assignment in June. He is now pitching for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.
3. Converting Mike Clevinger to a reliever was a bad idea
Bringing back Mike Clevinger was a bad idea, given his injury history and off-the-field problems. Getz brought Clevinger back for a third season with the idea of making him into a high-leverage reliever.
Clevinger was coming off a disc surgery in his neck and was being asked to throw harder. That had disaster written all over it.
Clevinger pitched 5.2 innings at the start of the season and struggled to throw strikes. Clevinger posted a 7.94 ERA and a 2.29 WHIP. Opponents had a .500 batting average off him with a 1.250 OPS in high-leverage situations.
The club eventually pulled the plug on the reliever experiment, and Clevinger was sent to Triple-A Charlotte after clearing waivers to go back to being a starter. He has not returned to MLB since.
4. The veteran non-roster invites flopped, except Dan Altavilla
Getz did not have a lot of money to work with this past offseason. He had to figuratively shop in the bargain bin during free agency. That meant using non-roster invites to see if some former highly regarded players could still be something in the big leagues.
Reliever Dan Altavilla is the only player from that group who has made a meaningful contribution to the White Sox, although he was almost not afforded the opportunity. The White Sox let Altavilla out of his minor league deal midway through this season and only brought him back on an MLB deal after an injury to Miguel Castro opened up a bullpen spot.
I'll admit I was wrong in thinking it was a bad idea to bring back Altavilla. He has produced a 2.36 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP in 25 games before going on the 15-day IL.
Otherwise, no one else who was a non-roster invite during Spring Training made a difference when given a shot to make an MLB contribution.
Nick Maton hit .167 in 25 games. Bobby Dalbec hit .222 in seven games. Travis Jankowski lasted seven games, too, where he hit .214. Tristan Gray was briefly on the 26-man roster, but never got into a game.
Pitchers Justin Dunn and James Karinchak were never even given 26-man roster consideration and were eventually released from their minor league deals.
The White Sox are an organization that needs to be able to find some discarded gems during this rebuild phase, just like the Athletics found Brent Rooker. That's not an area Getz has had success.