Cubs recent big moves provide a blueprint for the White Sox future approach

It was quite the weekend for sports in the city of Chicago. The Bears, against all odds, made a historic comeback to beat the Packers in the NFL playoffs. Somewhat lost in the middle of the football chaos, the Chicago Cubs made a big splash on the free-agent market, landing star third-baseman Alex Bregman on a five-year deal. It was a slow start to the offseason for the Cubs, but it’s their second big move of the week after they landed Marlins righty Edward Cabrera in a trade. Although the White Sox and their fans won’t be particularly happy about the Cubs big moves, the Sox may find themselves in a similar spot soon, and can use the Cubs offseason as a blueprint for future additions. 

The Cubs entered the offseason after a disappointing postseason exit with clear needs at third base, the starting rotation, and the bullpen. Now in January, they’ve addressed all three needs, landing a big star at one position and intriguing upside at the others. To make things better, Bregman’s contract contains a significant amount of deferred money, relieving the Cubs of some of the financial burden now. The Cubs will head into the season as one of the premiere teams in the National League on paper, and they certainly have World Series expectations for the upcoming year. 

The White Sox are a couple years away from serious aspirations of competing for a championship, but the Cubs have shown them the type of roster they should aspire to build when the time comes. The Cubs have a healthy mix of homegrown players and outside acquisitions. In players like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, Justin Steele, and others, the Cubs have a really solid group of players they’ve developed, and in the case of most of them, drafted. They’ve supplemented it with the signings of Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga from the Pacific Rim and Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman, Jameson Taillon in free agency, among others. 

The White Sox should look at the Cubs model to redeem past mistakes

One of the mistakes that the White Sox made during their last rebuild was relying too much on homegrown talent and spending in the wrong areas. The Sox invested significantly in their bullpen, leaving them short on financial resources to address other positions. Many of the homegrown players the White Sox felt would be franchise cornerstones never reached their potential, and the team didn’t add significant enough free agents to make up for it.  The Cubs invested modestly in the bullpen and focused on impact position players with the majority of their spending. Despite having a promising prospect at the position in Matt Shaw, the Cubs felt the production at the position wasn't good enough and made a big move to address it. This is the polar opposite of the White Sox strategy during the last rebuild, which seemingly awarded starting jobs to prospects based on pedigree rather than merit.

As the White Sox reach a turning point in their rebuild, they can’t make the same mistakes they made last time around. The financial resources need to be available to address some areas, but they also need to develop genuinely good players from within. A return to relevance in the Japanese free agent market is definitely a step in the right direction. Developing star players at key positions is important, but being willing to spend at positions of need, whether it’s with money or prospect capital, is equally important.

2026 will be a critical year for the White Sox rebuild. The team is looking to take a step forward on the field, but it’ll go beyond the win-loss record. Chris Getz and the White Sox front office should be evaluating every player that takes the field in 2026 to determine whether or not they have a role on a competitive ballclub. Identify those positions without a clear answer and plan to spend to address them. 

As the club approaches its competitive window, it’s time for the White Sox to put their money where their mouth is and build the sustained, well-balanced juggernaut they’ve promised. And they can look no further than their crosstown rivals for inspiration.