With the Milwaukee Brewers completing the sweep of the Dodgers Thursday night to advance to the World Series, only three teams are still playing baseball. For the other 27, the focus has shifted to the upcoming offseason, which is clouded by a lockout coming in December. Before the lockout begins, however, are a few deadlines, one of which requires teams to offer a qualifying offer to their eligible players or choose to let them walk just five days after the conclusion of the World Series. While the White Sox don’t have any players who will receive the qualifying offer, the decisions from other teams will still affect their free agent pursuits.
In order to be eligible for a qualifying offer, a player must have played the entire previous season with one team, and they can’t have ever received one before. Not every player who is eligible will receive one, so teams will have to decide based on the expected market. For the 2026-2027 offseason, the qualifying offer will be a one-year, $23.15 million offer. Players who receive it will have until November 18th to either accept or reject the offer, and teams will be given draft pick compensation if a player who declined their qualifying offer signs elsewhere. For the White Sox, adding a QO-attached player would cost their second-highest pick in the 2027 draft, which isn’t going to be as high of a pick as it’s been in the past, but may be enough of a deterrent to prevent a pursuit.
Since the qualifying offer was first introduced following the 2012 season, the White Sox have signed just two players with the QO attached. The team signed closer David Robertson to a four-year, $46 million deal after he turned down a QO from the Yankees, forfeiting their second-round pick in 2015. That same offseason, they signed outfielder Melky Cabrera to a three-year, $42 million contract away from the Blue Jays, forfeiting their third round pick as well. They haven’t signed anyone in that category since.
Some possible White Sox targets will likely receive the qualifying offer
New York Post’s Jon Heyman provided some insight this week on which players are likely to receive a qualifying offer this offseason, and a couple possible White Sox targets are among them.
Players expected to receive qualifying offer, per @JonHeyman:
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) October 15, 2026
David Bednar
Randy Arozarena
Seiya Suzuki
Brandon Lowe
Trevor Rogers
Ryan Jeffers, Adrián Morejón likely to receive qualifying offer; Jazz Chisholm Jr. unlikely to receive qualifying offer. pic.twitter.com/ud3kXm0Q6D
Among the notable points for the White Sox on this list: Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki, who would both be excellent fits in the White Sox outfield, and Trevor Rogers, who would be one of the higher-upside rotation options. It’s unclear whether any of those players would accept a qualifying offer, but it could impede a team like the White Sox, who have valued draft picks in recent years, from seriously pursuing them.
It’s also worth mentioning that the qualifying offer system is a topic of discussion as we enter the likely lockout. Teams may be hesitant to sign QO players early because there’s a chance the system is no longer in place moving forward. It would be difficult to implement those changes this offseason, so that’s likely something that would begin next year, but it’s not an insignificant factor.
It’s unclear to what extent the White Sox plan to spend this offseason to improve the roster, but the outfield and rotation seem to be areas of focus when they do. Whether the White Sox are willing to spend to significantly improve the team or continue to make marginal upgrades and rely on player development could be the determining factor of whether this run is sustainable, and it starts this offseason.
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