Predicting the initial Chicago White Sox 26-man roster with Opening Day a week away

Opening Day is just a week away.

However, it has been greeted with apathy and general dread on the Southside of Chicago. That is because the Chicago White Sox are expected to lose 100 games for the third straight season.

The only hope is the losing does not reach the historic levels like it did last season.

The White Sox front office did not spend a ton of money this offseason on roster upgrades. However, a lot of players were invited to big-league camp.

Although, most of the non-roster invites and promising prospects are not going to make the initial 26-man roster.

There were plenty of position battles going on such as the fourth and fifth starter in the rotation, bullpen spots, catcher, and starting infielders outside of first base.

A lot of those battles have been settled with only figuring out who will be the starting shortstop left to answer.

In terms of what the first 26-man roster will look like, it could go something like this...

Starting Rotation

Sean Burke, Davis Martin, Martin Perez, and Jonathan Cannon

Note: A fifth starter is not likely needed until mid-April so that is why no fifth starter is listed. It will likely be Shane Smith or Drew Thorpe.

Burke was surprisingly named the Opening Day starter. The hope is despite his inexperience, his stuff that has ace potential allows him to have an All-Star season much like Garrett Crochet had last season.

Otherwise, Martin, Perez, and Cannon were guaranteed rotation spots weeks ago.

The are two rotation decisions left to figure out.

The first is what the rotation order will be after Burke's Opening Day start.

The other is if Smith will get the fifth starter spot over Thorpe once Drew comes off the 15-day IL. Thorpe will start the year on the injured list after a setback from the elbow surgery that ended his 2024 season.

It is nothing major, but it left him a few weeks behind. He could be ready to go by mid-April when the Sox will need a fifth starter.