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.
Venable on the 2-3-4 in the starting rotation behind Burke: "Part of it is continuing to figure out where we are at and just strategically we probably aren’t going to announce that until we get closer."
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) March 17, 2025
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.
Bullpen
Justin Anderson, Tyler Gilbert, Mike Clevinger, Bryse Wilson, Cam Booser, Penn Murfee, Shane Smith, and Gus Varland
Manager Will Venable is not ready to officially name a closer despite Mike Clevinger talking like he will take the ball in the ninth. Despite his character flaws and injury history, Clevinger has pitched well enough this spring to earn a roster spot to see what he can do in a high-leverage situation.
Smith is here only as a placeholder until Venable figures out who will be the fifth starter. Smith must stay on the roster since he was the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft. Therefore, coming out of the bullpen in long relief to stay stretched out is where he should start the season.
Otherwise, expect the White Sox to go with the veteran bullpen arms with the hope they are effective enough to be flipped by the trade deadline.
Fraser Ellard and Jordan Leasure could make better cases to be on the Opening Day roster than Gus Varland and Tyler Gilbert. Varland has had a shaky spring and Gilbert has been up-and-down too. However, Varland showed promise as a high-leverage reliever during his cameo last season.
Gilbert does have a minor-league option left but he can fill a swing role from the left side much like Wilson can from the right.
Therefore, with Ellard and Leasure still having minor-league options, it makes sense to stash them in Charlotte and bring them up if one of these pitchers struggles out of the gate or after the trade deadline when hopefully someone like Murfee is good enough to be dealt.
Catcher
Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss
Top catching prospects Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero will eventually take this position over at some point this season. However, they have been sent down to minor-league camp to get some development at-bats. Preferably Teel also gets some reps in the outfield and Quero gets some work at first base and DH.
The team will want both of their bats in the lineup every day so other positional work is needed to accommodate that. Better to do that at Triple-A.
Until then, Lee and Thaiss can man this position professionally. There is an outside chance veteran Omar Narváez still beats out Thaiss based on his prior work with bench coach and catching guru Walker McKinven.
However, Thaiss is having the better spring and can be a left-handed bat off the bench.
Infield
Andrew Vaughn, Brandon Drury, Josh Rojas, Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, and Jacob Amaya
The starting shortstop position battle seemed skewed for prospect Colson Montgomery to win the job. A back injury set him back and he has been sent down to minor-league camp to ramp himself up with the hope he can take over the job at some point during the season.
That leaves fellow prospect Chase Meidroth with an opening to make the roster, especially with veteran Josh Rojas battling a fracture in his big toe. However, it is believed to be a pain tolerance issue for Rojas. He reportedly had a good day yesterday in his rehab and the team is hopeful he will avoid an IL stint.
Spoke with Josh Rojas this morning. He says his injured big toe is doing better, trending in the right direction. He hopes to be back on the field in the next few days.
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) March 19, 2025
Meidroth could still make the Opening Day roster in a utility role.
However, if the Sox go with a Rojas and Sosa rotation at short, keeping Amaya's glove on the bench as a late-inning sub is probably the better idea. Rojas can field second and third great but has struggled at short. Sosa's defense is terrible period. Amaya cannot hit worth a lick, but he can field the ball rather well.
Drury has hit the cover off the ball to earn a roster spot and he can split the starting second base duties on the days Sosa is playing short.
Outfield
Michael A. Taylor, Luis Robert Jr, Mike Tauchman, Travis Jankowski, and Austin Slater
This is the first time on this site that it is being projected Robert Jr. will be on the team. The front office would love to trade the former All-Star centerfielder before Opening Day. There just does not seem to be a trade partner at this point.
The hope is he stays healthy and rebuild his value back to 2023 levels and gets traded for a haul of prospects by the deadline.
Jankowski was added recently after not making the Chicago Cubs. Do not be worried, the Cubs outfield is stacked. He provides great defense off the bench. He also hits left-handed however his bat does not provide much power.
Taylor is an elite defender who strikes out way too much. However, having him rotate in left with Jankowski and Slater is much better than trying to watch Andrew Benintendi attempt to catch flyballs and rainbow the baseball to home with his weak arm.
Slater was trending toward a 10-day IL stint to start the season with an oblique injury, but he has returned to the field recently. The idea is he platoons in right with Tauchman.
Designated Hitter
Andrew Benintendi
Benintendi was also trending toward an IL stint with a broken hand. However, he is a quick healer and returned to the lineup yesterday.
If he can swing the bat, the Sox have no choice but to have him on the Opening Day roster.
However, there is no need to add any potential stress on his hand that recently healed by asking him to throw, especially with much better fielding options as described above.
Benintendi being the DH does mean prospect Bryan Ramos would start at Triple-A.
An elbow injury has made throwing nearly impossible for him, but he has been able to swing the bat. He still could technically make the roster if the front office decides to carry just five outfielders with Benintendi being included in that group.
Starting the season on the injured list to create roster space on the 40-man roster for Drury and Clevinger
- Drew Thorpe (15-day IL)
- Prelander Berroa and Juan Carela (60-day IL after needing Tommy John surgery)