All things considered, the Chicago White Sox accomplished a lot in 2025. Going 60-102 and finishing in the AL Central cellar certainly won't feel like a victory for fans, but that record is a remarkable 19-game improvement over 2024's historically putrid debacle.
Of course, there was nowhere to go but up from 2024's showing, and the magnitude of improvement was great, even if much more is needed to get the White Sox back on track. As a bonus, the Colorado Rockies have already challenged the 2024 version of the White Sox for the title of most inept, coming close to breaking the record just one year later.
The developments on the pitching side of things, where the Sox saw a lot of growth and promise from youngsters like Shane Smith, Sean Burke, and others, were encouraging, but fans would feel a lot better if the team had made better use of their veteran assets.
The Chicago White Sox need to learn how to better manage their veteran assets, like Luis Robert Jr. and others
Chicago had a quiet trade deadline, hanging on to the likes of Mike Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi, and only moving Adrian Houser and Austin Slater. Guys like Tauchman and Benintendi likely would've offered Chicago more in terms of what they could've brought back, but young clubs need veteran leaders, and the pair are still under contract for 2026, giving Chris Getz future opportunities to convert them into young assets. Still, role players like those veteran outfielders won't fetch much. The real blunder was passing on multiple opportunities to trade Luis Robert Jr., dating back to last offseason.
Even with his poor showing in 2024, the White Sox could've received a haul for him last offseason, thanks to a weak center field free-agent market, his past track record and pedigree, and a bargain contract. Chris Getz didn't want just the moon for Robert Jr.; however, he wanted all of the stars as well, so Robert Jr. stayed put. Though his seemingly endless slump also wiped out any notion that he was a productive player in the first half, his scorching July reignited interest at the deadline, but again, Getz stayed put.
Now the White Sox general manager faces a dilemma. Luis Robert's affordable $8.3 million salary will spike to $20 million in 2026. It's a hefty price for a player who's nothing more than a question mark. But declining the option and watching his most talented player walk away for nothing was never going to be on the table. The choice was simple. Getz had to pick up the option, but the damage has already been done. Now he'll deal with Robert Jr.'s value being significantly reduced. Not only is he now more expensive, but he suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in August, further augmenting his lengthy injury history.
Getz could still trade him this offseason after picking up his option, but he'll likely want to hold and hope he recoups some value by the 2026 trade deadline. If the 28-year-old doesn't, the club will be staring down a repeat of 2025 in asking themselves whether they should re-up for another year at $20 million or cut bait with nothing to show for a once highly regarded asset.
The White Sox almost certainly will screw this up again, and seem hell bent on paying the maximum amount possible to Robert Jr. while getting very little that actually helps the club in either the short or long term from him. All we can do is hope Getz has a change of heart, but the way things have gone so far, this is a mistake that seems doomed to repeat itself.