Less than a week ago, the primary issue with the White Sox outfield mix wasn’t the lack of depth, it was too many options and not enough spots. With Sam Antonacci, Tristan Peters, Braden Montgomery, Randal Grichuk, and Everson Pereira on the roster and mostly productive, the future for rehabbing outfielder Austin Hays was unclear. In addition, the team had Nolan Jones in Charlotte as an option with successful big league experience in the event of an injury. Just a few days later, the group looks completely different. Nolan Jones was dealt to Seattle as part of the Luis Castillo trade, and both Austin Hays and Everson Pereira have been designated for assignment following the addition of Brenton Doyle on Monday.
Prior to tonight’s game at Boston, the Chicago White Sox returned outfielder Austin Hays from his injury rehabilitation assignment at Class AAA Charlotte, reinstated him from the 60-day injured list and designated him for assignment.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 5, 2026
While I don’t mind taking a flyer on Doyle in a vacuum, the process surrounding it and the corresponding moves raised my eyebrow. After his four-RBI game on Sunday, the White Sox made the surprising decision to designate Everson Pereira for assignment to make room on the roster for Doyle. Just two days later, Austin Hays was also DFA’d, leaving the White Sox with an outfield group of Grichuk, Antonacci, Peters, Montgomery, and Doyle moving forward.
The Austin Hays move is fine on its own. In fact, it was the expected move given the performance of Grichuk early this season. There’s an argument to be made for sending Doyle, who has minor league options, down until he shows meaningful improvement at the plate. But keeping Hays over Doyle would’ve required them to either start Peters in center field against left-handers (.347 OPS vs. lefties this season), or slide Braden Montgomery over to center. Montgomery played center in the minor leagues and could theoretically be given a shot there, but he’s graded excellently in right field so far, so the White Sox may not have wanted to mess with it. The real issue, in my opinion, was the handling of the roster on Monday.
The White Sox roster management shows their conviction about Brenton Doyle
Since he’s on the 60-day IL, simply designating Hays for assignment wouldn’t have cleared the roster spot they needed to add Doyle. But the White Sox still have some trimmable pieces on the 40-man. DFA’ing Junior Perez, for example, optioning Doyle to Triple-A until he proves something, and continuing to field Everson Pereira against lefties for now, would’ve allowed them to continue working with a 25-year-old former top prospect and keep Doyle as an option. Pereira has done a fine job in center and has a respectable .722 OPS despite multiple injuries. Now, another team will have the opportunity to add him, and it seems like a no-brainer for a rebuilding team to take a flyer.
With Pereira and Hays now out of the organization, it makes me wonder what the plan is should any outfield injuries arise. The only other outfielders on the 40-man roster are Rikuu Nishida and Junior Perez, both of whom got a cup of coffee in the big leagues and did not produce well. The White Sox are currently one outfield injury away from one of them gaining a significant role on a team hoping to reach the postseason. It illustrates to me the conviction the White Sox front office must’ve felt about their ability to fix Brenton Doyle. It wasn’t only Mason Adams and Carlos Vielma they gave up to get Doyle: it was Everson Pereira, Austin Hays, and any semblance of competent outfield depth as well. That’s a pretty hefty price to pay, and it’s a gamble they’d better hope pays off.
Just as they did with Curtis Mead, Jacob Gonzalez, Derek Hill, and Ben Peoples, the White Sox chose to rid themselves of any useful depth to try to cash in on long term assets. Only this time, they brought in a player who’s three-years older, hasn’t ever had an above-average offensive season, and doesn’t have the prospect pedigree of the guy they gave up. It’s hard for me to see at this point how having Brenton Doyle on the roster will win the White Sox more games in 2026, or even moving forward, but what do I know? I’m just a writer and an observer.
Chris Getz and the front office deserve a lot of credit for the position they’ve put the White Sox in this season. Not many people expected the team to be in first place on August 6th, but here they are. With 49 games to go in the regular season, White Sox fans will need to hope the injury bug stays away from the outfield, or it could end up being an ugly end to a surprisingly fun season.
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