With the Winter Meetings coming to an end and the free agent market starting to heat up, the White Sox have been connected to a few players in rumors. Among them, former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks, who has netted 75 saves over the past three seasons. While other markets remain dormant, the market for late-inning relievers has been moving quickly, and recent developments call into question how likely the White Sox are to land their target.
Over the past few weeks, several big-name relievers have agreed to deals. Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams, Raisel Iglesias, Emilio Pagan, Gregory Soto, and Kyle Finnegan have all signed with teams, and all represent players on the free agent market who have closing experience. With teams like the Mets and Blue Jays largely missing on these free agents and still in the market for bullpen help, the likelihood of White Sox landing Fairbanks, one of the few remaining closers on the market, is dwindling.
Fairbanks’ asking price is unclear, but closers of similar caliber have been landing $10-15 million a season on the open market. In a competitive market with contending teams involved, the White Sox are unlikely to be the team to overpay to sign the player and may even have to add extra to convince Fairbanks to come to a rebuilding team. Instead, look for the White Sox to ultimately pivot to a cheaper option, albeit a less-reliable one, and use the money elsewhere.
Would signing Fairbanks be the right move for the White Sox?
It’s fair to wonder whether signing Fairbanks in this market would even be the ideal move for a team with holes all over the field. The White Sox could use multiple outfielders, another starting pitcher, and a left-handed hitting infielder, and financial resources may be limited. A good veteran closer is more of a luxury in baseball than a necessity, and the White Sox have a couple internal options they may be comfortable with for 2026. There are also a few cheaper options still available in free agency with closing experience, like Kenley Jansen, Luke Weaver, Evan Phillips, Kirby Yates, and David Robertson. Chris Getz pushed back on the idea that the White Sox need a proven closer speaking to reporters this week, reinforcing that the team would add to their bullpen but not committing to adding a ninth inning guy.
The conversations about how much money can be spent happen behind closed doors, so White Sox fans are unfortunately not privy to that information. But based on recent trends in the closer market, it would be a surprise to see the team pony up more than ten million a year for a closer. If they did, it would lead to cautious optimism, but also worry about what’s next. Chris Getz has been very careful with his spending so far in his tenure and that’s unlikely to change now. The White Sox will be opportunistic and “aggressive in the right places”, and it’s not yet known specifically what that’ll look like.
White Sox GM Chris Getz on payroll discussions with ownership.
— Kyle W (@K_Williamsmedia) November 12, 2025
"It's still fluid. We're going to be able to add some free agents and identify players that we feel like could help this club. We're going to be aggressive in the right places."
Investing large sums of money into the bullpen is part of what got the White Sox into trouble during the last rebuild, which Chris Getz was there to witness. Let’s hope Getz maintains his patience and doesn’t get stuck in the same pitfalls as his predecessor.