As the White Sox continue to cast a wide net in free agency to address their starting pitching, some specific targets are starting to be revealed. Chris Getz indicated that the team will “exhaust the market” for starting pitching and that appears to be the case so far. The Score’s Bruce Levine connected Chicago to Japanese righty Kaima Taira earlier this week, and Jesse Rogers of ESPN mentioned some connections between Chicago and Michael King as well as Nick Pivetta. Interestingly, the White Sox were also mentioned as one of a handful of teams in on Brewers right-hander Dustin May, fresh off a World Series championship.
Free agent RHP Dustin May is drawing interest from a broad group of teams that includes the Cubs, White Sox, Padres and Astros, sources say.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 12, 2026
Of note, new Astros GM Randy Flores was in the Cardinals front office when they signed May last offseason.
May, 29, is one of the…
While Chris Getz indicated that the White Sox would target pitchers who would fit at the top or in the middle of their rotation, May would represent a tier below that. Originally a Dodgers prospect, he appeared in games for LA in six different seasons, but never got an opportunity to be a full-time starter given the abundance of arms they had. May’s career-high was 56 innings and he’d missed the entire 2024 season due to injury when the Dodgers finally gave him a chance to start. He’d posted a 4.85 ERA in 104 innings when LA shipped him to the Red Sox at the trade deadline, and May made just five starts down the stretch in Boston.
He signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals last offseason and held a 4.38 ERA in 21 starts, including a complete game shutout against the Padres on June 15th. The Cardinals shipped him to their division-rival Brewers at the deadline, where he posted a 5.65 ERA in ten starts down the stretch and a 5.73 in five playoff outings.
Dustin May took a big step forward in 2026 despite mediocre numbers
The traditional numbers didn’t really show it, but May took a pretty large step forward from 2025 to 2026. His average fastball velocity was 94.8 MPH in 2025 and increased to 96.8 this season. He also saw improvements in his strikeout rate, walk rate, xBA and xERA. He still gave up too much hard contact, and his fastball didn’t play well against left-handed hitters, but he’s just 29 years old and set his career high in innings, so there’s reason to believe May can take another step forward in 2027.
From the White Sox perspective, May could make some sense as a backend depth piece. The team reportedly had interest in him as a reliever last offseason, so it makes sense there’d be renewed interest this year. Should he sign with the White Sox, I wouldn’t expect him to be the main pitching acquisition of the offseason, but rather a veteran option with some upside and recent Postseason experience to throw every fifth day. I do believe the White Sox are targeting a higher tier of pitcher so either slot immediately in front of or behind Sean Burke in their rotation.
With the number of days before the expected lockout dwindling, I expect the dam to break on the starting pitching market to break sooner rather than later. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out for rumors and continue talking about which fits could make sense.
Add us as a preferred source on Google