As Major League Baseball’s playoff field begins to narrow and the league closes in on its latest World Series champion, many front offices are beginning to evaluate and plan for the upcoming offseason. For every team except one, the offseason will bring a question of how to take the next step toward winning a World Series. Several teams that had championship aspirations are on the heels of a major disappointment and will look to find the reason for their shortcomings. For a team like the New York Yankees, who trail 2-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS, and needed a miraculous comeback to survive on Tuesday night, a lot of questions have been raised.
The Yankees roster on paper looks strong, with superstars in just about every position group. Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton lead a group of former MVPs in the batting order. Max Fried and Carlos Rodón are former All-Stars in the rotation, and the Yankees bullpen is loaded with big names like Devin Williams, David Bednar, and Camilo Doval.
The Yankees notably addressed the early season bullpen struggles at the Trade Deadline, acquiring multiple relievers and devoting lots of resources to improving the group. Despite heavily investing in the bullpen, it’s been a major area of concern for the Yankees in the 2025 postseason. In the six games so far against Boston and Toronto, the Yankees bullpen has surrendered 17 runs in 23.2 innings, good for a shockingly high 6.46 ERA. The Yankees bullpen implosion, despite the resources dedicated to the position, should serve as a warning for the White Sox as they take the next step toward contention.
Is spending big on the bullpen the right strategy for White Sox?
For a team like the Yankees, who have seemingly endless financial resources and a solid prospect development system, investing heavily in their bullpen is a luxury they can afford. The White Sox are not known to be big spenders and the player development system is still a work in progress, so using their limited resources on a position as volatile as a reliever may not be the optimal strategy.
Yankees reliever Luke Weaver was one of their more reliable arms in the regular season, with a 3.62 ERA in 64 appearances. In the postseason, however, he’s allowed five earned runs and only gotten one out. The performance of relievers varies so much from year to year, and even from game to game, that very few relievers are worth investing significant money in, or trading significant prospects to acquire.
The White Sox were unfortunately guilty of this during their last rebuild, and it’s a part of the reason the rebuild failed. The White Sox signed both Kendall Graveman and Joe Kelly to significant financial commitments, and neither one really earned the value of the contract. During their AL Central run in 2021, the White Sox traded prospect capital to acquire Craig Kimbrel at the trade deadline, who had a sparkling 0.49 ERA at the time of the trade. Kimbrel struggled down the stretch, though, and his ERA with the White Sox was an unimpressive 5.09. While the White Sox invested in their bullpen on both the free agent and trade markets, they had other holes on the roster that were never filled. Those holes became front and center when the wheels fell off in 2022 and 2023.
Too many teams nowadays are trying to recreate the 2014-2015 Royals World Series runs, which featured one of the most dominant bullpen trios in baseball history. What they don’t seem to remember, however, is that much of that historically dominant Royals bullpen was homegrown or scrap heap talent. As far as the White Sox are concerned, they can look at their own 2025 roster for inspiration. Players like Mike Vasil, Brandon Eisert, and Jordan Leasure on the White Sox current roster have proven that productive relievers can be found through savvy scouting and player development, and outside of an elite established closer, don’t require investing significant resources.
As Chris Getz looks to improve the roster over the next couple seasons, I’d encourage him to look at the 2025 Yankees as an example of the volatility of relievers, and to resist the temptation of spending big on the bullpen. Focusing the resources on the starting rotation or in the lineup will lead to a much more balanced roster, and will greatly improve the chances of sustained success.