Coming off a 102-loss season, the Sox have holes to fill this offseason.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
LAS VEGAS — The big question hovering over the White Sox is when competitive baseball will return to the South Side.
The Sox are coming off their third consecutive 100-loss season, but because of the ascension of young players such as Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel and Shane Smith, the team showed more fight in the second half of the 2025 season.
“I do think that we’re going to be more competitive than we have been the last two years,” White Sox general manager Getz said Wednesday at the general managers meetings.
Granted, the bar is low in that regard. The Sox had 19 more wins in 2025 than they did in 2024 and still lost 100 games. Any optimism that exists for the club can be found in Montgomery’s power surge to end the season, Teel’s impressive bat-to-ball skills and the rapid ascent of Smith into becoming an All-Star.
Adding to that group and accentuating their skills should be a priority for the Sox this offseason because relying solely on youth is a risky proposition. Getz said the team’s internal projections forecast a rosier outlook for next season — just based on what the Sox currently have — but he understands the uncertainty in trusting numbers.
“With that being said, those are just projections, and there’s volatility in that,” Getz said. “So we want to stack as many players that can go out there and help us win more games.”
The Sox have needs to fill, including acquiring a left-handed bat to balance out the lineup, filling out the rotation, and improving both corner outfield positions.
But will Getz have the payroll flexibility to operate in free agency?
“It’s still fluid,” Getz said of discussions with ownership on increasing payroll. “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.
“We do feel like we’ve got some younger players that are going to continue to push. With that being said, we know that we’re going to need to make some additions as well.”
If the Sox do make a move, it won’t likely be at the top of the market given the state of the franchise, but Getz said that won’t preclude the franchise from being “aggressive in other areas of the free agent market.”
Fangraphs projects the Sox to have close to $67 million in committed payroll for next season. The Sox only have two big salaries on their roster in Andrew Benintendi’s $17.1 million contract for next season and Luis Robert Jr. ‘s $20 million contract for next season.
With payroll flexibility and open opportunities at positions, the Sox have the chance in front of them to take that next step and field a competitive team from the start of the season.
But how urgent the organization will be in offseason activity is still to be determined. Getz said that it would be wise to “wait and see how things play out.”
Getz has handed out only one multi-year contract during his Sox tenure, a two-year, $15 million deal to starter Erick Fedde, but said he’s open to handing out a multi-year deal if it’s right for the organization. Given the signs of life toward the end of the season, it’s a must that the Sox be active on the trade market and free agency to make significant strides in his third full season in charge of baseball operations.
“We want to be better next year, and so we’re going to look at different ways of adding talent to this group,” Getz said.
