PHOENIX — With one week to go until opening day, the Chicago White Sox roster remains in flux.
Several jobs are open for position players, the bullpen and even the back end of the rotation. Could the Sox break camp and head back to Chicago without knowing the answers to all of these questions?
“I’m not exactly sure,” first-year manager Will Venable said Wednesday morning at Sox camp in Glendale, Ariz. “Whenever we get it figured out, we’ll announce it.”
Spoken like a veteran Sox manager — or maybe even Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who often told Sox and Bulls writers, “When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it.”
So could it go until the final day of camp Monday?
“Potentially,” Venable said. “We’ll keep you wondering and guessing for a while.”
The anxiety level among the few media members on hand was not palpable, and no one seemed too worried in the Sox clubhouse, even the players on minor-league deals.
The Sox are at a stage in the rebuild where it really doesn’t matter who will be on the opening-day roster. Many players will be up and down in 2025, so whether they’re in the pregame parade of cars and trucks on the warning track for the first game March 27 isn’t likely to alter anyone’s career path.
Some things we do know. Luis Robert Jr. will be the opening-day center fielder, assuming he isn’t traded. Sean Burke was announced as the opening-day starter. Martín Pérez and Davis Martin also will be in the rotation, Korey Lee will be one of the two catchers and Miguel Vargas will start at third base.
Based on spring performance, 32-year-old Brandon Drury, who signed a minor-league deal, should win an infield job after leading the team with 11 RBIs and hitting three home runs. Chase Meidroth looks like the shortstop, though mostly because of Josh Rojas’ fractured right big toe and Colson Montgomery’s failed audition.
Outfielders Andrew Benintendi (hand) and Austin Slater (oblique) made their spring debuts Wednesday in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix, with Benintendi going 0-for-4 as the designated hitter and Slater 0-for-3 in right field. While it doesn’t seem possible for either veteran to get enough at-bats in the final week to be ready for opening day, Venable suggested “B” games, in which players can bat as often as needed, might mitigate the lack of playing time.
“Still a good opportunity to build some volume and get them up to speed,” he said.
Travis Jankowski, signed a week ago to a minor-league deal after the Cubs let him go, remains a possibility, especially if Benintendi and Slater aren’t ready.
“Will was pretty transparent,” Jankowski said of Venable, who was his bench coach in Texas. “He said: ‘We’ve got five guys with contracts in the outfield. If you come in here and perform and a couple guys go down, you’re there.’ In my shoes, that’s the only thing I need.
“I’ve gotten so much bad news in this game. Bad news doesn’t deter me. What upsets me is when you get led on: ‘Hey, we’ve got a spot here for you.’ And then you come to camp and there’s no spot. I thanked Will and (general manager Chris Getz) for the transparency. Most of us on minor-league deals can take bad news. It’s transparency you need.”
Shane Smith, a Rule 5 pick from the Brewers, struck out Christian Yelich on a 98 mph fastball in the first inning Wednesday and pitched four scoreless innings in his fourth start. Earlier this spring he struck out Shohei Ohtani twice in two at-bats during three scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Robert saved Smith on Wednesday with a great running catch of Garrett Mitchell’s shot to the wall in a shaky fourth, when Smith escaped a bases-loaded jam. But he looks like a keeper.
“It would mean a whole lot more than I can say right now,” Smith said of making the roster. “Whatever decision they make, I can live with. I think I put my best foot forward this spring.”
Getz and Venable must decide whether Jonathan Cannon’s poor spring (10.32 ERA in four starts) is an anomaly. Cannon was penciled in for a rotation spot coming into camp based on last year’s success as a rookie.
“We’re all close friends, the guys who’ve been here the past year or two. We hang out off the field,” Burke said of the potential rotation. “Even Martín (Pérez) is new this year, and I feel like he’s assimilated really well. He’s someone we’re going to look to to be the leader of our staff. I think we’re going to surprise people this year with how good we are.”
Former starter Mike Clevinger, also on a minor-league deal, pitched his fourth straight inning of scoreless relief Wednesday, striking out two in his bid to return as a closer after a herniated disc limited him to 16 innings in 2024. Doctors told him the herniated disc likely led to other injuries over the years.
“I felt good in the (previous) offseason but wasn’t moving around or getting around in the season, so I knew something was wrong,” he said. “I couldn’t really sleep. The arm checked out fine, and that’s when we started looking at the spine. … The nerve path where the disc sits goes all the way down, shutting down my forearm muscles. Addressing that changed everything for me.”
How do the Sox evaluate a closer in exhibition games?
“We’re really just trying to evaluate if he’s somebody we can utilize in a bullpen role, and if we decide that’s the case, what type of leverage (role),” Venable said. “With Clev, it’s just challenging him in this new role and see how he responds to shorter stints and more frequent appearances and making sure he comes out of it healthy. He’s done a great job so far.”
Clevinger has talked to fellow Sox pitchers about the challenges of transitioning from starter to reliever.
“I think he has the right mindset,” Martin said. “It’s different. His whole career he’s been a starter, and there’s a certain routine to that. His service time speaks for itself, how well he’s done in the big leagues as a starter. To overhaul that routine is difficult, but I think he’s up for the task.”
Whether the Sox need a closer on a team expected to lose 100-plus games again is the real question. Venable projects optimism heading into the last week of camp.
“Without being here every day last year, what it looks like relative to last year, it’s hard to say,” he said, adding that he talks to players about the team’s “high expectations for competing and effort in the field.”
“Those are the things we’re going to be working on and kind of using as our north star,” he said.
Competing and effort should be expected from every major-leaguer.
It’s the winning part Sox fans are waiting to see.
