Today marked the deadline to add prospects to the 40-man roster and protect them from the Rule 5 draft, and the White Sox made the two most obvious calls by selecting Bryan Ramos and José Rodríguez, and nobody else.
James Fox listed Ramos and Rodríguez as his only two players likely to be added in his 40-man roster review last week, and for good reason. Ramos and Rodríguez have offered exceptional production for their ages at their levels. Ramos reached Double-A at the end of last season after hitting .275/.350/.471 over 99 games for Winston-Salem, and he doesn't turn 21 until March.
Rodríguez, 21, finally struggled for the first time in his pro career over the first half of last season, but he exploded over his last 54 games, hitting .333/.399/.544 with 12 doubles, three triples, 10 homers, and 28 stolen bases. That stretch included six homers in his final eight games of the season before a broken hamate ended his season on Aug. 20. He's surfaced in winter ball, so he's already on the comeback trail.
The White Sox left a few mildly interesting players available for the Rule 5 draft, although the players who might be rosterable don't have much upside (Yolbert Sánchez), while the players with some upside (Luis Mieses) have considerable holes in their games to fill. There are a few decent arms as well, but unless somebody like Caleb Freeman or Luke Shilling can be stashed on the injured list for half the season, there aren't any obvious candidates for poaching.
The White Sox roster now stands at 38, so they have room for immediate additions if some hands are forced before the 5 p.m. CT deadline.
Meanwhile, Baseball America released the official list of minor leaguers who declared free agency last Friday:
RHP: Angel Acevedo, Scott Blewett, Tyler Johnson, Jhan Marinez, Alejandro Mateo, Felix Paulino, Felipe Tejeda, Emilio Vargas, Dan Winkler, Mike Wright
LHP: Luis Amaya, Skyler Arias, Yoan Aybar, Garrett Davila, Kyle Kubat, Luis Moncada, Zack Muckenhirn, Anderson Severino,
C: Nick Ciuffo, Xavier Fernandez
IF: Harvin Mendoza, Franklin Reyes, Zach Remillard
OF: Micker Adolfo, Blake Rutherford
The White Sox will probably re-sign some of these players, so it's a little premature to start writing obituaries for some longtime farmhands, but it offers some closure on Reyes, who signed for $1.5 million in 2015 but hadn't played since 2017, and allows one to imagine a White Sox system without Adolfo in it.
