The White Sox aren't due to deliver an Opening Day roster until well, Opening Day. With a full 40-man roster and a series of moves necessary to add their final choices, they could easily wait that long to make an official announcement.
But with this weekend marking the deadline for Article XX-B free agents to be informed if they have earned a spot on the opening roster after being invited to camp on a minor league deal, the plans for the final spots of the White Sox bullpen look to already be in motion.
Multiple sources tell Sox Machine that 36-year-old right-hander Bryan Shaw is expected to make the team, which will require opening a 40-man spot. Shaw, 36, has a garish 11.57 spring ERA, but hasn't allowed an earned run in his last five Cactus League appearances after a rocky opening, striking out nine and walking none in that span. After showing himself to be a reliable piece of bullpen duct tape to slap onto any situation in the second half of last year, that's been enough to testify that Shaw's indefatigable skill set is still present.
It was sort of a given based on his track record of versatility and a dominant spring performance (one run allowed, 15 strikeouts in 7⅔ IP), but a source indicates left-hander Tanner Banks will also make the Sox Opening Day 26. Despite his work this spring, Banks will be in a precarious position as one of the few relievers with a minor league option remaining.
Michael Kopech and Steven Wilson both have all three options left, but would seemingly be likelier to pitch in high-leverage action in Chicago than pitch in Charlotte. Tim Hill and John Brebbia are on guaranteed major league deals where they can't be optioned, with the latter recovered enough from his calf injury to project to be ready on Thursday. Deivi García is out of options while authoring a strong spring of his own.
A source confirmed that rookie Jordan Leasure is expected to have pitched his way onto the Opening Day roster. Leasure's merit-based rise will both necessitate yet another 40-man spot to be opened, and he will join Banks as the relievers the Sox could conceivably shuffle between Chicago and Charlotte. The last spot in the bullpen is expected to be issued to Dominic Leone, who, like Shaw, was a veteran Article XX-B free agent brought in on a minor league deal.
Leone has prior familiarity with both Brian Bannister, and with Tony La Russa, who traded for the 32-year-old right-hander during his time with the Diamondbacks. The only earned runs that Leone has allowed this spring were on a fairly absurd opposite field home run by Shohei Ohtani.
Of course, that would make for nine relievers, which would only make sense if the White Sox hold off on formalizing still another part of their roster. With an off day after Garrett Crochet's Opening Day start, the White Sox could bring the left-hander back on regular rest for the fifth game of the season, and Pedro Grifol indicated to reporters that he was amenable to such a maneuver.
That could stave off using -- and calling up, and adding to the 40-man roster -- rookie right-hander Nick Nastrini until the sixth game of the season, whereupon he is likely to take hold of the fifth starter slot in the rotation. That would bring about a decision where the Sox could potentially be choosing between their rookie sensation in Leasure, or one of their best Cactus League performers in Banks to make room for Nastrini.
But Eloy Jiménez hit the injured list before the sixth game of the season last year, José Ruiz hit the waiver wire right after, and there could be a wealth of activity that makes that choice irrelevant by the time it's due to arrive. With all moves that need to happen and things that need to go right for even this bullpen plan to come to fruition, the White Sox shouldn't be inclined to rush the hard calls.
