With full understanding that there are innumerable contingencies for baseball executives to consider before publicizing team decisions, the most concrete bit of news from Chris Getz's year-end media session might be that Mike Vasil is staying in a relief role next season.
While Getz termed the Wednesday morning scrum as "an opportunity to do a season review," much of that review seems ongoing. For how much of Will Venable's coaching staff will be retained, Sox officials are "continuing to have those conversations and reviewing everything and really getting dialed in on the areas that need to improve." For how much the Sox can be expected to build on the momentum of their second half with offseason additions, "It’s a little too early to predict how everything will play out."
"We feel good about what they were able to accomplish in the second half considering how we’ve performed in the past," Getz said, parrying a question on whether occasionally flirting with .500 since the All-Star break makes that a baseline expectation for 2026. "Talking about wins and losses is not something that we often focus on because it really is about winning the game that’s in front of you. But what we saw in the second half I think is real, I do. So it’s our job to support it and maintain that and continue to take steps forward."
All of this is understandable from a certain perspective. With the White Sox not expected to be big players in free agency this winter, their offseason really could be about factors that can't be projected yet; such as where discount opportunities lie or what trade discussions will emerge. But a defensive approach from the team has a way of begetting a more aggressive one from the media, which is to say that a hesitancy to state things plainly on the record invites sourced speculation to address the questions that still require answers.
For example, the firm stance that was reiterated once more on the team's intention to pick up Luis Robert Jr.'s $20 million option for 2026 can be contrasted with repeated open-ended answers about Mike Tauchman's final year of arbitration eligibility. Getz also said he didn't want to close the door on Vasil starting sometime in the future, but that he would prepare as a reliever for the 2026 season. That makes it more striking that making such a stipulation for Grant Taylor is still a step too far, since his future plans regularly get referenced as something that is determined in coordination with the right-hander's representation.
"We'll continue to have that conversation, whether it'll be with Grant and the group, and the front office and figure out what's best for him and our club," Getz said.
With Jonathan Cannon tilting toward an unimpressive finish in Triple-A, and the likes of Ky Bush, Drew Thorpe and Mason Adams tracking more as midseason additions to the rotation depth, the White Sox will add veteran starting pitching this offseason, which Getz terms as " opportunities to protect some of our young pitchers." But that doesn't come alongside a firm announced intention to take up Martín Pérez on his overtures for a reunion, and that came before he departed his Wednesday start early with left shoulder soreness.
"We like Martín, we really do, and would be happy to have him come back here," Getz said. "But it’s my understanding that he’d be open to it as well, obviously there’s more time and conversations that need to be had."
This game can be played with more far-reaching decisions too.
Not making a statement on the fate of the coaching staff, beyond clear approval of the manager, only allows more space to read into Getz saying the offense could stand to "get a little bit more creative in finding runs and creating runs," as they reach the end of Venable and hitting director Ryan Fuller's first years and opportunities to assess the organization's operation. While the Sox coaches have touted the developmental benefits of having Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel split time and catching responsibilities as rookies, team leadership has never committed to saying a dual-catcher setup is their ideal. So when Getz floats that they might "repurpose some of these players to help in other areas," when talking about the catching group and then stipulates that he's not talking about positional versatility, it's worth remembering which rookie backstop the front office believes has a higher long-term ceiling.
It wasn't all hedging and uncertainty. Getz acknowledged that despite previously-held hopes that Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith could be immediate contributors to the major league team in 2026, such a possibility is quite unlikely now. That also seems like a question that the assembled media could have answered for him, but the higher up the chain a baseball decision-maker is, the more likely their most insightful on-the-record quotes will be about events that are done and dusted.
But if the GM of a baseball team gets asked four separate ways about making a push this offseason and is noncommittal each time, that eventually starts getting interpreted as a sort of insight of its own.
"I think all areas of the team can be improved," Getz said. "But the most thing is continuing the improvement and development of our young players."
