The White Sox held their first official workouts of spring training Wednesday, and with that, they hope to fully close the chapter on last season. General manager Chris Getz spoke to media in Glendale, Arizona on Tuesday, and he was optimistic that the Sox will put the record-breaking losing of 2024 behind them.
“I do think we’re going to win more games than we did last year,” Getz told media on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, there are going to be some growing pains along the way that at times will challenge your emotions, but that’s part of the development of some of these players.
“We need to be patient. And it’s hard to do in professional sports because we’ve got so many competitors out there on the field on a daily basis. But I do think there are going to be plenty of exciting stories, and a lot of that has to do with the talent that’s working its way to the Major Leagues this season.”
How many games the Sox will win in ’25 is going to be a question hovering over the club for months, perhaps until they pass last year’s 41-win mark. But as spring training gets underway, here are a few of the things to keep an eye on in Sox camp:
What happens with Luis Robert, Jr.?
Getz has dealt every other viable trade piece, and as he showed last spring in sending Dylan Cease to San Diego in March, he does not have qualms about making a big trade during spring training. Luis Robert, Jr. remains as Getz’s biggest asset, so it’s fair to wonder if Robert, Jr. will still be in a Sox uniform when they come home to Chicago to open the season on March 27.
On that subject, Getz was mostly noncommittal on Tuesday. He left open the possibility of a trade, but said he expects Robert, Jr. will be on the Opening Day roster.
“The expectation is he’s going to be our Opening Day center fielder,” Getz told reporters. “He’s had a really productive offseason, and we have to find ways to keep him on the field. We know what he’s capable of doing when he’s healthy. And we look forward to handling him in a way that he can be on the Opening Day roster and he can be the productive player we’re accustomed to seeing.”
Perhaps as a backup plan, Getz signed Michael A. Taylor to a one-year, $1.95 million deal Tuesday afternoon. Taylor will fit in whether it’s to take Robert, Jr.’s place in the event of a trade, or to give Robert, Jr. time off of the field to keep himself healthy.
After this season, there are still two more years of club options for Robert, Jr. at $20 million apiece. That could essentially make this a contract year for the center fielder, which makes him an appealing trade piece. Interested teams could take him on and decline the option if he does poorly, or if Robert, Jr. plays the way he’s capable; that $20 million could be cheap to retain him. Sox fans should expect to be on Robert, Jr. trade watch from now until the July deadline.
What about Colson Montgomery?
Montgomery’s struggles at Triple-A Charlotte last season have cast doubts on whether he is ready to take over at shortstop for the big league club this year. Montgomery batted just .214 and struck out 164 times — a strikeout rate jump to 28.6% from 19% the year before — in Triple-A, so it might not be him in the lineup at shortstop on March 27.
The time in spring training will be helpful in assessing whether Montgomery is ready to make the jump to the big leagues. On one hand, there’s little harm in bringing him up on Opening day. The team isn’t expected to be competitive by any stretch, and it’s not as if there are other talent-laden players waiting in the wings to play at short.
But on the other hand, Montgomery is only 22, and there could be long-term benefit to giving him more seasoning at Triple-A, at least to start the year. Getz told fans at SoxFest last month that he expects Montgomery to be the Sox shortstop “at some point” during the season, so if he’s not there on Opening Day, he will be eventually.
Meet the new boss…same as the old one?
He is also a rookie manager piloting a team not exactly loaded with talent, but no, Will Venable is not likely to have some of the same struggles that led to Pedro Grifol getting fired back in August. Venable is likely to get more runway, given that he’s taking the reins when the team is at such a low point. Fans are restless about the timetable for the rebuild, but if/when the Sox struggle in 2025, it’s not likely that Venable will shoulder much of the blame.
That said, spring training will provide a little bit of a look at how he manages. Assessing him as an in-game tactician will be difficult until the regular season begins, but Cactus League games should provide insights into how he plans to use certain players, who will get open roster spots, and what the team culture will be like. One good thing about Grifol’s locker rooms was that they remained unified and largely positive in the face of struggle, even if that might have been in spite of Grifol rather than because of him. One question for Venable will be whether the Sox clubhouse will retain that kind of culture with him at the helm.
There’s plenty of reason to expect Venable to thrive in this regard; he worked under Bruce Bochy most recently, and he was on Joe Maddon’s staff with the Cubs and Alex Cora’s with the Red Sox in past stops.
Keep an eye on the rest of the prospects
Spring training games should provide valuable playing time for the up-and-comers. If there’s a bright side to how poorly the Sox have done of late, it’s that they do have a well-stocked farm system. Ranked no. 66 overall, catcher Edgar Quero is a part of six Sox prospects in MLB Pipeline’s top rankings. The others — left-hander Noah Schultz (No. 26), catcher Kyle Teel (32), left-hander Hagen Smith (34), shortstop Colson Montgomery (39), and right fielder Braden Montgomery (55) — are a part of why the Sox farm system is ranked second by ESPN and fourth by Baseball America.
One of the most intriguing things about the Cactus League games will be getting a look at how this group fares when they make appearances with the major league club. The progress of the rebuild might not be clear, but the Sox at least have plenty of prospects. Seeing how they develop in spring training games might provide a glimmer of hope for the future.
