SoxMachine Podcast on Free Agent Pitchers

[WestEddy]

There's a nice round table about an article James Fegan wrote this week about possible free agent pursuits this offseason:

Podcast: 2025-26 Offseason Plan Project Kickoff - Sox Machine

Fegan article on free agents in Sox' price range:

The White Sox need an innings-eater or two; let's pick some favorites - Sox Machine

Edited October 31 by WestEddy

[almagest]

From the names in the article, I'd be fine with:

• Martin Perez again - he was good when he could pitch and shouldn't be expensive
• Anthony DeSclafani - seems like a reunion with Bannister might help
• Cody Ponce seems like a good guy to bet on given his success in the KBO with good stuff, though there will probably be competition for him
• Anthony Kay - throws strikes and generates grounders in NPB

The rest don't seem as intriguing to me, and this is even including my love for unknown Japanese pitchers with NPB numbers they have no hope of reproducing here. 

[caulfield12]

22 minutes ago, almagest said:

From the names in the article, I'd be fine with:

• Martin Perez again - he was good when he could pitch and shouldn't be expensive
• Anthony DeSclafani - seems like a reunion with Bannister might help
• Cody Ponce seems like a good guy to bet on given his success in the KBO with good stuff, though there will probably be competition for him
• Anthony Kay - throws strikes and generates grounders in NPB

The rest don't seem as intriguing to me, and this is even including my love for unknown Japanese pitchers with NPB numbers they have no hope of reproducing here. 

Sugano fared decently.

He was the one most expected to end up with an ERA in the high 5's due to his age and lack of dominating stuff.

Imanaga has outperforned almost all his early projections...especially the first 4 months or so of 2025.

[PaleAleSox]

Isn’t Perez a team option?

[WestEddy]

8 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

Isn’t Perez a team option?

Baseball Reference says it's a mutual option. I'm just not sure the White Sox would pick him back up for $10M. 

[Ducksnort]

Idk, watching Perez he kinda scares me. Soft tossing lefty, aging, he's bound at some point to just get hammered for like 4 straight starts and then will be fodder for the dfa

[WestEddy]

1 hour ago, Ducksnort said:

Idk, watching Perez he kinda scares me. Soft tossing lefty, aging, he's bound at some point to just get hammered for like 4 straight starts and then will be fodder for the dfa

Yeah, he snapped to, and was uncharacteristically good for short stretches this year. I just feel like he's got the big one (the career ending TJS) waiting for him. 

[Timmy U]

This year’s FA class of pitchers is pretty meh. I would be fine with either a low dollar one year/milb contract with Fedde or maybe Perez, and I could see bringing back Houser, but multi-year deals for any of these guys feels like a bad idea. I just don’t want to end up watching the pitching equivalent of Benintendi.

[JoeC]

1 hour ago, Timmy U said:

This year’s FA class of pitchers is pretty meh. I would be fine with either a low dollar one year/milb contract with Fedde or maybe Perez, and I could see bringing back Houser, but multi-year deals for any of these guys feels like a bad idea. I just don’t want to end up watching the pitching equivalent of Benintendi.

Or Keuchel 2.0?

[Lip Man 1]

Right now we have no idea even what Perez's availability is considering his latest injury issue towards the end of last season.

Edited November 1 by Lip Man 1

[chitownsportsfan]

Depressing. We are going to need like 15 more WAR from SP before we are any good. 

[Timmy U]

38 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Depressing. We are going to need like 15 more WAR from SP before we are any good. 

Most of that WAR is gonna have to be developed internally.  Between Hagen, Schultz, McDougal, Oppor, and lesser guys like Murphy, and all the guys coming back from injury, they have to find at least three guys to add to Shane Smith. I think it’s possible. You’re never gonna get 15 WAR outta the types of FA the Sox sign.

[Tnetennba]

22 hours ago, Ducksnort said:

Idk, watching Perez he kinda scares me. Soft tossing lefty, aging, he's bound at some point to just get hammered for like 4 straight starts and then will be fodder for the dfa

To be fair, this probably applies to any of the low cost stopgaps that would sign here.

[WestEddy]

Off-season calendar at MLBTR - 

The 2025-26 Offseason Begins - MLB Trade Rumors

Quote

NOVEMBER 2: Free agency begins for eligible players, but they aren’t permitted to sign with other teams for at least five days. Free agents no longer count against their previous teams’ 40-man rosters. Trades of players who were on the 40-man roster reopen for the first time since last summer’s deadline.

NOVEMBER 2: Gold Glove winners announced.

NOVEMBER 6: Free agents are eligible to sign with any team. All players or teams with contractual options/opt-out clauses must make their decisions by this evening. Teams have until 4:00 pm Central to decide whether to issue qualifying offers to eligible free agents.

NOVEMBER 6-7: Silver Slugger winners announced. The National League winners will be revealed on the 6th, while the American League honorees will be awarded on the 7th.

NOVEMBER 10-13: General managers meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada. The GM Meetings typically lay the groundwork for the offseason rather than spurring much roster movement in themselves. They’re nevertheless significant as an opportunity for media to speak with high-level executives, which can shed some light on teams’ goals for the winter.

NOVEMBER 10: Rookie of the Year award winners announced.

NOVEMBER 11: Manager of the Year award winners announced.

NOVEMBER 12: Cy Young award winners announced.

NOVEMBER 13: MVP award winners announced.

NOVEMBER 13: Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Hank Aaron award winners announced. All-MLB teams revealed.

NOVEMBER 18: Players have until 3:00 pm Central to decide whether to accept the qualifying offer. If they accept, they’ll return to their previous team on a one-year, $22.025MM contract. Players who accept a QO, like all major league free agent signees, cannot be traded without their consent until June 15. Those who decline the QO are tied to draft compensation. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently covered what each team would receive for losing a qualified free agent and the penalties that teams would pay to sign a player who declined a QO.

NOVEMBER 18: Rule 5 protection deadline. Teams have until this date to add players who would otherwise be eligible for the Rule 5 draft to their 40-man roster to keep them out of the draft.

NOVEMBER 18-20: Quarterly owners meetings in New York. Commissioner Rob Manfred typically speaks with reporters at this time.

NOVEMBER 21: Non-tender deadline at 7:00pm Central. Teams must decide whether to offer contracts to the arbitration-eligible and pre-arbitration players on their 40-man roster. They do not need to agree to salaries by this date, but there’ll be a flurry of salary agreements as players who might otherwise be non-tender candidates often lock in deals at slightly lesser than projected salaries to avoid being cut loose. Players who are non-tendered immediately become free agents without going through waivers.

DECEMBER 7-10: Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida. The Winter Meetings are the offseason’s busiest few days and annually feature ample free agent and trade activity.

DECEMBER 7: Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee announcement. Formerly known as the Veterans Committee, the 16-person panel votes on eight candidates who were not previously inducted into Cooperstown by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The eight candidates under consideration are usually announced in early November; those who receive at least 12 votes on December 7 are elected to the Hall of Fame. This year’s committee will consider only players whose greatest contributions came in the 1980s or later.

DECEMBER 9: Amateur draft lottery. The White Sox have the best chance of securing the first overall pick at 27.8% (h/t to Baseball America). The Rockies, Nationals and Angels are not allowed to pick higher than 10th. The CBA prohibits teams from having lottery picks in three straight years, which rules out Colorado. Clubs that do not receive revenue sharing cannot pick in the lottery in consecutive seasons, ruling out Washington and Los Angeles.

DECEMBER 10: The Rule 5 draft will conclude the Winter Meetings. Players selected must stay on their new teams’ active rosters for the entire ’26 season or be offered back to their original organization.

DECEMBER 15: Closing of the 2025 signing period for international amateurs.

JANUARY 8: Teams and arbitration-eligible players exchange salary filing figures. They’re free to continue negotiating beyond this date, though virtually every team treats this as an unofficial deadline to avoid an arbitration hearing unless they sign a multi-year contract.

JANUARY 15: Opening of the 2026 signing period for international amateurs. The majority of the international signings for the year will be announced on this date, as virtually all the top prospects have reached handshake agreements by this point.

JANUARY 21: Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame announcement at 5:00 pm Central.

EARLY FEBRUARY TBA: Arbitration hearings. Arbitrators must choose either the team’s or player’s filing figure, not a midpoint.

FEBRUARY 11: Voluntary report date to Spring Training for pitchers and catchers.

FEBRUARY 15: Voluntary report date to Spring Training for other players.

FEBRUARY 20: Mandatory report date. Spring Training play begins.

MARCH 25: Yankees @ Giants standalone game on Opening Night.

MARCH 26: Opening Day for the other 28 teams.

 

[TheFutureIsNear]

We definitely need a reliable arm that can throw at least a solid 160+ innings. I think there’s enough young arms to continue the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” mentality of rebuilding…and don’t commit to anyone as a reliever until you have to. But 1 steadying arm behind Smith should be a priority. Unfortunately that’s going to be easier said than done with a free agent SP on Jerry’s budget. 

 

[caulfield12]

17 hours ago, TheFutureIsNear said:

We definitely need a reliable arm that can throw at least a solid 160+ innings. I think there’s enough young arms to continue the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” mentality of rebuilding…and don’t commit to anyone as a reliever until you have to. But 1 steadying arm behind Smith should be a priority. Unfortunately that’s going to be easier said than done with a free agent SP on Jerry’s budget. 

 

You're going to be hard-pressed to find that for under $10 million.  Chris Flexible types?

I was just reading a Cardinals' offseason article and they're desperately trying to get rid of Sonny Gray's $35 million for 2026.

That's high Tier B pricing for a starting pitcher, although he was once Tier A....

 

(They basically added 2.8 fWAR last off season and subtracted 10.6 fWAR and still won 20 more games because of all the rookies and second year guys.)

[southsider2k5]

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

You're going to be hard-pressed to find that for under $10 million.  Chris Flexible types?

I was just reading a Cardinals' offseason article and they're desperately trying to get rid of Sonny Gray's $35 million for 2026.

That's high Tier B pricing for a starting pitcher, although he was once Tier A....

 

(They basically added 2.8 fWAR last off season and subtracted 10.6 fWAR and still won 20 more games because of all the rookies and second year guys.)

If the Sox were smart, they would look at taking on a chunk of that money in exchange for getting a decent prospect.

But they won't.

[Tony]

20 hours ago, TheFutureIsNear said:

We definitely need a reliable arm that can throw at least a solid 160+ innings. I think there’s enough young arms to continue the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” mentality of rebuilding…and don’t commit to anyone as a reliever until you have to. But 1 steadying arm behind Smith should be a priority. Unfortunately that’s going to be easier said than done with a free agent SP on Jerry’s budget. 

 

I'd kick the tires on Fedde again. I know Katz is gone, but no idea who the influencer was on him that made him successful here, but it worked, very little risk in trying it again. 

[GreenSox]

In Fegan’s write up, he notes that Littel was traded for a “a pretty good prospect;” that prospect currently sits as Dodgers’ #13 per MLB.com.

That trade occurred on 7/30 and Littel had a 2.4 WAR.  The next day,  the rays call their buddy Chris Getz and acquire 3.0bWAR Adian Houser for 3 org guys 

Is he at least aware that these other front offices, including his buddies from tampa,  are schooling him like this?

[kitekrazy]

2 hours ago, Tony said:

I'd kick the tires on Fedde again. I know Katz is gone, but no idea who the influencer was on him that made him successful here, but it worked, very little risk in trying it again. 

His pitching coach in Korea

[Kyyle23]

Margulus writeup on Arizona League

[WhiteSox2023]

3 hours ago, GreenSox said:

In Fegan’s write up, he notes that Littel was traded for a “a pretty good prospect;” that prospect currently sits as Dodgers’ #13 per MLB.com.

That trade occurred on 7/30 and Littel had a 2.4 WAR.  The next day,  the rays call their buddy Chris Getz and acquire 3.0bWAR Adian Houser for 3 org guys 

Is he at least aware that these other front offices, including his buddies from tampa,  are schooling him like this?

To be fair to our GM that has blown the majority of his trades, my guess is that Littell had more perceived value as a starter to teams than Houser.  But your point remains, acquiring Meadiocre definitely didn’t work out.  He thought he could repeat his “success” with another aged out prospect like Vargas.

[chitownsportsfan]

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

Margulus writeup on Arizona League

Ty. Jim is so much better when he can simply write what he's seeing in a game and not doing whatever the heck it is he does when he's more meta focused. Antonacci is a dude it appears. Be nice to have some middle IF depth.

[spiderman]

On 10/31/2025 at 4:46 PM, almagest said:

From the names in the article, I'd be fine with:

• Martin Perez again - he was good when he could pitch and shouldn't be expensive
• Anthony DeSclafani - seems like a reunion with Bannister might help
• Cody Ponce seems like a good guy to bet on given his success in the KBO with good stuff, though there will probably be competition for him
• Anthony Kay - throws strikes and generates grounders in NPB

The rest don't seem as intriguing to me, and this is even including my love for unknown Japanese pitchers with NPB numbers they have no hope of reproducing here. 

Sign as many pitchers to 1 year deals as possible and hope a few of them can provide innings.

[spiderman]

On 11/2/2025 at 2:10 PM, TheFutureIsNear said:

We definitely need a reliable arm that can throw at least a solid 160+ innings. I think there’s enough young arms to continue the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” mentality of rebuilding…and don’t commit to anyone as a reliever until you have to. But 1 steadying arm behind Smith should be a priority. Unfortunately that’s going to be easier said than done with a free agent SP on Jerry’s budget. 

 

I think it's unlikely that they will get 160+ innings from 1 of these veteran types. I think it will take 2-3 of these guys to fill in the innings gap.