2026 Spring Training Thread

[Ducksnort]

20 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Best shape of his life?

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

49 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Fluff parts of Sandlin interview with Courtney Finnicum. Tried Giordano's deep dish, will report on bidets. 

 

 

I watched it this morning. Always nice to hear from the new guys. 

[Lip Man 1]

https://soxmachine.com/2026/02/pecota-nicer-to-white-sox-erick-fedde-is-in-the-fold

[WestEddy]

ESPN preseason listicle of One Guy to Watch for all 30 teams. 

MLB spring training 2026: One player to watch on every team - ESPN

Quote

Chicago White Sox: UT Miguel Vargas

One member of the White Sox's front office singled out Vargas as having "a chance to be a breakout player in 2026," a sign the organization still believes in the potential of his bat. At this time three years ago, Vargas was a consensus top-100 prospect. The Dodgers then made him their Opening Day second baseman. But Vargas struggled mightily and wasn't any better during the 2024 season, when the White Sox acquired him at the trade deadline in a three-team, seven-player deal.

At his best, Vargas displays elite plate discipline and gap-to-gap power. There were times last year when that really showed up, mostly in May and August. As he enters his age-26 season, he needs to finally display that consistently.

 

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, WestEddy said:

Feels like he won’t be going on the 60 DL which is fantastic news.  Will be interesting to see where Thorpe is at.

[WestEddy]

2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Feels like he won’t be going on the 60 DL which is fantastic news.  Will be interesting to see where Thorpe is at.

Berroa's only got one option, so this is really the year he has to prove it. 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

1 hour ago, DoUEvenShift said:

 

I recently watched the Jeff Torborg documentary,  A Wonderful Baseball Life ,made by the same people that brought you The Last Comiskey 3 part series on Youtube. 

It's so good along with Part 3 of the Last Comiskey which focused on the incredible season the 1990 Sox had in the last season of Old Comiskey park with Torborg as manager. 

Your meme about having a chance reminded me that the 1989 young Sox team was 69-92 and then under Torborg in 1990 won 94 games before eventually falling short of the roided up Oakland A's. 

So many fun memories and stories . The giant jock strap hanging from the LF upper deck was hilarious !

If you ever get cynical about culture,  hearing about Torborg and the 1990 Sox might remind you that a good clubhouse along with belief and talent can go a long way. Just visit the Last Comiskey channel on youtube for some great Sox content celebrating some good times. 

"It reminds you of what once was good, and can be again".  - James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

 

[Tnetennba]

2 hours ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Yeah, I thought maybe something eventful happened with 7 pages of posts after only one day of training camp.  Nah, it's just endless arguments about past Sox failures.

So just another day that ends in Y?

[Timmy U]

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I recently watched the Jeff Torborg documentary,  A Wonderful Baseball Life ,made by the same people that brought you The Last Comiskey 3 part series on Youtube. 

It's so good along with Part 3 of the Last Comiskey which focused on the incredible season the 1990 Sox had in the last season of Old Comiskey park with Torborg as manager. 

Your meme about having a chance reminded me that the 1989 young Sox team was 69-92 and then under Torborg in 1990 won 94 games before eventually falling short of the roided up Oakland A's. 

So many fun memories and stories . The giant jock strap hanging from the LF upper deck was hilarious !

If you ever get cynical about culture,  hearing about Torborg and the 1990 Sox might remind you that a good clubhouse along with belief and talent can go a long way. Just visit the Last Comiskey channel on youtube for some great Sox content celebrating some good times. 

"It reminds you of what once was good, and can be again".  - James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams.

 

That 1990 team is probably my favorite of all time. Even ahead of 1992, 1993, 1994, and 2005. I went to a ton of games because I was under-employed that summer. At one point, the Sox won 18 straight games where I was in attendance. Great memories. Thanks for the reminder.

[Dick Allen]

10 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

That 1990 team is probably my favorite of all time. Even ahead of 1992, 1993, 1994, and 2005. I went to a ton of games because I was under-employed that summer. At one point, the Sox won 18 straight games where I was in attendance. Great memories. Thanks for the reminder.

You could almost see it coming though. In 1989, they were over .500 after the All Star break and only 3 under the last 81 games. And everything seemed to go their way in 1990. It was a lot of fun.

[WestEddy]

Grant Taylor rounds out @mike_petriello’s Top 10 Relievers Right Now 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0F1sf08RTX

— MLB Now (@MLBNow) February 11, 2026

[soxrwhite]

6 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

Came into this thread to see who was in the best shapes of their lives. Sigh. 

They all are. They're in good place right now too.

[WestEddy]

Will Venable says Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith will not break camp with the team.

"We want to set them on a path to get into their routine, get their buildup going, but at the same time, they're going to be guys that help us this year." pic.twitter.com/BbFh1lY3Dw

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) February 11, 2026

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, WestEddy said:

Nor should they, not with the injuries limiting them last year. No reason to rush them at all. 

[Lip Man 1]

3 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I recently watched the Jeff Torborg documentary,  A Wonderful Baseball Life ,made by the same people that brought you The Last Comiskey 3 part series on Youtube. 

It's so good along with Part 3 of the Last Comiskey which focused on the incredible season the 1990 Sox had in the last season of Old Comiskey park with Torborg as manager. 

Your meme about having a chance reminded me that the 1989 young Sox team was 69-92 and then under Torborg in 1990 won 94 games before eventually falling short of the roided up Oakland A's. 

So many fun memories and stories . The giant jock strap hanging from the LF upper deck was hilarious !

If you ever get cynical about culture,  hearing about Torborg and the 1990 Sox might remind you that a good clubhouse along with belief and talent can go a long way. Just visit the Last Comiskey channel on youtube for some great Sox content celebrating some good times. 

"It reminds you of what once was good, and can be again".  - James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams.

 

I was glad to be able to play at part in both of those documentaries. Matt Flesch is already working on his next one, "The Stadium" dealing with the old Chicago Stadium. he's already had interviews with a number of former Blackhawks and some Bulls players. I've sent him some Bulls and Hawks games from the 70's and 80's so he can use some game footage to show what it looked like back then. 

[WestEddy]

Spring Training trade talk:

 

My guess is the Brewers want to eventually have one of their top infield prospects take over at 3B, but since they have basically nothin there to start the season I wonder if they reach out to the White Sox.

Both Lenyn Sosa and Curtis Mead make sense for them as stop gap…

— Michael Suareo (@MSuareo) February 11, 2026

 

[fathom]

Good to see people on X questioning why Getz keeps saying Acuna is a switch hitter

[Bob Sacamano]

7 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Spring Training trade talk:

 

 

Curtis Mead I feel like doesn’t make sense for anyone who is looking to be in contention and does anyone believe Sosa can play 3B at about an average level? Or even just below average?

[WhiteSox2023]

9 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Spring Training trade talk:

 

 

In the follow-up tweets, they mention lefty 1B prospect Blake Burke for either Sosa or Mead.  Burke is the Brewers #16 prospect.  I’d be fine with that.  Nice guy to have around in case Murakami leaves via free agency in two years.  He could also DH.

Edited 3 hours ago by WhiteSox2023

[WhiteSox2023]

5 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Curtis Mead I feel like doesn’t make sense for anyone who is looking to be in contention and does anyone believe Sosa can play 3B at about an average level? Or even just below average?

Not sure there’s much of a choice.  The Red Sox grabbed every mediocre option already, including the Brewers’.

And are the Brewers truly trying to contend?  Seems like a quasi rebuild.

Edited 3 hours ago by WhiteSox2023

[Bob Sacamano]

3 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Not sure there’s much of a choice.  The Red Sox grabbed every mediocre option already, including the Brewers’.

Hey if they want to try it out and trade something to the Sox I’m all for it

[WhiteSox2023]

8 minutes ago, fathom said:

Good to see people on X questioning why Getz keeps saying Acuna is a switch hitter

He said it more than once?  I just heard him say it in his interview with Kaplan and McGuffey.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

You could almost see it coming though. In 1989, they were over .500 after the All Star break and only 3 under the last 81 games. And everything seemed to go their way in 1990. It was a lot of fun.

I see parallels to the 1990 team and the 2026 Sox. I know the Sox were worse in 2025 than 1989 . 

Torborg was in his 2nd year of managing the Sox like Venable is now .

Lots of young guys who all pulled for each other. Some young guys just coming into their own. 

I was begging in my head for KW to bring up Frank Thomas earlier like wtf are you waiting for ? Frank was killing it in Birmingham putting up absurd numbers but he waited until August and then he put up absurd numbers with the Sox in 60 games.

[Bob Sacamano]

6 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

He said it more than once?  I just heard him say it in his interview with Kaplan and McGuffey.