The last two times the White Sox were in a real postseason — 2008 against the Rays, 2021 against the Astros — they fell behind 2-0 in the the ALDS, and had to scratch out Game 3 victories each time in order to ensure that they wouldn’t participate in the bare minimum of games.
Three games into this postseason, the White Sox still haven’t trailed. They advanced out the Wild Card Series with little issue, and ensured three more games of some sort after their Game 1 victory over the Guardians on Saturday.
That’s one thing that’s unfamiliar about this October. The other thing is seeing the usual offseason topics pop up and realizing that they’re not the most pressing thing to write about today. Instead, they can wait for the third off day out of four to tackle.
For instance, MLB Trade Rumors released its 2027 salary projections for arbitration-eligible players on Friday, and my reaction then was “Not now, MLB Trade Rumors.” On a Sunday, I can take a closer look at them and conclude that the debates will be muted ones:
- Joey Bart (5.020): $2.9M
- Huascar Brazobán (3.170): $1.6M
- Brenton Doyle (3.161): $3.6M
- Miguel Vargas (3.101): $5.4M
- Chris Murphy (3.055): $900,000
- Jordan Leasure (2.161): $1M
Vargas is a bargain at any first-year price, but his projection will give you a guidepost toward projecting any potential extension talks. Given that the White Sox traded for Doyle and Brazobán specifically because they weren’t rentals, it would be strange to see the White Sox non-tender either, although leaving Brazobán off the ALDS roster could be seen as foreshadowing if you were to reverse-engineer a non-tender at the end of November.
The other three are less certain, although it comes down more to fixed roster spots rather than cost. Bart wasn’t technically a rental himself, but he was a stopgap in spirit during Kyle Teel’s absence, and suffering a hand injury in his third game with the White Sox robbed him of the chance to make himself a surprise pillar of the team’s game-planning. Jake Rogers is a free agent after the season, but Drew Romo and Edgar Quero are still around as the White Sox explore what they want out of a backup catcher.
Murphy failed to distinguish himself in his first season with the White Sox, and while he’s a left arm for whom the White Sox struck a trade with Boston, the same could be said for Cam Booser. Leasure underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August, and is expected to miss all of 2028 as well.
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In another Friday story that’s better fodder for the offseason than postseason, Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported that CHSN’s president has “put out feelers” for a new play-by-play broadcaster, citing no recent talks of an extension with John Schriffen.
The White Sox used the circumstances to provide a special kind of no comment:
Asked for comment about the premise that Schriffen is not expected to return, a White Sox spokesperson told FOS, “We understand that it’s the time of year when these questions come up, but we are focused solely on the postseason.”
You didn’t need sources to detect an air of finality with Schriffen in September, whether it was what he and Steve Stone said after the final out of the regular season…
- Schriffen: Steve, it has been an absolute pleasure the last three years, my friend–
- Stone: Take care, John–
- Schriffen: Thank you so much. These three years have been an absolute blast.
- Stone: Well, there’ll be some more for these Chicago White Sox…
… or the fact that the last month featured a lot more of Connor McKnight than I would expect for a team fighting for a division title. Either way, assuming there will be a next White Sox broadcaster, they’ll take over a far more enviable position than the one Schriffen inherited, when he was filling the shoes of an admired baseball play-by-play guy for a franchise on the brink of disintegration and a network that was about to expire.
