Sox GM Chris Getz open to deals as trade season nears
White Sox general manager Chris Getz and his staff will be busy in the next two months. The college baseball season is wrapping up, the MLB Draft is two months away and Memorial Day weekend — the unofficial first benchmark of the season — has arrived.
Teams generally start assessing their rosters for holes around this time, and the Sox have players to trade.
‘‘We’ve had conversations with other clubs; teams have reached out to us,’’ Getz said Friday. ‘‘Similar to the offseason, if we feel like there’s opportunities to make our club better, we’re going to look at those opportunities.’’
Getz said there are no untouchables on the roster, but there are ‘‘some players on the team that I think make a little more sense than others.’’
The quick turnaround Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf envisioned when he hired Getz hasn’t materialized yet, but Getz has shown he’s not afraid to deal established talent if it will improve the team in the long term. Outfielder Tommy Pham, whom the Sox signed April 16, entered play Friday hitting .333/.377.495. He might be an attractive addition to a contender that needs a player who can hit a bit and play all three outfield positions.
Though Pham has had an immense impact on the locker room with his work ethic, his clubhouse leadership may not outweigh a potential return the Sox might receive.
‘‘We want to take advantage of having Tommy Pham on this roster,’’ Getz said. ‘‘When we were able to sign him and insert him into the lineup, he made an immediate impact. We’re going to take advantage of Tommy while he’s here and hope there’s an osmosis effect to the rest of the clubhouse based on the performance that he brought to the team.’’
Getz seems to be focused on continuing to strengthen the Sox’ minor-league system as the team continues its rebuild.
‘‘We’re open on players on our club just because we know we’ve got to make strides to get back to being a competitive team here in the AL Central,’’ Getz said. ‘‘We’ve got our pro scouts monitoring other clubs’ prospects closely. We’ve got our front office, our internal group here, that’s assessing what other clubs may have in a potential deal. And then it’s my job to stay close to other general managers to make sound decisions for our club.’’
Getz only had to look across the field to the opposing dugout Friday to see what a successful rebuild looks like when executed correctly.
Though it would hard for the Sox to emulate the Orioles’ method of team-building because MLB has taken the incentive out of tanking — no matter their record, the highest they can pick in the 2025 draft is 10th — they still can accumulate young talent for veterans who don’t fit into their timeline for contending, like the Cubs did in 2021.
‘‘We have a model that we will tweak along the way,’’ Getz said. ‘‘But we feel very strongly with the plan that we have.’’
Former GM Rick Hahn left Getz a solid foundation in the minors with right-hander Nick Nastrini, shortstop Colson Montgomery, left-hander Noah Schultz and catcher Edgar Quero. Getz further augmented the system by trading right-hander Dylan Cease to the Padres at the end of spring training, and more deals might be on the horizon.
‘‘The minor leagues are the strongest avenue to improve your major-league club,’’ Getz said. ‘‘We are excited about what we are building at the minor-league level, and we are going to look for opportunities to add to our group. We look forward to July and the opportunity to insert more talent into our group.’’