Munetaka Murakami: No, the White Sox should not trade him

Do you remember what I wrote on Feb. 17? Probably not, so here's a refresher:

"Barring a postponement or two, the Sox will have 31 games played on May 1 this year. Would a record like 14-17 be too much to ask? Maybe they could at least get into double-digit wins by the end of April for a change. Baby steps. Let's start with that." 

Sure enough, the White Sox are 14-17 on May 1. They went 13-13 in April, and this is a significant step forward from where they were on this date the past three years. In case, you had forgotten, here's a brutal reminder:

• 2025: 7-23
• 2024: 6-24
• 2023: 8-21

The Sox sit in third place in the American League Central, only 1.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers. Both the Guardians and the Tigers are 16-16 at the conclusion of Thursday's play. 

In fact, only three teams in the AL -- the New York Yankees (20-11), the Tampa Bay Rays (18-12) and the Sacramento Athletics (17-14) -- have winning records as the calendar turns to May.

So, the Sox are still in contention because the rest of the league is soft, but they are in contention nonetheless. It would be easier to take them seriously if their record were, say, reversed at 17-14. I have a hard time getting excited about a team that has a losing record, and no, I still do not expect the Sox to be in the race this season.

That said, I've seen some fans and media talking about whether the team should trade first baseman Munetaka Murakami for prospects at some point.

Murakami is leading the AL with 12 home runs, and he ranks among the top 10 in the league with a .564 slugging percentage. 

Here's my reaction to this discussion: Hell no, the Sox should not trade Murakami. If he continues to play at the level he's played at through 31 games, then he's a core piece of the team. He's only 26 years old, and he's entering what should be the prime of his career. That's a player you build with, if not build around.

You see, here's the problem with this latest Sox rebuild. ... What exactly have they built? Coming into this season, there wasn't a single player in place that you would call a cornerstone. Sure, there are some guys that you *hope* will become cornerstones, but there's uncertainty all over the diamond.

The Sox have just been churning their roster the past couple of years. If a guy plays well, he gets dealt for prospects. If a guy plays poorly, he gets designated for assignment. Year over year, more than half the roster exits. Another group of "value adds" arrives. Wash, rinse, repeat with no continuity.

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to keep some guys who play well and try to build a roster, you know, instead of just serving as a farm club for other teams around MLB. Act like a big-market team for a change.

5 White Sox players off to decent-to-good starts

Even after beating the Athletics two games out of three over the weekend in Sacramento, the White Sox are 8-14.

I don't think the organization is pleased with this start, although it shouldn't be surprising given the subpar nature of the roster. There are, however, some glimmers of hope.

In a rare moment of positivity, I present five Sox players who are off to decent-to-good starts in 2026:

1. Davis Martin. The right-hander has 37.5% of the Sox wins, having gone 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA in his first four starts. Even in his one loss, Martin tossed seven innings of two-run ball -- he just didn't get any run support in that game. In his most recent start, Martin again went seven innings, allowing only one run in a 9-2 win Friday over the Athletics. He leads the team in innings pitched (25), strikeouts (19) and bWAR (1.1).

2. Munetaka Murakami. The comparisons to Kyle Schwarber have started. Perhaps that's a little premature, as the rookie from Japan only has 22 games under his belt. But much like Schwarber, Murakami has been a productive three-true-outcome hitter to this point. He homered in all three games of the series against the Athletics, increasing his team-best total to eight. Murakami is batting only .208, but he leads the Sox in walks (20), RBIs (16), on-base percentage (.376) and ranks second in slugging percentage (.542). Sure, he's struck out 31 times in 93 plate appearances, but his .918 OPS and 161 OPS+ are exactly what the Sox were hoping to see. 

3. Noah Schultz. The rookie posted three dominant starts at Triple-A Charlotte to force his way into the majors. The left-hander's first MLB start was shaky -- more specifically, his first inning was shaky as he gave up three runs in an 8-5 loss to Tampa Bay. But Schultz has allowed only two runs in the 8.1 innings since, and he picked up his first career victory Sunday, when he limited the Athletics to just one hit over five innings in a 7-4 win. Schultz is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA since joining the Sox, with 10 strikeouts and five walks in 9.1 innings pitched. 

4. Everson Pereira. The 25-year-old outfielder is the one reclamation project on this roster who has shown us something in the early going. Pereira has dealt with injuries this season, including an ankle problem that kept him on the shelf for the first two weeks of April. But since rejoining the lineup on April 14, Pereira has gone 7 for 21 with three doubles, two home runs and four RBIs. He has struck out 12 times in only 37 plate appearances, so there's plenty of swing-and-miss in his game. But the contact has been loud, as evidenced by his .297/.366/.649 slash line. It's a small sample, but that slugging percentage leads the team.  

5. Colson Montgomery. Despite the weird-looking offensive profile, Montgomery leads Sox position players in bWAR at 0.7. Some of that has to do with his defense at shortstop, where he has not yet committed an error this season. Give Montgomery credit for his glove. Throughout his pro career, he's faced questions about whether he can stick at shortstop. He may not win a Gold Glove anytime soon, but his defense has been more than serviceable. His slash line is at .200/.318/.453, with five homers, four doubles and 13 RBIs. He still strikes out a lot, 28 times in 88 plate appearances. But if Montgomery continues to post a 120 OPS+ with above-average defense at short, can we really complain? I would say no.

Up next for the Sox: three games at Arizona, starting Tuesday night at 8:40 Central. 

Noah Schultz to make MLB debut on Tuesday

White Sox top pitching prospect Noah Schultz is expected to make his MLB debut Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Rate Field.

The 6-foot-10 left-hander out of Oswego East High School was the organization's first-round pick at No. 26 overall in the 2022 draft.  

There are two things that came to mind when I heard this news:

1. The move seems reasonable. Fans are forever worried about "rushing" prospects to the majors, but the other school of thought says, "There's no such thing as a pitching prospect." With the high volume of arm injuries around professional baseball, it seems senseless to allow a pitcher to waste bullets dominating Triple-A.

And Schultz has been dominating Triple-A. In three games with Charlotte this season, he's 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA. In 14 innings pitched, he's allowed only two earned runs on four hits. He's struck out 19 and walked just two.

Neither right-handed nor left-handed batters have done much with Schultz. He was drafted as a sinker-slider pitcher, and those two pitches in combination with his arm angle allow him to dominate lefties. But he's added a cutter and a changeup to his mix to help him keep righties at bay.

In fact, Schultz is a five-pitch pitcher now: four-seamer, two-seamer, cutter, slider, change. I would expect to see mostly two-seamers and sliders against lefties, and two-seamers and cutters against righties. The four-seamer and the changeup are more for show than anything, based upon scouting reports I've read.

The other thing is, there's a need in Chicago. Shane Smith was sent to Charlotte to work out his problems, so somebody has to start in that spot. Schultz has earned the opportunity. It's OK to see what he does with it.

2. The hype is unnecessary and ridiculous. Yes, it's exciting news when a top prospect is called up. Fans are looking forward to seeing Schultz in a Sox uniform. But the three hours of Schulz programming on Chicago Sports Network leading into Tuesday's game seems a little excessive.

You can watch replays of a previous outing from Schultz, hear him on the Chuck Garfien podcast and watch the "Road to the Chi" special featuring him Tuesday before the game. Good grief, no pressure, kid. Let's hope he doesn't give up five runs in 2.1 innings or something like that.

It's always a little rough when a promising prospect is called up into a losing situation. The Sox are 6-10. They haven't looked great, and fans and team media are looking for anything they can clutch onto to create excitement. Sometimes that leads to a young kid being treated as Lord and Savior.

We should take a lesson from Gordon Beckham, Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech. Pump the brakes a little on the hype. Give the kid some air, and let's hope his talent shines through. 

White Sox option Shane Smith to Triple-A Charlotte

It hasn't been two weeks since Shane Smith made the Opening Day start for the White Sox, but the team optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte before the start of Wednesday afternoon's game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Smith, who made the All-Star team as a rookie last season, has been a disaster in his first three starts of the season. He's 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA, and he's covered only 8.1 innings in those outings. His control has been brutal, as he's walked nine batters already in that small sample size. Combine that with the 12 hits he's allowed, and that's simply too many guys reaching base.

Even though Smith was unscored upon Tuesday in his outing against the Orioles, you cannot say it was a good performance. He needed 99 pitches to work 3.2 innings. While he allowed only one hit, he walked five. 

To be fair, Smith struck out eight, so the outing wasn't a total bust. In a strange anomaly, none of the first 11 Baltimore batters put a ball in play -- six strikeouts, four walks and a hit batsman.

However, Smith has yet to throw a pitch in the fifth inning this season, and the Sox cannot afford such short outings from a starting pitcher who is supposed to be a mainstay.

Smith only covered 11 outs Tuesday, which left 16 outs for the bullpen to cover while protecting a slim 2-1 lead. They couldn't do it -- Baltimore scored three runs in the eighth and won 4-2.

Tyler Schweitzer was called up to take Smith's place on the roster and bolster the depleted bullpen. The lefty made his MLB debut in relief on Wednesday, allowing a run in 1.1 innings as the Sox dropped their third straight to the Orioles, 5-3.

Strangely, Baltimore has won its last 11 games at Rate Field. I don't feel as though the Orioles has been a great team during this stretch, so that's a testament to how bad the Sox have been.

But don't you worry: the next four Sox games are at Kansas City, a place where the Sox have lost 14 in a row and 19 of their last 21. It's been more than two years since the Sox last beat the Royals in Kansas City (Sept. 6, 2023).

There's nothing that says your franchise is a joke more than having multiple streaks like this going on at the same time.

The Sox are 4-8. 

Orioles snap modest White Sox winning streak

It's too cold to hit. Boo hoo hoo.

Or maybe the White Sox were just due to lose after their surprising three-game sweep of the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.

The Sox outscored Toronto 14-7 in their three weekend victories, but they were limited to only four hits Monday in a 2-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Rate Field. 

(Sidebar: The Blue Jays lost 14-2 to the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, so perhaps Toronto is in a slump right now.)

One trend that's emerging for the Sox: the use of Grant Taylor as an opener. The right-hander has started three of the four games on the homestand, working a scoreless first inning each time.

In his two starts against Toronto, Taylor needed only nine pitches to get three outs both times. On Monday, he worked around a leadoff double by Baltimore's Taylor Ward.

If it isn't broke, don't fix it? Or maybe give Taylor two innings, if he's efficient in his first inning and the team thinks his future is as a starting pitcher.

Erick Fedde (0-2) pitched well over six innings on Monday, as well, allowing two runs. But that was enough to get him beat on a night when the Sox didn't do much of anything offensively.

Baltimore starter Brandon Young (1-0) was 1-7 with a 6.24 ERA in his previous 12 career starts, but he tossed five shutout innings against the Sox. He allowed only two hits and two walks, while striking out two.

It wasn't until the ninth inning that the Sox threatened. They scored their only run off Baltimore closer Ryan Helsley, who hung over for his third save of the season.

Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas worked back-to-back walks to start the ninth. They advanced to third on a groundout by Colson Montgomery. Pinch-hitter Lenyn Sosa grounded out, scoring Murakami for the lone Sox run of the game.

An infield single by Andrew Benintendi moved Vargas to third, but with two outs and runners at the corners. Helsely struck out Edgar Quero to end the game.

The Sox lost left fielder Austin Hays to a strained hamstring in the fourth inning. It's fair to expect a trip to the injured list and a roster move before Tuesday's game against Baltimore, which has been moved up to 2:10 p.m. because of the unseasonable cold in Chicago. 

Not that it's going to be much warmer in the afternoon.

The Sox are 4-6. 

White Sox vs. Blue Jays pitching matchups

Here are your pitching matchups for the first series of the season at Rate Field, as the White Sox prepare to face the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays:

(Sox starter listed first) 

Friday, 1:10 p.m.

Sean Burke (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (0-0, 1.69 ERA)

Saturday, 1:10 p.m.

Anthony Kay (0-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Eric Lauer (1-0, 3.38 ERA)

Sunday, 1:10 p.m.

Davis Martin (1-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. TBD 

A melancholy feeling as White Sox begin home schedule

Rate Field (Photo by Jason Bauman)

The White Sox were supposed to open the home portion of their schedule Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Somewhat fittingly after the team's 1-5 disaster of a road trip to start the year, the game was postponed until Friday because of the forecast of inclement weather.

When it rains, it pours.

For the fourth consecutive season, I am choosing not to attend Opening Day at Rate Field. In fact, I have not purchased tickets for one single game in Chicago, and I do not intend to do so this season.

It's a difficult decision, but the team the Sox are putting on the field and the lackluster ballpark experience are not worth my valuable time and money -- and it's been this way for a while now.

The first home game used to be one of my favorite days of the year. Now, it is one of my least favorite days. It brings me great sadness what has happened to my baseball team.

Here's what Opening Day means to me now: 

• It means once-great traditions that have turned sour. 
• It means friendships that are not being renewed because we can't in good conscious give Jerry Reinsdorf our money anymore. 
• It means a sense of dread for the coming year, wondering how many games the Sox are going to lose this time. 
• It means well-meaning people wishing us "Happy Opening Day," while not understanding that we are no longer excited about the possibilities of the baseball season.

It's terrible to feel this way, but that's how it is. We're reduced to dreaming of the day when the 90-year-old miser who hates his paying customers is no longer owner of the team. It's the only way this changes.