The White Sox had a significant improvement from 2024-2025, as they won 19 more games this past season. This was solid progress, as they looked like a much more competent baseball team. This improvement was due to a lot of factors, but most importantly, contributions from their top prospects.
This sets the White Sox up for continued improvement throughout the organization in 2026, as they will have another top draft pick and room to add players from outside the organization. Despite the White Sox being one step closer to contention, they should not stop adding low-risk, high-reward players, as it is likely they won't be in the hunt for the playoffs this season. These acquisitions could come in the form of former top-100 prospects who haven't gotten much playing time with their current organization or have bounced around a few teams.
There has already been one move like that this offseason, as the White Sox acquired former top-100 prospect Everson Pereira from the Tampa Bay Rays. This is a high-upside move, as the White Sox could tap into the talent that made Pereira a top-100 prospect and into a valuable middle of the order bat.
When looking at the free agent market, there are a few players that stand out as potential fits for the White Sox this season. One of those players is former Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen.
Gallen has had a very good career to this point. Since coming up in 2019, Gallen has been top-10 in Cy Young voting three times and has been to one all-star game. He also lead the league in WHIP and hits per nine innings in 2022.
Overall, Gallen has a 3.58 ERA over 1,000 innings in the major leagues. He has a career 1.1 WHIP, a 9.5 K/9 ratio, and a 2.9 BB/9 ratio. These are very good numbers and he is heading into his age 30 season. There should be plenty left in the tank.
Gallen appeared to be headed to a huge payday heading into the this offseason, but he had a very uncharacteristic 2025 season. In 192 innings, Gallen had a 4.83 ERA with a 1.260 WHIP. This was not a typical season for Gallen, as he was getting hit around a lot more.
Zac Gallen vs. Yankees:
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) April 3, 2025
6.2 IP
0 ER
13 K (ties career-high)
3 H
0 BB
57% whiff ratepic.twitter.com/nYV85mMXWn
This performance could make teams hesitant to give him a long term deal, as his 2024 season was solid but not as good as his best years in the years prior. Gallen could look to rebound his value with another team, and the White Sox could be the perfect fit.
The White Sox need a veteran starting pitcher and Gallen could slide right in the rotation, giving the team close to 200 innings. Gallen may not want a long term deal based on his current value, so the White Sox could give him some value on a one year deal with an option, similar to what they did with Martin Perez.
Gallen has proven to be an ace, he is simply coming off a random down year. The White Sox won't likely be pushing for the playoffs, so Gallen can go out there every five days and not have the extra stress that a team pushing for the World Series would have. If Gallen has a good year, he could be traded at the deadline, or cash in after the 2026 season while he is just 31 years old.
I expect the White Sox to add a veteran starting pitcher and Gallen could be the perfect buy-low option. At the very least he will eat up innings and has frontline starter potential, as seen by his 2020-2023 seasons. We will see how much Gallen ends up getting, but I don't see him getting 100 million plus at this point, so the White Sox should be kicking the tires on Gallen.
