Tarik Skubal is MLB’s top free agent of the 2026-27 offseason and the White Sox are not expected to be anywhere near him. Fine. I’d still make the phone call.
MLB.com’s White Sox beat writer Scott Merkin wrote that he wouldn’t expect Tarik Skubal to be on their free-agent radar, “but money will be spent in this area.” That is a forecast from a guy who covers the team, telling you where he thinks the budget goes. Nobody has said the Sox hung up on anybody.
And the budget has a hole in it. The White Sox went through the playoffs with Sean Burke as their only starting pitcher, and their run ended in Cleveland in the ALDS anyway. MLB.com’s counter-reading is fair: that was more about playing to the strengths of a dominant bullpen than a roster flaw. Sure. You also don’t pick that plan off the menu if you have four starters you trust.
My opinion, and it’s only that: Burke is the one starter on this staff I’d hand a playoff game to without checking the weather first. A fan-site awards post called him the best pitcher on the team and I don’t have a better candidate.
Then there’s Luis Castillo, who is owed $22.75 million for 2027 and who the Sox need to bounce back after an 8.42 ERA. Slow down on that number, though: it covers nine games and six starts. Maybe he’s fine. But a plan that begins with “maybe he’s fine” is a plan for a team that thinks it’s still rebuilding.
The farm doesn’t solve it either. MLB.com notes that some of the pitching prospects will end up in the bullpen. My read, again opinion: a farm full of arms that might become relievers is a lovely thing to own, and a terrible thing to hand the ball to in April.
Jim Bowden did name the White Sox as one of Skubal’s three best fits, alongside the Mets and the Dodgers. Treat that as a columnist’s projection and nothing more.
Jim Bowden projects Tarik Skubal could land a contract worth anywhere from $350M to $500M this offseason
His three best team fits:
New York Mets
Los Angeles Dodgers
Chicago White SoxSkubal on the Southside would be INSANE 🍿👀 pic.twitter.com/WI2XZNYoij
— Nosebleed Baseball (@Baseball_NBS) October 27, 2026
Nobody serious thinks Chicago wins that auction. The market is going to be loud. But the cost of asking is a phone call and an agent’s callback, and the information is the point. If the price is absurd, you walk away knowing exactly how far off your payroll plan is. If it isn’t, you’ve got a story nobody saw coming.
The rotation question is the whole offseason now. Money is going to be spent in this area either way, according to the guy who watches this team every day. If you’re going to write the checks anyway, you can at least look at the menu with the big number on it, even if you end up ordering the cheaper thing. The trade-deadline case for Skubal still holds up, and Chris Getz calling the rotation the problem puts the whole thing on the front office to actually do something about it.
Ask the question. Worst case, somebody in Chicago finally learns what a real ace costs.
