Opinion: Why the 2025 Chicago White Sox will be the worst team ever

The Chicago White Sox were stunningly bad in 2024, finishing with a record of 41-121, the lowest win total in a single season in MLB history.

It’s hard to imagine 2025 will be worse, but it can definitely happen.

The White Sox took an unserious approach when it came to improving this offseason. They kicked things off by trading starting pitcher Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox for prospects Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez.

All four prospects they acquired ranked in the top 14 of Boston’s system, with Teel and Montgomery ranking in the top 55 in all of baseball.

Crochet was an All Star for the first time last season, posting a 3.58 ERA and 209 strikeouts.

Chicago spent a total of $13.45 million on five free agents. They signed right handed pitchers Bryse Wilson and Martín Pérez, outfielders Michael A. Taylor and Mike Tauchman and utility man Josh Rojas. Those are all fine bench options, but not starting caliber players, and that’s what they’d be on the White Sox.

They also signed two players to minor-league deals, outfielder Joey Gallo and utility man Brandon Drury. Both players did not make the roster.

For more context, Gallo opted out of his contract and requested his release to pursue a pitching career for interested contending teams. Key word, contending.

Drury straight up missed the cut for the roster, a shocking decision by GM Chris Getz. Drury was posting a slash line of .410/.439/.821 across 41 plate appearances in Spring Training.

That production certainly would’ve helped the White Sox, and is another example of their lack to take things seriously.

The White Sox have also lost six different pitchers to Tommy John Surgery this spring alone. The most notable of the bunch was Drew Thorpe, one of the players Chicago got back in the Dylan Cease trade about a year ago.

Chicago’s only player worth mentioning is outfielder Luis Robert Jr., but even he has had trouble staying healthy in recent seasons. He’s coming off a down year and will need to have a bounce back season to improve his trade value.

Their top prospect, infielder Colson Montgomery, will begin the season in the minor leagues, along with top prospects like the aforementioned Chase Meidroth.

The White Sox are just a confusing mess of a franchise at the moment. They need answers that they don’t currently have.

Their manager, Will Venable, is a former player entering his first year as skipper of the club. To say he’s set up to fail would be an understatement.

41 wins seems like an easy mark to surpass, but leave it up to the White Sox to not do that. We’ll see what happens this season.

Adam Pietrzak is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email app5940@psu.edu.