Rebuilding the White Sox in MLB The Show 25 Franchise Mode

After an abysmal 41-121 record in 2024, narrowly avoiding recording the worst team performance in MLB history, the White Sox are in a horrible position in real life and in MLB The Show 25. With such a terrible record and a roster full of no-namers who are not even close to the top-rated players in the game, a full rebuild of this franchise in the game would take at least 5 seasons, if not more. The only way to properly rebuild this team would be to turn off GM contracts (always set at 3 years), but I wanted to challenge myself.

I wanted to take a crack at a 3-year rebuild of the White Sox in as realistic a way as possible, not rushing the rebuild too much. However, I also knew that I had to achieve the contract goal of making it to the playoffs in just three short seasons, a task that honestly feels daunting.

So that’s the goal: Make the playoffs while making realistic moves that don’t overpower the team. I tried to overpay for all free agents, given that nobody is going to want to sign with a 40-win team unless they are getting ludicrously rich off of it. I also tended to try to get a pretty thick trade surplus bar when making trades because the Show trade system is often too soft.

So, a three-year clean rebuild of a crappy franchise while trying to find a balance between patience while also having a hard deadline to make the playoffs. Let’s go!

Preseason 1

Moves Before Season

Removed From 40-man

• RP Jordan Leasure
• RP Brandon Eisert
• SP Nick Nastrini
• 3B Bryan Ramos
• SS Jacob Amaya

Added To 40-man From Roster

• RP James Karinchak
• RP Mike Clevinger 
• C Kyle Teel
• 3B Bobby Dalbec
• LF Corey Julks

Traded

• 3B Josh Rojas
• RP Mike Clevinger
• SP Juan Carela

To the Nationals For

• SS Jose Tena

Going into season 1, we have very few assets anywhere on the roster. Robert Jr., Murfee, Vaughn, and maybe Mike Tauchman are the only veterans that we can actually get value for in a trade. In terms of prospects, SS Colson Montgomery and C Kyle Teel are the only two who are MLB-ready. Pitchers Schultz, Hagen Smith, and catcher Edgar Quero are two to three years out, and CF Braden Montgomery is even farther out. (We unfortunately won’t see any of them in the pros in this rebuild, I tried to get them up, but they are too raw.)

So right now we want to build around a young Teel and Montgomery in the MLB while also hoping that pitchers like Drew Thorpe and Jonathan Cannon, or position guys like Lenyn Sosa and Korey Lee, can develop into decent building blocks.

Opening Day Year 1 Roster

(Player name, overall)

Starting Rotation

• Bryse Wilson, 71
• Drew Thorpe, 71 
• Sean Burke, 62
• Davis Martin, 73
• Martin Perez, 66

Bullpen

• Wikelman Gonzalez, 62
• Jairo Iriarte, 59
• Shane Smith, 52
• Gus Varland, 57
• Cam Booser, 66
• Justin Anderson, 65
• James Karinchak, 68
• Penn Murfee, 75

Lineup

1. SS Jose Tena, 67
2. RF Mike Tauchman, 73
3. DH Andrew Benintendi,73
4. CF Luis Robert, 77
5. 1B Andrew Vaughn, 70
6. LF Austin Slater, 68
7. 3B Bobby Dalbec, 67
8. C Kyle Teel, 67
9. 2B Lenyn Sosa, 68

Bench

• 2B Miguel Vargas, 67
• C Korey Lee, 66
• C Matt Thaiss, 66
• CF Michael A. Taylor, 73

Season 1

Our goal this year is not to have the worst record in the league. That’s it. We need to not be the laughingstock of the league. That’s all I want in year 1.

The first month went just as badly as expected. We went 9-21 before May 1st, and to make matters worse, Kyle Teel went down for 1-2 months.

The good news is that our veteran outfielders are balling out. Mike Tauchman put up 1.003 OPS in his first 105 at-bats, and Slater put up .843 OPS. My new additions to the 40-man roster struggled mightily, as Tena hit only a .597 OPS, and Dalbec hit just a .598 OPS. 

The pitching was rough, but Penn Murfee was lights out in his eight appearances. He had a 1.00 ERA and picked up eight saves. We also had some stars break out in the Minors, with Jonathan Cannon earning a call-up to the big leagues, along with Dan Altavilla, who was also added to the 40-man.

As we move forward, Jonathan Cannon becomes our best pitcher, earning a 3.12 ERA in 60 innings, but unfortunately went down for 2-3 months with an injury around the all-star break.

Trade!

• CF Michael A.Taylor

Traded to Nationals for 

• 1B Juan Yepez

Yepez is like a cheat code for re-builders, he’s a cheap option that will create a jolt of electricity into a dormant offense, he was dominating triple-A for Washington so we wanted to see if he could bring that electricity to the Bigs. Taylor was riding the bench with us, so it was a win-win for us and the CF needy team

Our record sat at 34-63 at the All-Star break, thanks partly to Yepez’s hot bat.

To start the All-Star weekend, we took a 21-year CF named Andrew Luca in the MLB Draft, who was MLB’s 9th best prospect and the White Sox’s 8th best.

We had two all-stars in Penn Murfee and Andrew Vaughn. (I don’t know how; his numbers were average, and he only had the seventh-best OPS on the team.)

Trade!

• RF Michael Tauchman

Traded to the Guardians for 

• RPJakob Junis
• 2B Daniel Schneemann

Right before the trade deadline, Luis Robert Jr. got hurt, so we were unable to trade him, but we were still able to trade Michael Tauchman, who was in the midst of the best season of his career (.854 OPS, 41 RBIs, and 10 HR in 278 AB). We got 2B Daniel Schneemann, who was putting up subpar numbers, but his B potential could help him become a contributor on the team down the road. We also got RP Jakob Junis (4.12 ERA over 52 IP), whose value was artificially deflated due to being a reliever; once I switched him to a starter, he became a 77 overall and was tied with Robert for our best player. 

Trade!

• 1B Andrew Vaughn
• 2B Bobby Dalbec
• RP James Karinchak

Traded to the Cubs for

• 1B Michael Bush

Michael Busch is 28 with only a 74 overall and B potential, but he put up .773 OPS and 51 RBIs in 344 ABs on the season, which makes me think he is a perfect franchise cornerstone to help us complete a quick turnaround of this organization.

Getting rid of these three veterans hurt a bit, but the Cubs needed guys who could help them make a late season run, and we needed someone like Busch to build around.

The White Sox finished year one with a 61-101 record and beat the Marlins (60-102) by one game for the 29th best record!!!!!

Key Batting Efforts

(Any player with more than 100 AB and a +.700 OPS)

• CF Luis Robert Jr. .823 OPS| 5.2 WAR (512 AB)
• 3B Juan Yepez .823 OPS| 0.0 WAR (399 AB)
• 1B Michael Busch .766 OPS| 2.4 WAR (534 AB)
• DH Andrew Benintendi .723 OPS| 0.7 WAR (575 AB)
• LF Austin Slater .707 OPS| 0.3 WAR (488 AB)

Key Pitching Efforts

(Any player with more than 50 IP and a sub 4.00 ERA)

• SP Jakob Junis 2.67 ERA| 1.1 WAR (107.2 IP)
• SP Jonathan Cannon 3.20 ERA| 1.0 WAR (95.2 IP)
• CP Penn Murfee 2.30 ERA| 0.8 WAR (58.2 IP)
• RP Dan Altavilla 2.90 ERA| 0.7 WAR (63.2 IP)
• RP Cam Booser 3.47 ERA| 0.8 WAR (93.1 IP)

Team Leaders

• Runs leader: Michael Busch (66)
• Hits leader: Andrew Benintendi (150)
• HR leader: Michael Busch and Luis Robert Jr. (20)
• RBI leader: Luis Robert (81)
• SB leader: Andrew Benintendi (22)
• AVG leader: Juan Yepez (.293)
• OBP leader: Juan Yepez (.349)
• Slugging leader: Luis Robert Jr. (.475)
• Best record: Jakob Junis (10-3)
• Most wins: Jakob Junis (10)
• Most losses: Bryse Wilson (17)
• Most saves: Penn Murfee (32)
• Most holds: Cam Booser (20)
• Most strikeouts: Drew Thorpe (97)
• Best WHIP: Jakob Junis (1.14)
• Most quality starts: Bryse Wilson and Drew Thorpe (10)
• Most K/9: Dan Altavilla (9.25)
• Most HR/9: Martin Perez (1.68)

Season Summary

This season was all about seeing what we had and giving everybody a chance to establish themselves in the MLB, So we had roughly 40 players who played big league games, as I shuffled and adjusted the roster like crazy.

Offseason 1

Goals: add power and veteran leadership in the outfield, add some interior infielders, add a veteran or two to the pitching staff.

Lost

• SP Martin Perez
• 1B Joey Gallo
• 2B Brandon Drury
• C Omar Narvaez
• RP Shane Smith

Added

• Signed RF Max Kepler for 2 years 21 million
• Signed SP Austin Gomber for 2 years 20.5 million
• Signed RF Pavin Smith for 2 years 14 million
• Signed RP Tyler Rogers for 1 year 5 million
• Signed RF Mike Tauchman (again!) for 1 year 7.7 million
• Signed 3B Pablo Reyes for 1 year 2 million
• Signed RP Colin Shelby for 1 year 2 million
• Drafted 2B Brendan Rodgers in the Rule 5 draft
• Drafted RP Andrew Wantz in the Rule 5 draft

Gomber pitched great this season (3.12 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 138 IP), and so he will be paired with our young guns to try and create a pitching staff that doesn’t have a team ERA pushing 5.00. Other than him, we added three right fielders (1 that is familiar) because we needed outfielders and there was nobody worth paying at either left or center field. We added a few small pieces in the bullpen and infield as well.

Trade!

• CF Braden Montgomery
• SP Michael Walsh (2nd round 2025)
• RP Jairo Irate

To Marlins For 

• SS Xavier Edwards

Summary: I just really wanted Edwards, he might be a top 5 hitter in the game, and he can also steal 50 bags a year. His fielding is a concern, but we can play him at DH and he can be a franchise player for decades in Chicago. We had to give up two up and comers and our one young relief pitcher, but I believe it’s worth it.

Trade!

• CF Luis Robert Jr.
• 2B Miguel Vargas

To Reds For

• SP Connor Phillips
• 2B Sal Stewart 
• 1B Tomas Gonzalez

Summary: We needed to recoup our stash of young guys after the Edwards trade, so we finally dealt Robert for a trio of 22 or younger prospects with B potential. We also sent them Vargas as a sweetener.

Signings Around The League

• SP Ranger Suarez to Orioles for 3 years 90.5 million
• SP Dylan Cease to Brewers for 5 years 148.5 million
• RF Kyle Tucker to Tigers for 9 years 333.8 Million
• 1B Josh Naylor to Cubs for 7 years 129.6 million
• 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to Giants for 6 years 146.4 million

Preseason 2

We have a much better foundation on offense, with Kyle Teel now established as our franchise catcher. The corners of the infield were locked down by Michael Busch playing out of position at third and Juan Yepez playing 1st. We also now have a true franchise player who is producing in the bigs right now with Xavier Edwards at DH. We also stocked our outfield full of veterans, who could help us win, or be used as trade bait later.

With regard to pitching, we have three solid young guns in Bryse Wilson, Drew Thorpe, and Jonathan Cannon, two stud veterans in Junis and Gomber, and the prospects who will be moving to triple-A this season.

In terms of trade assets coming into the season, Jakob Junis and Bryse Wilson are perfect candidates due to their age, performance, and contracts. Penn Murfee could also be dealt, and since we brought back Mike Tauchman we may just run it back and trade him again.

We have a more expanded base of cornerstones now with Xavier Edwards and Michael Busch along with our six prospects (Brayden Montgomery got swapped out with Connor Phillips). And some pieces like Cannon and Thorpe that could support our young pitchers when they eventually debut.

Opening Day Year 2 Roster

Starting Rotation

• Jakob Junis, 77
• Jonathan Cannon, 75
• Drew Thorpe, 74
• Austin Gomber, 69
• Bryse Wilson, 76

Bullpen

• Dan Altavilla, 67
• Gus Varland, 60
• Cam Booser, 66
• Justin Anderson, 67
• Andrew Wantz, 73
• Colin Selby, 65
• Tyler Rogers, 73
• Penn Murfee, 74

Lineup

1. DH Xavier Edwards, 75
2. 2B Brendan Rodgers, 73
3. 1B Juan Yepez, 75
4. 3B Michael Busch, 74
5. RF Max Kepler, 73
6. LF Andrew Benintendi, 70
7. SS Colson Montgomery, 70
8. CF Austin Slater, 71
9. C Kyle Teel, 71

Bench

• RF Pavin Smith, 71
• C Korey Lee, 68
• 3B Pablo Reyes, 69
• RF Mike Tauchman, 73

Our goal this season is to leap from a bottom-tier team to a mid-tier team. We want to be average. I’m aiming for a +.500 win percentage, but I’m not sure we’ll get there with our current roster.

Season 2

We got out to an even worse start this season than last season starting 8-23 after the first full month, one game behind our pace last season.

My veteran strategy in the outfield didn’t work out; in fact, it made the team worse. I only figured out later on in the year that  Austin Slater is the only player of the five outfielders who can actually play centerfield. We couldn’t get any true centerfielders in free agency and decided to go with a myriad of corner outfielders, and obviously, it was a huge mistake on my part!

We scrambled to try and get our offense back on track, sending Tauchman, Pavin Smith, and Max Kepler down for Oscar Colas, Pablo Reyes, and Jose Tena.

The team went down hill from there, despite decent pitching from Gomber, Wilson and the Bullpen that kept our team ERA out of the basement of the league. The majority of the rest of our stats were ranked 30th though and we hobbled to a 31-65 record at the all-star break.

In the draft, we took the consensus best player available — a stud 21 year old pitcher named Hank Herzog.

Xavier Edwards made the All-Star team, which was exciting, but amid the crappy season, I didn’t care. We needed to add talent at the deadline.

Trade!

• 3B Bryan Ramos

To the Reds for

• LF Spencer Steer

I was desperate for any chance at turning the season around, so I made an unfair trade, but I went with it anyway. I sent 3B Bryan Ramos — who was batting a .950+ OPS in the minor leagues — to the Reds for a struggling LF Spencer Steer.

Trade!

• SP Bryse Wilson 
• CF Dominic Fletcher

To the Diamondbacks

• CF Alek Thomas

We didn’t have an MLB-caliber CF and now do. Unfortunately, I had to give up a talented young pitcher and a B potential outfielder.

Trade!

• SP Wikelman Gonzalez
• RF Michael Tauchman

To the Royals for

• SS Nick Loftin

Loftin is nothing special, but he can capably start at a key position in the MLB which is more than I can say for Gonzalez and Tauchman after their putrid performances in the first half of the season. Gonzalez is still young, though, and Tauchman still gives you outfield depth.

These deals helped us fill some much-needed holes in the outfield and at SS, as it appeared that Colson Montgomery was quickly turning into a flop.

Near the end of the season, we had some pitching problems so we signed Walker Buehler and he played well, but it didn’t help us with our record which fell to 58-104 by the end of the season. Fortunately, we still beat the Marlins by 4 games so at least there’s some consolation.

Xavier Edwards led the AL in AVG and won the batting title, which is excellent.

Key Hitting Efforts

• DH Xavier Edwards .838 OPS| 4.7 WAR (530 AB)
• LF Spencer Steer .818 OPS| 2.9 WAR (556 AB)
• RF Oscar Colas .804 OPS| 2.8 WAR (313 AB)
• 3B Michael Busch .785 OPS| -0.4 WAR (593 AB)
• 1B Juan Yepez .702 OPS| -0.8 WAR (482 AB)
• CF Alek Thomas .705 OPS| 1.4 WAR (372 AB)

Key Pitching Efforts

• SP Jakob Junis 3.40 ERA| 1.5 WAR (177.1 IP)
• SP Austin Gomber 3.60 ERA| 1.8 WAR (170 IP)
• RP Tyler Rogers 2.62 ERA| 1.5 WAR (89.1 IP)
• RP Steven Wilson 2.84 ERA| 0.3 WAR (76 IP)
• RP Cam Booser 3.62 ERA| -0.1 WAR (87 IP)
• RP Colin Selby 3.58 ERA| -0.6 WAR (60.1 IP)

Team Leaders

• Runs leader: Spencer Steer (84)
• Hits leader: Xavier Edwards (170)
• HR leader: Michael Busch (24)
• RBI leader: Michael Busch and Spencer Steer (81)
• SB leader: Xavier Edwards (51)
• AVG leader: Xavier Edwards (.321)
• OBP leader: Xavier Edwards (.400)
• Slugging leader: Spencer Steer (.466)
• Best record: Andrew Wantz (7-0)
• Most wins: Thorpe, Gomber, Cannon, and Wantz (7)
• Most losses: Junis, Gomber, and Cannon (12)
• Most saves: Penn Murfee (27)
• Most holds: Tyler Rogers (24)
• Most strikeouts: Jakob Junis (90)
• Best WHIP: Jakob Junis (1.08)
• Most quality starts: Austin Gomber (15)
• Most K/9: Dan Altavilla (10.00)
• Most HR/9: Penn Murfee (1.73)

Season Summary

It isn’t good! The fielding was horrible. I got myself into a positional nightmare at CF, 3B, and SS, at times having zero true players at any of those positions, we were forced to play players out of position and to keep underperforming players in the lineup because we had no alternatives. We also had a closer issue, with Penn Murfee’s performance turning 180 degrees and becoming the statistical worst closer in the league.

Offseason 2

Goals: We are desperate, and we finally need to spend some real money. We need to fill in the gaps of our team with some proper MLB players. It’s now or never!

Lost

• 2B Brendan Rodgers
• LF Austin Slater
• 2B Lenyn Sosa
• RP Colin Selby
• RP Gus Varland
• RP Dan Altavilla

Added

• Signed RF Victor Robles to a huge (for us) 2 year 44 million dollar deal
• Signed 2B Jonathan India to a take or leave it deal of 3 years 48 million 
• Signed SP Casey Mize for 2 years 34 million
• Signed CP Jonathan Loaisiga for 2 years 21 million

Trade!

• CP Penn Murfee 
• SP Jake Eder

To the Cardinals for 

• RP Ryan Fernandez
• RP Kyle Leahy

Murfee was terrible last year, and we have now replaced him with Jonathan Loaisiaga, but we still need normal relievers. This trade gives us two solid relievers and unloads Murfee and Eder, who weren’t in our long-term plans for the rotation.

• 1B Juan Yepez

To the Blue Jays for:

• 3B Addison Barger

Yepez was a fun addition while he lasted, but his defense at first base was bad and he pushed Michael Busch to third which lowered his fielding and hurt our team immensely. Barger can now compete with Pablo Reyes for the starting 3B spot.

Signings Around The League

• 88 overall Dalton Varsho to Yankees for 7 years 156.6 Million
• 90 overall Jazz Chisholm to Yankees for 7 years 128.5 million
• 91 overall Garrett Crochet to Tigers for 8 years 340 million
• 86 overall Jack Flaherty signs for 7 years 182.6 million
• 87 overall Ha-Seong Kim goes to Mariners for 6 years 117 million
• 95 overall Tarik Skubal to Braves for 227.4 million over 6 years