‘We’re going to win more games than we did last year’: Q&A with White Sox GM Chris Getz

PHOENIX — Somehow, Chris Getz’s hair hasn’t turned gray.

Not yet, at least. But he’s got 162 more White Sox games to watch this season.

So far, the 41-year-old White Sox general manager hasn’t let an incredibly stressful job affect him physically, mentally or follically.

Last year, in his first full season as the baseball boss of Jerry Reinsdorf’s most distressing team, he presided over the worst season in modern baseball history, a 41-121 wire-to-wire disaster. Getz goes into his second full season with no money to spend and no hope for the present, and yet he’s optimistic.

The Sox’s farm system, which he used to run, is deeper. He’s got a manager that he wants to work with in Will Venable and, well, he knows the 2025 season can’t be any worse than last year.

Last Thursday, Getz took a walk with me toward the back fields of Camelback Ranch and talked about the state of his team. He was feeling good. Of course, this was less than an hour before the Sox announced young pitcher Drew Thorpe (acquired from San Diego in the Dylan Cease deal last spring) left a minor-league start with elbow issues and a day before the Sox announced Thorpe was getting Tommy John surgery.

It wasn’t the best omen to start another season in which the Sox are expected to lose at least 100 games.

This is your second spring training as the GM. What have you learned?

In regards to this spring training versus last, we’ve got a better understanding of who we are and where we’re headed than we did a year ago. I think that there’s certainly an advantage in that. That itself is going to lead to better outcomes.

What are the advantages of building an identity with a coaching staff led by manager Will Venable? How much different does it feel in spring training?

Well, still to the similar theme of knowing who we are, we were very intentional with the types of people that we brought in here. We felt like the group that we have right now can help us continue to develop this group of players, and it starts with Will. Will’s got such a special way about him. His communication skills, his intelligence, his understanding of the big picture, knowing that there’s going to be some bumps in the road, some struggles, so to speak, and not falling into the trap or getting caught up in the emotions of a major-league season and knowing that we’ve got to do the best we can with the group that we have, but also knowing that more talent is coming.

And so when we enter into a phase where we have a more competitive club, we’re going to be in a better position to optimize that group when they’re here. A lot of that has to do with Will’s ability to not get caught up in the day-to-day grind and having the patience and understanding of where we’re headed.

What kind of difference can a manager like Will make when you’re not giving him a roster that can win 90 games — it’s more like 60? How can a manager make the product better and an environment where young guys come up and things are expected of them and they’re going to plug into what he’s doing?

You’re looking for a manager and a coaching staff to maximize the talent that you have on your roster, knowing that there are going to be plenty of days and plenty of games where, on paper, a lot of things need to go right for us to win that night. We want someone establishing processes that allow us to make the players better, and the players recognizing and trusting that we have the best interest in their talent development. You know, 2025 is an important season for us, but we still know that we’re not where we want to be and that, regardless of where we sit at the end of the season, we know we still have strides to make.

What should fans think about the White Sox this year? What do you expect? What should they focus on?

There are different areas that we prioritize that I think we are better suited to handle this year. We’ve got an organization, a coaching staff, that I feel is better suited to execute in areas like base running and defensive positioning to create runs and save runs. We’re better positioned to improve on the framing front and the catching front.

And that’s an established process that is not going to change based on the players that we have. We’re more prepared for when the talent does improve; we have more experience to get the most out of the group in a more efficient manner.

Our pitching is ahead of our hitting. We feel good about the future of our starting rotation with players like Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, Drew Thorpe (now injured), Davis Martin, Jairo Iriarte and Shane Smith.

Shane Smith’s a great example of collaboration and a process that allowed us to confidently make the selection with our first (Rule 5) pick and add someone like that. Now you apply that type of approach to every acquisition, whether it be in waiver wire, free agency, draft and international, and better results are going to come because of that process.

We’ve got Grant Taylor, an arm that you know can be slotted up there with the arms like Noah and Hagen. We’ve got guys with some real front line impact ability and a considerable amount of depth, position player-wise.

With the Garrett Crochet deal, you look at Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth, Braden Montgomery and these core position players that can be added to Colson Montgomery, Edgar Quero, Miguel Vargas and his continued development, and it’s starting to shape. It’s starting to balance out throughout the organization, where we know that we’re not where we need to be on the offensive side, but there’s certainly more here than what we had a year ago.

What is the philosophy now on getting guys to the majors? The White Sox traditionally would rush some pitchers to the majors, like Crochet and Chris Sale. What’s the philosophy going to be now because people are going to call for Hagen Smith and Schultz to make quick jumps?

Well, Noah Schultz, for example, when we signed him out of the draft, he had 30 innings under his belt. So there’s the natural buildup that has to happen. And even last year, although he had 90 innings, he was pitching once a week with four-inning outings. The goal this year is to get him closer to a major-league starting routine of pitching more often and going deeper into games. So when we do bring him up to the big leagues, he’s more accustomed to what he’s going to be faced with at the major-league level. I think most people will understand that’s best for Noah and best for the White Sox. Now, once we get to the point where you know where Noah or Hagen is adapting to that routine, then it becomes a more intense decision on whether it’s time to bring them up to the big leagues.

And yeah, there are other factors of, OK, where is the rest of the organization at? Are our position players in a place where we can score enough runs to support the pitching staff? Because in all reality, you only have players for so long. And you want to make sure that it matches up so we can maximize the talent that we have.

So, don’t expect to see Noah or Hagen this year? Or, in a perfect world, you’d let them spend the year in the minors to develop.

I have tasked our group to get them mirroring the major-league routine. But really, it’s more like 2026 and ’27, knowing that it’s going to take time for them to adapt to that. But also it lines up in a way where we can support it on the position player front as well.

Luis is responding well. Only Luis can explain how he feels about the White Sox’s current situation. I know that he’s determined to be on the field regularly this year and we’re going to support him in any way we can to do that, and knowing that when Robert can stay on the field for an extended amount of time, he can impact the game in a lot of different ways. … I know Luis seems to be in a good head space, and I’m watching how he goes about his business, interacts with his teammates and he’s been playing with joy. I think good things are going to happen because of that.

Last year, you were focused on building up the organization, but was it a chore to go and watch the games, knowing the results weren’t going to be pretty?

You know, there wasn’t a day that I wasn’t excited to watch the game. Now, yeah, oftentimes the outcome wasn’t something that you wanted to feel or endure, but there were so many positive takeaways along the way, whether it be an Erick Fedde and how we acquired him and the season he was putting together. You look at Michael Kopech and where he was at the end of 2023 and getting him back on track and being a productive major-league pitcher. Garrett Crochet, a prime example of a success for the organization. You know what we were able to get where Crochet was a year ago to where he is now, a dramatic change, and, you know, (it) potentially changed the trajectory of this organization based on how that played out. So although the losses, the losses were painful, you knew each night you could watch something that was going to help the organization.

What’s your message to Sox fans entering the season?

The organization is in a much better spot than where we were a year ago. We can point to the accumulation of talent that we’ve been able to acquire and develop here. Be patient. Better days are ahead. We certainly sympathize with our fan base that was frustrated with the product last year and with where things currently stand. But we are making strides. We are determined to get this right and we will get this right.

So you don’t want them booing wins anymore like they did at the end of last year? That was an unusual situation.

That was unusual. But once again, we kind of understood why they were doing that. And you know, we haven’t lost sight of where we want to go. We’re on track to make this an organization and a team that they can be proud of.

Can you confidently say you’ll win more games than you did last year?

I can confidently say we’re going to win more games than we did last year.

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