{"id":522788,"date":"2026-01-17T12:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/522788\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:49:11","slug":"offseason-additions-and-areas-to-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/522788\/","title":{"rendered":"Offseason additions \u2014 and areas to address"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it was squaring off against the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers, outfielder Jarred Kelenic always enjoyed returning to places close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in that area, until I was 18, and I was in Chicago quite a bit, whether it was playing or visiting just with my family,\u201d said Kelenic, a native of Waukesha, Wis., during a videoconference call Wednesday. \u201cThe cool part of being in that city is thinking of those memories and just it being a place that I\u2019ve had so much history with \u2014 not only just baseball but off-the-field stuff too.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago is my favorite city that I have ever played in. So, to be able to potentially call that home, I\u2019m looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelenic is aiming for an extended stay in the upcoming season after agreeing to a minor-league deal with the Sox on Dec. 31. He\u2019ll be a nonroster invitee to the team\u2019s major-league spring training camp.<\/p>\n

A first-round pick by the New York Mets in 2018, Kelenic has a career .211\/.282\/.376 slash line with 63 doubles, 49 home runs, 156 RBIs and 130 walks during parts of five seasons with the Seattle Mariners (2021-23) and Atlanta Braves (2024-25).<\/p>\n

Kelenic played in a career-high 131 games for the Braves in 2024. He spent the bulk of 2025 at Triple-A Gwinnett (95 games), and also hit .167 with two home runs and two RBIs in 24 games with the Braves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still working to be as consistent as I possibly can,\u201d Kelenic said. \u201cI think consistency is the name of the game. I\u2019ve been through a lot of ups and downs and I\u2019m just trying to learn from those and attack them and grow as a baseball and as a teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelenic, 26, could become a contributor for a club that wanted to target outfield depth, particularly on corners, during the offseason. In November, the Sox acquired outfielder Everson Pereira<\/a> as part of a trade that sent pitchers Yoendrys G\u00f3mez and Steven Wilson to the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s offseason checklist<\/a> also included addressing starting and relief pitching, along with adding a left-handed-hitting infielder. The biggest splash took place in December when they signed two-time Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese Central League Most Valuable Player Munetaka Murakami to a two-year, $34 million deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Murakami, who will play first base, hit 246 home runs during eight seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows \u2014 including 56 in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"NewNewly acquired White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami walks onto the field during a news conference Dec. 22, 2025, at Rate Field. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Sox also looked to Japan in terms of pitching, finalizing a two-year, $12 million contract with left-hander Anthony Kay<\/a> on Dec. 9. Kay, 30, spent last season with the Yokohama BayStars. He has five seasons of big-league experience with the Toronto Blue Jays (2019-22), Cubs (2023) and Mets (2023).<\/p>\n

The White Sox added two pitchers who spent portions of 2025 with the Boston Red Sox, trading for Chris Murphy in November and signing Sean Newcomb<\/a> to a one-year deal in December. They also made two selections in the Rule 5 draft<\/a>, picking up right-handers Jedixson Paez from the Red Sox organization and Alexander Alberto from the Rays organization.<\/p>\n

In general, manager Will Venable said the moves have been \u201cvery thoughtful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. 1, these guys are guys that are young, physical, athletic guys,\u201d Venable said during a videoconference call last week. \u201cI don\u2019t think any manager is going to have a problem with that. That you continue to add those types of bodies is great. But they also have a ton of upside.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven someone like Anthony Kay who had his stint here (in the majors), goes over (to Japan), I think there\u2019s upside there that we can tap into. (Newcomb), obviously Mune, these guys, there\u2019s some real upside. It will be our job to create an environment and support them with everything we can to help them be at their best. But for me I think the thing that really sticks out is you\u2019ve got guys that have really high ceilings, and that\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring training is less than a month away, with pitchers and catchers slated to report to camp Feb. 10. It will be interesting to watch how the pitching shakes out, along with which players join the likes of Luis Robert Jr. \u2014 whose $20 million club option was picked up in November<\/a> \u2014 and Andrew Benintendi in the outfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to going out there and proving the player that I can be,\u201d Kelenic said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to playing with another group of guys. I\u2019ve been traded a couple of times. One of the cool things is you get to meet a whole different group of players and build so many more friendships. That\u2019s definitely an exciting thing for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting to know the guys, getting to know the organization and doing everything I can to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether it was squaring off against the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers, outfielder Jarred Kelenic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":522789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[232531,197082,960,1274,69684,5386,1818,232530,13247,150026,212420,13250],"class_list":{"0":"post-522788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-alexander-alberto","9":"tag-anthony-kay","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-everson-pereira","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-jedixson-paez","16":"tag-luis-robert-jr","17":"tag-munetaka-murakami","18":"tag-sean-newcomb","19":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115910525883777881","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}