White Sox Notes: Acquisitions, Acuña, Murakami

By Anthony Franco | January 29, 2026 at 11:38pm CDT

The White Sox finalized their two-year, $20MM free agent contract with Seranthony Domínguez this afternoon. The hard-throwing righty is expected to step into the ninth inning for skipper Will Venable. That deal came on the heels of the Sox trading Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets, a move which dropped the center fielder’s $20MM salary from the books.

General manager Chris Getz said after the Robert trade that the Sox would be “very active” in using that payroll space. Domínguez will make $8MM in the first season of his slightly backloaded deal. Even if the White Sox don’t intend to reallocate all $20MM into this year’s roster, there should be room in the budget for another addition.

Getz acknowledged as much, saying on Thursday that the front office remains involved on both free agent and trade targets. “We’re still fairly active in free agency and also talking to other clubs,” Getz said in a TV appearance (video via CHSN). He made similar comments in a fan event before this weekend’s SoxFest Live event. “I believe that there are going to be more adds. To what level, (I’m) unsure,” the GM said (link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). “What we can provide is opportunity and a runway, and some of these players we’ve acquired just haven’t gotten that runway in other places for various reasons.”

This remains a rebuild even if the White Sox have had a bigger offseason than anticipated.

Domínguez is an established reliever, but the rest of Chicago’s pickups have been upside shots on young players or those whose roles might change. They jumped on the opportunity to add Munetaka Murakami on a two-year, $34MM contract when the Japanese slugger’s market didn’t develop. The Sox signed NPB returnee Anthony Kay to a two-year deal that likely includes a rotation spot. Sean Newcomb worked mostly out of the bullpen last year but could battle for a starting job in camp. On the position player side, they’ve taken fliers on former highly-regarded prospects Luisangel Acuña and Everson Pereira in trades.

Acuña came over from the Mets in the Robert deal. He’s a .248/.299/.341 hitter in 233 MLB plate appearances but never had consistent playing time in New York.
[ That would have been good for what? 5th? maybe 6th best in the Guardian line up last year??? ]

Acuña has primarily been a middle infielder in his career, but he’s also playing a good amount of center field in the Venezuelan Winter League. He has plus-plus speed that could be an asset in the outfield. Jon Heyman of The New York Post writes that Acuña is likely to get an opportunity to step directly into Robert’s role as Chicago’s primary center fielder.

The versatility means Acuña will probably still see some infield work. Chicago’s middle infield tandem of Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth is more exciting than their post-Robert outfield, which may be the worst in MLB. Andrew Benintendi is back in left field. Pereira, Brooks Baldwin, Derek Hill and Tristan Peters — along with minor league signees Jarred Kelenic and Dustin Harris — make for an unimposing right field mix. There’s a decent chance they’ll make another outfield move or two before Opening Day. There’s also ample opportunity in a rotation that is led by Shane Smith, Sean Burke, Davis Martin and the free agent signees Kay and Newcomb.

While there are a lot of moving pieces, Murakami should be a staple as the everyday first baseman. Major league clubs clearly had big reservations about the rate at which he swung and missed in Japan. Murakami may have as much raw power as any hitter on the planet, though, and the Sox will no doubt have a long leash as he tries to acclimate to MLB pitching. It’s the kind of upside play that virtually no one saw coming at the beginning of the offseason, when Murakami was widely expected to command a nine-figure deal.

That skepticism extended to the White Sox themselves. Getz spoke with Scott Merkin of MLB.com about the signing and acknowledged that the NPB superstar was not a player they expected to add. “Candidly, I didn’t think it was going to be a realistic target for us. I didn’t. The speculation was big, whether it be years, and dollars. … We did our due diligence. But I still didn’t feel like it was going to be realistic, even into when free agency opened up.”

It carried well into the offseason, as Getz said he still didn’t view Murakami as a viable addition into the Winter Meetings in early December. Talks didn’t accelerate until a few days before the close of the player’s 45-day posting window, which expired on December 22. Once it became apparent that Murakami wasn’t going to find a long-term deal he desired, the Sox made their move.

“We just view this as truly upside,” Getz said of adding a marquee player from Japan. “The baseball side, the business side. There’s a big impact and it’s leading to things that perhaps we didn’t even anticipate, quite honestly.” Sox fans will want to read Merkin’s full column, which includes more specifics from Getz and Venable on the process leading up to the agreement.

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[ The whiite sox will not be the divisions punching bag this season. They've already upgraded significantly. Getz is not done yet. As he's said, the Sox will be “very active” and acknowledged as much, saying on Thursday that the front office remains involved on both free agent and trade targets. “We’re still fairly active in free agency and also talking to other clubs,” Getz said in a TV appearance (video via CHSN). Meanwhile, the Guardians remain complacent hoping the cards fall in the right places while the sox and royals continue to play catchup. This division is going to have quite a difference face than it had in 2025 and if I were in the front office, I'd be looking in that rear view mirror. ]

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Eli Morgan signs bounce-back contract with Guardians’ division rival

By Henry Palattella

2 hours ago

For three seasons, Eli Morgan was a solid middle-leverage reliever for the Cleveland Guardians. While he doesn’t have overpowering stuff or a varied arsenal, Morgan always seemed to wiggle out of whatever jam he found himself in.

But his career hit a huge roadblock in 2025 thanks to a disaster season with the Cubs where he pitched in just seven games before suffering a season-ending arm injury that led to him being designated for assignment after the season.

But now he’ll get a chance to rebuild his career in a place familiar to every Guardians fans, as Morgan signed a minor league deal with the Royals on Thursday that includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Former Guardians reliever Eli Morgan inks minor league deal with Royals

In total, Morgan posted a 12.27 ERA in 7 1/3 innings with the Cubs last year due to an elbow impingement that ended his season in April. He was due back in September and actually went on a rehab assignment, but the Cubs elected to send him down to Triple-A instead of calling him up.

That was a far cry from where he was during his time with the Guardians, as he had an ERA of 4.01 or better in all three of his seasons in Cleveland’s bullpen. He had a 1.93 ERA in 2024 but also only managed to throw 42 innings due to elbow inflammation, which ended up being a harbinger of what was to come in 2025.

The Guardians were still able to capitalize on his value by trading him to the Cubs for outfield prospect Alfonsin Rosario, who is becoming a budding star in the Guardians’ minor league system.

Morgan’s best season in Cleveland’s bullpen came in 2022 when he posted a 3.38 ERA in 66 2/3 innings with 72 strikeouts. While he was never the biggest name in the Guardians’ bullpen, it didn’t take long for him to become a favorite for manager Terry Francona.

The biggest thing working against Morgan now is his lack of velocity. He primarily relies on a fastball that sits around 92 miles per hour and a loopy changeup that looks like a cartoon when he’s hitting his spots.

While he has a strong major league track record using that arsenal, it’s tough for him to get hitters out when he doesn’t have his command, which has been a problem that he’s run into in the past (and is the biggest reason why Cleveland converted him to a reliever).

Even though Morgan’s not on a big league contract, he still has a good shot to make the Royals’ roster thanks to the team’s offseason reshuffling.

The main depth options the Royals have in their bullpen are Alex Lange, Daniel Lynch and James McArthur — none of whom have extremely stong holds over their roster spots.

Lange served as the Tigers’ closer in 2023 but has only thrown 19 2/3 innings over the past two seasons due to injury, while McArthur missed all of 2025 due to an elbow injury.

Morgan also has one more minor league option remaining, which gives him a leg up on some of the players he’s competing against.

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Dave Roberts might've just revealed tough Dodgers path forward for Roki Sasaki

Roberts issued a challenge. Will Sasaki accept it?

By Emma Lingan

4 hours ago

Dave Roberts didn’t say it bluntly. He didn’t have to.

When the Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager stood in front of reporters and calmly explained that Roki Sasaki “needs to develop a third pitch,” he wasn’t just talking about mechanics. He was sketching the most difficult road in baseball: the one where a prodigy has to admit that raw greatness is no longer enough.

For most of this roster, the Dodgers know what they have. Shohei Ohtani is the sport’s gravitational center. Mookie Betts remains a marvel even as age creeps into the conversation. Freddie Freeman’s swing is engineered to age gracefully. There is variance, sure—but not mystery.

Sasaki is different. He arrives at camp in February as an unknown variable in a system built on certainty. The Dodgers have invested far more than money in him, effectively burning two international classes to land a 24-year-old who once bent Japan’s domestic league with little more than a 100-mph fastball and a forkball that fell off tables.

That formula works when hitters see you once. It does not work when they see you three times.

Roberts’ comments revealed the hard truth: if Sasaki is going to be a starter in Major League Baseball, he must become something he has never had to be before—a pitcher willing to be unfinished.

Roki Sasaki faces a major challenge entering his second Dodgers spring training

The irony is cruel. Sasaki’s identity has been built on dominance. In Japan, he didn’t need a third pitch. In October, he didn’t need one either, mowing through postseason innings as a closer with pure velocity and bravado. Three saves. A 0.84 ERA. The myth was restored.

But relief stardom is a shortcut. Starting is a journey.

A two-pitch mix can survive in bursts. It rarely survives in arcs. Big league lineups are too disciplined, too prepared, too merciless. They remember. They adjust. They wait. And without something that “goes left,” as Roberts put it — a slider, a curveball, a wrinkle — Sasaki’s brilliance becomes predictable. That’s why Roberts’ challenge is as psychological as it is technical.

Sasaki is famously independent. When the Dodgers credited their staff for restoring his fastball last season, he countered by saying he fixed it himself by studying old video. It wasn’t arrogance. It was identity. He has always trusted his own eye.

Now, the Dodgers need him to trust something else. They need him to be vulnerable.

Roberts is threading a needle. He wants Sasaki to stay dangerous, to keep the edge that let him stare down hitters in October. But he also wants him to accept that greatness in this league is additive. That evolution is not weakness. That needing help is not failure.

The “tough path forward” isn’t adding a pitch. It’s accepting that the game is bigger than the version of yourself that got you here. Sasaki has already conquered one baseball world. To conquer this one, he must let it change him.



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Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki throws against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 of the 2025 World Series.
Getty Images

Biggest mystery for Dodgers who can make or break season: Roki Sasaki

By Dylan Hernandez

Published Jan. 27, 2026, 6:44 p.m. ET

For the most part, the Dodgers know what they have.

In Shohei Ohtani, they have the best player in baseball. In Mookie Betts, they have a capable shortstop who might or might not be declining offensively. In Freddie Freeman, they have a professional hitter whose short swing should slow down the effects of age.

Nothing is guaranteed in sports, but the Dodgers can estimate the range of potential outcomes this season for most of their players.

One notable exception: Roki Sasaki.

Pitchers and catchers will report to the Dodgers’ spring training home in Arizona on Feb. 13, and Sasaki will once again show up as one of the greatest mysteries in camp.

The Dodgers have invested heavily in the 24-year-old Sasaki, as they basically sacrificed two classes of international amateur players in their quest to sign him. Even after an up-and-down rookie season last year, they remain committed to him. Sasaki is committed to them as well, as plans are for him to stay in spring training rather than join the Japanese national team at the World Baseball Classic.

“We’re gonna give him every chance to be the fifth starter or the sixth starter,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Sasaki is the most naturally gifted pitcher Japan has produced. In his homeland’s domestic league, he dominated with only two-plus pitches, a 100-mph fastball and Wiffle ball-like forkball.

His transition to the major leagues last year was rough. His body looked undeveloped compared with other players. His command was lacking. His fastball velocity declined. By mid-May, he was on the injured list with a shoulder impingement. He didn’t return to the majors until the final week of the regular season.




Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki celebrate in the locker room after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in Game 7 to win the 2025 World Series


When Sasaki returned, it was as a reliever, agreeing to a test run out of the bullpen on the condition that he be granted a chance to start next season. With the back of the Dodgers’ bullpen in shambles, Sasaki inherited the role of closer almost by default and thrived. In four postseason games, he registered three saves and a 0.84 ERA.

His unexpected October heroics restored his phenom status, but Roberts cautioned that for his success as a reliever to translate into success as a starter, he will have to make adjustments.




Roki Sasaki celebrates after pitching in the 2025 World Series.

“For me,” Roberts said, “he needs to develop a third pitch.”

Perhaps a slider, perhaps a curveball.

“It’s going to need to be something that goes left,” Roberts said.

A fastball-forkball mix could work for a reliever who comes in and throws as hard as he can for an inning. But Roberts reasons that as good as Sasaki’s primary pitches are, the right-hander will need another offering to keep hitters guessing in his second or third time through the order.

Some evaluators wonder if Sasaki has a delivery that could prevent him from effectively throwing another pitch, but Roberts believes the obstacle is more mental than physical.

“It’s always hard for a young player who’s had success doing something one way – great success – to now be vulnerable and open to something the game hasn’t told you that you needed to do,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers have encountered trouble reaching Sasaki, who is known for his strong individual streak. When he emerged as a bullpen savior, the organization scrambled to share stories of how it helped him recover his fastball velocity. Sasaki offered an entirely different retelling of events that minimized the role played by the team. He said he discovered the problems with his delivery when he watched old videos of himself.

Roberts said he was conscientious about striking a balance in dealing with Sasaki. He wants Sasaki to have the humility to be open to ideas. But he also wants him to retain the brashness that made him stare down hitters in the ninth inning. Roberts said the game should lead him to his destination.

“I like the phrase, ‘The game tells you,’” Roberts said.

The game once told Ohtani to abandon the leg kick he used in Japan. The game told Clayton Kershaw to develop a slider. Now, Roberts expects the game to tell Sasaki that he has to add a weapon to his arsenal. Sasaki’s future as a starter could depend on it.

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A's extend star shortstop Jacob Wilson to 7-year deal

58 minutes ago

Theo DeRosa

The Athletics continue to secure another young fixture of their promising position-player core.

Shortstop Jacob Wilson and the A’s agreed to a seven-year, $70 million contract extension including a club option for an eighth season, the team announced on Friday.

Wilson, 23, is coming off a second-place finish in the American League Rookie of the Year Award voting, with A’s teammate Nick Kurtz claiming the honor. Wilson, who batted .311 with 13 home runs and an .799 OPS, was named an All-Star in his rookie campaign.

Wilson’s extension is the latest in a string of long-term deals issued by the A’s to their key players. Since the start of 2025, designated hitter Brent Rooker (5 years, $60 million) and outfielders Lawrence Butler (7 years, $65.5 million) and Tyler Soderstrom (7 years, $86 million) have all signed extensions of five years or more with the club.

A first-round Draft pick in 2023 out of Grand Canyon University, Wilson -- the son of former Major League shortstop Jack Wilson -- made his MLB debut in 2024, playing in 28 games. In 2025, his batting average topped .350 as late as June 24.

While the A’s finished in fourth place in the AL West at 76-86, their 35-29 (.547) record after the All-Star break ranked in the top 10 in the Majors. With Wilson, Rooker, Butler and Soderstrom now committed for the long haul -- and Kurtz looking to build on a monster rookie year -- the A’s appear to have their sights set on contending in 2026.

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