The White Sox announced a few moves before tonight’s series opener with the Angels. They selected outfielder Corey Julks onto the roster and activated Shane Smith from the 15-day injured list. Chicago optioned outfielder Will Robertson to Triple-A Charlotte. They already had an opening on the active roster for a pitcher after trading Adrian Houser to Tampa Bay yesterday. Smith will take the ball tonight.
Robertson had just been recalled on Wednesday after the Sox traded Austin Slater to the Yankees. That subtracted a right-handed bat from their outfield. They’ll reset that balance by bringing up the righty-hitting Julks in place of Robertson, a lefty bat. Julks is a 29-year-old who made 93 appearances with the Astros as a rookie two seasons ago. Chicago acquired him last May in a minor trade. He made 66 appearances and hit .214/.275/.306 with three home runs.
That unsurprisingly was not enough for Julks to hold his roster spot all winter. He went unclaimed on waivers and remained with the organization in a non-roster capacity. Julks hit his way back to the big leagues with an impressive .295/.373/.470 slash line in Charlotte. He has connected on 10 home runs and stolen 13 bags while taking walks at a solid 10.3% clip. Julks can’t really play center field, but he can take some at-bats against lefty pitching form the left-handed hitting corner outfield duo of Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman.
They should’ve called him up earlier & tried to flip him at the deadline…easier said than done though since they evidently couldn’t even move Tauchman.
Tauchman at 5 years older is also five times the player Julks is. Apparently the goal is to win 63 games. To be fair the team is much improved. The last twenty games have been good.
Julks is a solid player, I’m surprised the Sox didn’t call him up sooner.
The article pretty much answered that. He can’t play CF. With all the time Robert missed, he probably would have been up here if he could play CF.
I was just saying as a bench bat at the very least, and I think Julks could play CF in a pinch if he had to. He’s easily an above average defender in a corner with his plus speed. Believe he stole 20 bags in his rookie year in Houston in not a full season
Julks is solid as AAA level player-MLB level is a bridge too far.
Julks had his chance last year.. for a disturbingly long enough time and performing under average. He had a good, like 2 weeks, after that, ick. Not sure why he is back up now, was it his turn in the Getzy transactional bingo?
The Sox wanted to keep Tauchman because they have an option on his contract for next season.
He’s having a great season… several teams would have loved to add him to their rosters.
If that were the case, he should be gone. I like Tauchman, but this team should be continuously stocking their minor league system when they are playing for nothing but pride right now, Even if they are not very good at developing position players…
Tauchman is likely not around by the time this team is ‘ready’ (or will be a FA), so option for next season or not, if they got any sort of offer for him, he should have been moved. Same with guys like Alexander, Benintendi (even if you have to eat a bit of salary), Civale, even Sosa.
I wonder how much of this was Getz being crazy in return demands (granted most of the league apparently was like that leading up to the deadline).
The White Sox are paying every penny of the Benintendi contract. There are only 12 outfielders in the sport with a worse OAA than him, and most of those guys are not getting anywhere near as many DH appearances as he is. He is basically a left-handed DH at this point, and his OPS is about 100 points too low to be worthwhile rostering in that role.
No. It’s time to stop continuously stocking the minor league system with kids who more than likely won’t pan out. It’s time to start building a winning culture. Build on the core that’s taking shape. Tauch should be on this team next year as a seasoned veteran.
There is nowhere near enough talent on this team to even DREAM of being competitive. Let Venable “set the culture” when there is enough actual talent here. That process of accruing talent is likely to take at least all of 2026 and all of 2027, and likely at least the first half of 2028, if not all of 2028.
By then, Mike Tauchman’s “leadership” will be a fart in the wind.
It was an interesting decision, keeping Tauchman, seems they will be bringing him back in ’26, Benintendi too. I am all for it, Tauchmann could be a candidate for an extension. Great season.
Bemintendi is our best hitter when he is healthy, and he’ll be back. Meidroth, Quero and Teel. Vargas and Montgomery has looked better in MLB than he did in AAA.
Starting pitching ahould be good too next season, kept all the bullpen arms. Sox had a good trade deadline. Passed on the propsects, kept the team together. I think it was a smart play keeping it together.
I say be PATIENT and let things work out in their own time
“Benintendi is out best hitter when he is healthy”.. oof not much hope in the rebuild if that is their best hitter. “Tauchman should get an extension”. wow…he will be 35 next season…I really hope that is sarcasm as both statements smack about whats wrong with this franchise.
However, no one who is a FA at the end of the year should have stayed on this club. Civale, Alexander, Eisert, even beloved Tauchman (who I get has an option) should have been moved for any prospects. If they like them so much, resign them again in the off season.
People have to think with their head, not their heart, thinking with hearts (and nickels and dimes) is what has made this org mediocre for nearly 2 decades, its what blew up the last rebuild, with bloated extensions for unmotivated players, and a removal of a manager (who was liked in the clubhouse and got them out of the last rebuild) for a guy who hadn’t managed in 10 years.
You really don’t understand how this works. Maybe you should sit back, watch and learn.
Alexander’s pitched well out of the Sox bullpen and has good numbers since June, he will be a FA but he might be worth a look at a low AAV. He isnt going to break the bank.
Benintendi is 31, getting a little older, has had a number of injuries. He is a good hitter, got paid, had injuries, cant stay healthy. You can’t move off his 17M per season for any significant prospects so why move him? He could put it together and he could play some good innings next season.
Robert has the potential to be a great player, he could end up having a Bellinger-like return to greatness but Bellinger left the Dodgers. He didnt get back to greatness with the same team that he tanked his career with. Sox could retain Robert, could be great, could put in another bad season. But say he does have a great season in ’26 and another in ’27, are you going to extend him in ’28 and beyond at what would likely be a high AAV long term deal? If not,why bring him back in ’26? It’s a difficult decision. Glad its not mine to make.
Tauchmann has a year of arb and has had a great season. He’s getting old, he dont have too many more years left, but he could have a few good seasons. He’s probably looking at a two year extension into ’28. Might be cheap, might be a good player to keep around.
Id resign Civale if he was going to play for the same figure he did this season on a one year deal. Id include a team option on it too. He has a good arm, is a durable pitcher and will give you good innings.
Eisert and the remainder of the bullpen outside of Alexander I believe they are all under team control. Sox have a good set of position prospects, they have a plethora of pitching prospects, keep the bullpen together as a unit and it will build some momentum.
Rick Hahn blew up the last rebuild when he hired Tony LaRussa, we can agree on that, and the extensions, they can go either way, at the time I thought both Robert and Jimenez were great contracts for the White Sox but Im mostly to the point where I believe teams are better off letting the players develop into FA. Seems there are always more complications with those rookie deals than there are benefits.
Sure.. ‘Hahn hired LaRussa’… That solely had Reinsdorf’s fingerprints all over that, then Reinsdorf had the nerve to blame Hahn for it.. Just like Burger for Eder was shown to be KW actually (as wash trade, but one wonders who really made that Shields for Tatis and Johnson trade). Hahn’s flubs to me were the extensions to guys who obviously did not want to do more once they got their money. Namely Jimenez and Moncada.
As for ‘now’, none of the FA, or the near FA will be here when the team is ready as there should be far better players in their place, either via FA or a prospect.. Tauchman will only get worse, same with Benintendi. You trade them for whatever, you get a low A ball player? Go for it, and hope the Sox scouting Dept has learned something.
Lefty relievers? Always a market for those guys, get a lottery ticket and again hope your scouting staff does a good job. Not sure if Getz was over valuing his players or does not trust his scouts to do their jobs.
The only exception to me is Robert as I doubt Getz got anywhere near what Robert could be worth, and sure next year his option costs 20M, but he is on a team with NO payroll and unlikely to add any next season (other than more darkhouse/trade bait), so Getz should roll the dice, at worst you have to cut bait, Ok. its just money, but more importantly no prospects lost. At best maybe he catches lightning in a bottle and this team is actually playing for something next season. Its why it is here next season as I guarantee Getz is thinking that as well.
Julks is a AAAA player that no one wants.
I don’t think Getz thought there was anything else that wwa better than Tachman or Robert
Great to have Tauchmann back. He has been a fan favorite all season.