Chicago

White Sox

Zero surprise here. Venable received 15 first-place votes while Kevin Cash received 12 and Chad Tracy the other three. Venable helped the White Sox to an improbable playoff run after winning just 60 games in 2025 and took the club to within a game of the ALCS. If you weren’t expected to be good and outperform expectations, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to win Manager of the Year.

There had been some hope that Smith, who was a starter in the minors, would get a chance to move into the rotation in 2027, but that spot appears to be going to Grant Taylor. Smith was electric out of the bullpen for the White Sox after getting called up, posting a 1.29 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 41/16 K/BB ratio in 28 innings. Obviously, remaining in the bullpen puts a damper on his fantasy value, but he is going to pitch lots of innings out of the White Sox bullpen and could produce similar value to what Didier Fuentes did last season or perhaps similar value to Grant Taylor, if the White Sox mix in some save opportunities for Smith as well.

The White Sox had always expressed a belief that Taylor, who was a starter in the minors, could return to the rotation. That was part of the reason he was used in multi-inning stints so much this season. In 84 innings, he posted a 2.25 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 106/30 K/BB ratio. He has the pitch mix to succeed as a starter but hasn’t been a regular one since early in the 2025 season. With this news, Taylor should immediately become a top-50 starting pitcher in 2027 rankings and has the potential to be a true breakout star in fantasy. There just remains some risk because it’s a role we haven’t seen him in for a while.

The 28-year-old Marsh had a 4.96 ERA in 33 starts and 10 relief appearances for the Royals between 2023 and ’24, but he hasn’t pitched in a game since.

He is coming off Oct. 2025 surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder, and the Royals never really had anything to say about his progress last season before taking him off their 40-man roster last month. Once healthy, he’ll probably spend time in Triple-A trying to work his way back to the majors.

Acuña has been a star in Venezuela the last two years, posting a .914 OPS in 2024 and a .939 OPS with eight homers and 12 steals in 39 games last year. Of course, it hasn’t really translated to the majors yet, and he probably would have been better off spending last season in Triple-A than being stuck in a bench role for the White Sox while being out of options. There’s still hope for Acuña as a potential regular or at least a frequently used super utilityman; he’s a legitimate center fielder and middle infielder, he shows league-average bat speed and he’s struck out only 19 percent of the time as a major leaguer. But he needs to play, and now that the White Sox are contenders, he’s probably not going to get that opportunity in Chicago.

He considered playing winter ball after missing the season, but since he and his wife have a baby due in December, he’s going to stay home. Baldwin should have a decent chance of winning a spot on the White Sox next spring, but it wouldn’t initially come with the playing time he figured to get if not for the injury last season. The switch-hitting 26-year-old has thus far batted .232/.279/.382 with 13 homers and nine steals in 136 big-league games.

There’s a pretty compelling case to be made for Cash after the Rays put together a remarkable 98-win season to capture the AL East division title. However, Venable should be in the conversation after helping lead the White Sox to a remarkable turnaround as they went from losing 102 games to making the postseason. Tracy took over as Boston’s interim manager in late April and managed to spark their unexpected turnaround.

Bush hasn’t pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery prior to the 2025 season. He was one of the more prominent pitching prospects in the organization prior to the surgery. Perez .171 (6-for-35) with three homers and six RBI during a 22-game stint with Chicago this past season.

The 26-year-old Pauley hit .211/.257/.373 with four home runs and 25 RBI in 62 games for the Marlins in 2026. He will get another chance with the White Sox, but he’s a long shot to crack the MLB roster.

Shelton, a 2025 sixth-round pick out of the University of Florida, is hitting .277/.379/.511 with three homers in 15 games in Arizona. He came in at .244/.338/.488 with 24 homers and 14 steals between High-A and Double-A last season. The White Sox are grooming him as a utilityman, and he could prove to be a solid one in time.