Despite setting the modern-era record for losses during the 2024 season, the White Sox won’t be rewarded in next year’s draft.
In the third-annual MLB Draft Lottery at the Winter Meetings, it was confirmed that the White Sox will have the 10th overall pick in 2025. Since they received a lottery pick for this year’s draft and are a payor club, the South Siders entered the day ineligible to receive a selection any higher than 10th.
Here is a full look at this year’s MLB Draft Lottery results:
- Nationals
- Angels
- Mariners
- Rockies
- Cardinals
- Pirates
- Marlins
- Blue Jays
- Reds
- White Sox
- Athletics
- Rangers
- Giants
- Rays
- Red Sox
- Twins
- Cubs
- Diamondbacks
- Orioles
- Brewers
- Astros
- Braves
- Royals
- Tigers
- Padres
- Phillies
- Guardians
- Mets
- Yankees
- Dodgers
Introduced before the 2023 MLB Draft, the lottery system was implemented to prevent teams from tanking to improve their draft position. Previously, the team with the worst record in baseball automatically received the first overall pick, leading many to believe this encouraged losing in order to stockpile young talent. The new system now awards the top six picks to the 18 worst teams who are eligible for the lottery. The remaining teams then fill out the draft in reverse order of their regular-season records.
When it comes to the White Sox, they are the prime example of a club that once would have benefited from their poor play but now are paying the price. Because of their 101-loss campaign in 2023, which was the third worst in the league, the White Sox drew the fifth overall lottery pick for the 2024 draft. This high selection thus made them ineligible to receive a lottery pick this year because they are considered a “payor club” – a team that gives revenue sharing dollars rather than receives them.
Though it’s a disappointing system for fans of a team whose owner has shown no willingness to open his wallet to field a competitive product, the lottery is serving its original purpose. At some point, the White Sox will need to spend money on premium talent if they ever wish to amount to anything more than basement dwellers. As we all know, a change in ownership is likely the franchise’s only hope as they continue to lack any clear vision in this second rebuild.
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Featured Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Having a terrible owner, a terrible team ! and getting screwed by MLB . Why go to a White Sox game?
It’s simple, I do not…. If Ebenezer Reinsdorf can benefit financially, count me out.