GLENDALE, Ariz. – By now, everyone has heard of the bidets being installed within the White Sox home clubhouse at Rate Field in Chicago for the 2026 regular season and beyond.
Those installations came as a recommendation from first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who joined the White Sox as a free agent from Japan on a two-year, $34 million deal. But catcher Kyle Teel also wants to add to the team’s cultural infusion and overall improvement.
Teel played for Team Italy during the World Baseball Classic, a stint ending on Tuesday when he sustained a Grade 2 right hamstring strain while running out a sixth-inning double during an 8-6 victory over Team USA. Italy brought its espresso machine to the dugout, with Vinnie Pasquantino offering up a post-home run shot to anyone who connected.
So if it worked for Italy, why not the White Sox?
“I actually recommended it to Shane,” said Teel, seemingly referring to Shane Smith, who will be the team’s Opening Day starter in Milwaukee on March 26. “It’s awesome. When you do something good, you get an espresso shot. It’s a good reward system.”
Without sharing his commitment or lack thereof to the coffee industry, manager Will Venable supported Teel’s idea.
“Whatever gets the guys going,” Venable said with a laugh. “If it’s an espresso in there, it’s fine by me.”
“As long as it’s not canned coffee, we’re good,” added right-hander Davis Martin, who struck out four over four scoreless during a 4-2 victory over the Cubs on Friday. “We’ve got a lot of coffee lovers on this team. Espresso machine, espresso, whatever you want to do, we’re game for it.”
Baldwin plays the waiting game
Brooks Baldwin dealt with right elbow soreness throughout the 2025 season, but it was manageable, as the switch-hitting outfielder explained Friday morning. That manageability changed recently, leaving Baldwin out of game action since March 6.
“I threw from the outfield one day and the soreness kind of amplified a little bit,” Baldwin said of his Spring Training malady. “Talking to the trainers, we got an image, we got everything done. But there's a lot of soreness in there, [so I’ll] try to get it to calm down and take it day to day and see where we’re at.”
Imaging showed inflammation, but there doesn’t seem to be any sort of tear. The White Sox and Baldwin are still getting specialists to take further looks.
“We’ll see where we’re at, but [I’ll] just take it day to day right now and see how it goes,” Baldwin said. “Don’t really try to change anything, still try to manage day to day and go about what you can do on that day just to make yourself a better player.
“Not necessarily baseball-wise, but physically. Take it as an advantage to get better any way you can.”
Lineup in question
Venable isn’t ready to lay out his starting lineup for the regular-season opener. In reality, that lineup might change from day to day, as Venable told his charges Thursday.
“I just gave them a heads up with as much consistency and stability as we like to give guys in our lineup, especially early on here, we are going to mix and match,” Venable said. “We are going to have different iterations of our lineup.
“One guy leading off one day might hit ninth the next. The message is don’t overlook, or overthink where you are hitting from a day-to-day basis. Just play your game, whether you are leading off or hitting fifth. You are in the lineup because of who you are.”