Should The White Sox Close By Committee?

Seranthony Dominguez was signed by the White Sox in order to make the bullpen better. He was also tasked to be the closer. Well, Dominguez is doing half of what is being asked of him as the numbers are vastly different. In 18 games where he has been put into a save situation, Dominguez has a 6.06 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 11 walks, and opponents are slugging .477. In 12 contests where he hasn't been used in a save situation, Dominguez has a 0.77 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, four walks, and batters are slugging .189. This would suggest he should not be the closer, however, when the team is paying $10 million a year for his services, Dominguez should at least get opportunities. With his recent struggles (not to mention some questionable bullpen management by manager Will Venable), there needs to be a solution. So what can be done? How about closer by committee?

Some Sox fans will clamor for Grant Taylor to be the closer. Looking at Taylor's number it actually seems like a good idea. In eight games in save situations, Taylor has a 0.87 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 18 strikeouts, while in non save situations, 16 appearances, he has a 3.63 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 30 strikeouts, and nine walks. However, Taylor does want to be a starter somewhere down the line and has been effective as an opener. That strategy might actually be something Venable and the Sox implement more frequently considering how useful it is. Taylor has the best stuff in the bullpen (and probably the whole staff), so throw him out there for the first two innings while having your starter go from there. Why does that work? Starters are usually not as effective when facing a lineup for a third time around, so having them face those hitters for only the first and second time around before going back to the bullpen makes so much sense where as the opener faces the lineup once. From there, your next best relievers can shut the game down. With that logic, it makes more sense to utilize Taylor as an opener.

That being said, that doesn't mean neither Taylor nor Dominguez should not be getting save situations. So that's where the closer by committee makes a whole lot of sense. It takes the pressure off a lot of guys and it could help them build confidence. Plus it makes it hard for opposing teams to gameplan for those situations because they don't know who they're going to face in the ninth inning. Seems like a pretty smart idea. That way, Dominguez can focus on what he does best in order to help his confidence (let's be real, it's probably shot at this point) and when he is put into those save situations, he would be more effective. As for Taylor, when not using him as an opener, he has at least shown he can be electric as a closer and that should help win games. Hard to gameplan against that.

Now let's look at some of the other pitchers in the bullpen who can help in that regards. Sean Newcomb, Bryan Taylor, Trevor Richards, Jordan Hicks, and Joe Rock come to mind and even Jordan Leasure when he eventually comes off the injured list. That shows the depth the Sox have in the bullpen and in this case, a closer by committee makes it even harder to face against. Newcomb has a 2.58 ERA, 2.50 FIP, with 44 strikeouts in 45.1 innings. Taylor has a 2.19 ERA, 3.07 FIP, with 34 strikeouts in 37 innings. Hicks has a 5.60 ERA, but his xERA is 4.50 which isn't great, though it isn't bad, that being said he does have 15 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched (he had been injured for a good portion of the season). Hicks has the ability to strikeout batters despite the bad numbers, but a situation like this could help him as well. Richards might be the strangest candidate here as he's mostly a long reliever and his numbers don't jump off the page (4.15 ERA, 5.37 FIP, with 20 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched), but his batting average against and WHIP numbers are what standout the most as it's .198 and 1.00 respectively. Rock has had the least experience thus far on the staff, but the numbers look good thus far as he has a 3.24 ERA despite a 4.78 FIP, with eight strikeouts in 8.1 innings and while the .303 batting average against and 2.16 WHIP is concerning, it's only been eight innings he's pitched. Leasure might be injured, but last season he showed that he was quite effective and was very good down the stretch in the second half. While Leasure's numbers in 2026 have been dreadful, there's a couple of promising statistics that suggest he had some bad luck as hitters had a .214 batting average against (not to mention a .196 BABIP) and he struck out 18 batters in 18.2 innings. So that should be built upon once Leasure comes back.

Looking at these numbers, sure it doesn't look great for some, but the one thing fans keep forgetting is how volatile relievers can be. Hicks could suddenly be incredibly effective, Richards can find some time to adjust, and Rock could only get better, plus Leasure might turn it around once he comes back off the injured list. However, if Venable can use all these guys effectively, then this is a scary thought as it would be a nightmare for opposing teams to face. If utilized properly, these guys could be so lights out that it could propel the Sox into a possible deep playoff run. Now, closer by committee has it's drawbacks as pitchers could struggle in preparing before they go out there as it gives them uncertain roles and it shows there's a lack of a safety net. However, it helps with matchup advantages and deals with workload management. While the drawbacks seems like a reasonable argument against this idea, the numbers might suggest that it's worth it with how solid this bullpen is. Theoretically, the days Taylor is the opener and then the starter comes in, then it opens up a possibility for one of these guys to close. This idea not only will help some of these relievers to relax, alleviate some pressure, and build some confidence, but flexibility for Venable with the options he has especially down the stretch. It keeps all these guys fresh and in a good mindset. Venable shouldn't let this be a situation where the pitchers don't know their roles and lack of trust towards them, but know when to come on when their number is called. The matchup advantages makes this seem like the best argument for this idea. But it could also mean that the Sox can finally figure out who the closer is come the playoffs. Either way, the closer situation does need to be addressed, but this might be the best solution.