CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox were reeling at this time last year, coming off a season in which they set a modern major league record for losses.
General manager Chris Getz and manager Will Venable see a team that's in a much better place today. With spring training approaching, they believe they have a group poised to build on the progress it showed last season.
“I think we're going to make a meaningful step forward,” Getz said.
Venable also feels momentum building around the franchise.
“It’s significant,” Venable said. “And the way that we feel about it and the way that people talk about it, it’s real and it’s something that I think we’re excited about.”
Getz and Venable spoke Thursday ahead of this weekend's fan festival. They were at a Boys & Girls Club a few blocks from Rate Field where the White Sox donated $125,000 for a visual and performing arts space. They'll soon be in Glendale, Arizona, for the start of spring training, with pitchers and catchers holding their first workout on Feb. 10.
The White Sox have three straight 100-loss seasons since finishing 81-81 in 2022. They went 60-102 and finished last in the AL Central in Venable's first season. But that was a 19-game improvement from 2024, when they were 41-121 and shattered the franchise record for losses.
With a promising group of young players that includes shortstop Colson Montgomery, catcher Kyle Teel and infielder Chase Meidroth, they think they are ready to take another step forward.
“They’ve kind of gone through it now, and that added experience is only going to give us a bit of a head start going into the season, get a little bit more confidence, and then, of course, we’re going to welcome some new players in the organization come spring training on the field there,” Getz said. “What we can provide is opportunity and a runway, and some of these players that we’ve acquired just haven’t gotten that runway in other places for various reasons, and we’re gonna take advantage of that.”
Venable said the White Sox need to “embrace” higher expectations.
“Every single manager in the big leagues is looking for their club to get to that level, and that certainly makes my job easier if they already believe," he said. "My job is to say, ‘This is what we have to do to get there.’”
The White Sox made a series of moves in the offseason that they hope will help them get to another level, most notably signing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami in December and trading center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to the New York Mets last week. They got speedy infielder Luisangel Acuña and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley in that deal.
Chicago used some of the payroll flexibility it gained in the Robert trade to sign right-hander Seranthony Domínguez to a $20-million, two-year contract. That deal was finalized Thursday.
Domínguez, 31, debuted with Philadelphia in 2018. He has 40 saves and a 3.50 ERA in 322 games with the Phillies, Baltimore and Toronto. He figures to close for the White Sox.
Domínguez played for the Orioles and Blue Jays last year, going 4-4 with a 3.16 ERA and two saves in 67 games. He was traded to Toronto on July 29.
Domínguez has pitched in the playoffs the past four years. He appeared in 12 postseason games for Toronto, helping the Blue Jays win the AL pennant before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. He also pitched in the World Series for Philadelphia in 2022, when the Phillies lost to Houston.
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FILE - Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz talks with reporters before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, April 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
FILE - Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable stands before a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sept. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Canada with a 50% tariff on any aircraft sold in the U.S., the latest salvo in his trade war with America’s northern neighbor as his feud with Prime Minister Mark Carney expands.
Trump’s threat posted on social media came after he threatened over the weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if it went forward with a planned trade deal with China. But Trump’s threat did not come with any details about when he would impose the import taxes, as Canada had already struck a deal.
In Trump’s latest threat, the Republican president said he was retaliating against Canada for refusing to certify jets from Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream Aerospace.
Trump said the U.S., in return, would decertify all Canadian aircraft, including planes from its largest aircraft maker, Bombardier. “If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50% Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold into the United States of America,” Trump said in his post.
Trump said he is “hereby decertifying" the Bombardier Global Express business jets. There are 150 Global Express aircraft in service registered in the U.S., operated by 115 operators, according to Cirium, the aviation analytics company.
Bombardier and Gulfstream are head-to-head rivals, with the Global series battling for market share against Gulfstream’s latest models.
Spokespeople for Bombardier and Canada’s transport minister didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday evening.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, said certification is about safety and it would be unprecedented to decertify for trade reasons.
“Certification is not trivial. It is a very important step in getting planes to operate safely,” Gradek said. “Somebody is not picking on the Gulfstream. Decertification for trade reasons does not happen."
Gradek said many Gulfstreams have been certified for years in Canada.
“This is really a smokescreen that's basically throwing up another red flag in the face of Mr. Carney," Gradek said. “This is taking it to the extreme. This is a new salvo in the trade war."
The U.S. Commerce Department previously put duties on a Bombardier commercial passenger jet in 2017 during the first Trump administration, charging that the Canadian company was selling the planes in America below cost. The U.S. said then that the Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell jets at artificially low prices.
The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington later ruled that Bombardier did not injure U.S. industry.
Bombardier has since concentrated on the business and private jet market in its Global and Challenger families of planes. Both are popular with individual owners and businesses as well as fractional jet companies like NetJets and Flexjet. If Trump cuts off the U.S. market it would be a major blow to the Quebec company.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Carney on Wednesday that his recent public comments against U.S. trade policy could backfire going into the formal review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade deal that protects Canada from the heaviest impacts of Trump’s tariffs.
Carney rejected Bessent’s contention that he had aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday.
Carney said he told Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals.
In Davos at the World Economic Forum last week, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers on smaller countries without mentioning Trump’s name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the gathering.
Besides Bombadier, other major aircraft manufacturers in Canada include De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, which makes turboprop planes and aircraft designed for maritime patrols and reconnaissance, and European aerospace giant Airbus. Airbus manufactures its single-aisle A220 commercial planes and helicopters in Canada.
During the Biden administration, the U.S. International Trade Administration touted the interdependence of the U.S. and Canadian aerospace industries and cited a 1980 World Trade Organization agreement that the website of the current U.S. trade representative says “requires signatories to eliminate tariffs on civil aircraft, engines, flight simulators, and related parts and components.”
Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto. AP writers Lisa Leff and Josh Funk contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
