The three White Sox spring training story lines that matter

Although you may not believe it from a look outside your window, spring training has arrived. White Sox pitchers and catchers report today during their most anticipated February since 2006. Hell, considering everything Earth has endured since the last time the White Sox congregated at Camelback Ranch, it might be the most anticipated preseason that didn't involve a world war.

While falling case counts and rising immunization totals make normalcy far easier to forecast, the persistent threat of COVID-19 is still going to drain some of the charm from the proceedings. Attendance will be limited to 25 percent, and there may be less of a need to enforce it if fans aren't flocking south.

Nevertheless, this spring is far likelier to reach completion than the last time around, and that's a welcome development. So too is the idea of pitchers and catchers reporting for a White Sox team that made the postseason the year before. Said postseason may have been an expanded one, but they expect to make the cut in even the standard format, and fans will be eager to hold them to that.

The rush from the mere sight of baseball players doing baseball things always wears off well before Opening Day, but while I'll be watching all the webcasts and charting the results because it's my job, I'll be watching three areas in particular, and trying my best to relegate the rest to noise in a format that hopefully you'll enjoy reading about.

TONY LA RUSSA

The first time Tony La Russa spoke to the media following the White Sox, he had to respond to the surprise of those who thought a manager who spent nine years away from dugouts -- during which he complained about players he deemed too demonstrative, disrespectful and apparently insincere -- was the right choice to lead a team full of entertaining, energetic young talent.

The second time Tony La Russa spoke to the media, he had to explain a guilty plea for reckless driving after his second arrest for driving under the influence.

Thanks to the baggage, and the pandemic limiting the interactions of White Sox leadership to only environments controlled (Zoom calls) and friendly (Bob Nightengale chit-chats), the team's side hasn't been willing or able to paint much of a picture of La Russa himself. We've instead had to piece it together from third parties like his new coaches, and acquisitions like Liam Hendriks and Lance Lynn. Skeptics like Tim Anderson have warmed a little, although everybody still needs to see what this looks like when La Russa is actually in uniform and running the show.

Whatever you think of La Russa, it's a positive sign that the coaching staff is more than a reunion of old favorites for One More Job. While unproven, Ethan Katz's history and attitude makes him a suitable hire for any White Sox manager, and Miguel Cairo is an inspired idea for a bench coach. And even though La Russa couldn't bear the thought of returning to the dugout without a Duncan, it's Shelley instead of Dave, and in a brand new role of analytics coordinator.* If the Sox feared that La Russa might be behind the times, everybody's worked to redesign the coaching staff into something that shouldn't make the manager a bottleneck of information.

(*Eno Sarris and Britt Ghiroli posted an article on Tuesday about how the analytics coodinator/quality control/quality assurance coaching role has evolved over the years).

These should alleviate the concerns that the time away is going to slow him down, which are concerns I don't share. He's generally adapted his style to fit the talent on hand, and while he might be prickly about exuberance, he's defended his own players to the point of outright hypocrisy. He generally doesn't care what people think ... except for that one time when he stormed another team's broadcasting booth because he didn't like what they said.

La Russa contains such multitudes, and so he has a history of doghousing well-regarded players -- J.D. Drew, Scott Rolen, Colby Rasmus -- to varying results. That's tolerable when a machine like St. Louis' player development system churns out replacements at the ready, but the White Sox only have front-line players right now. If he starts ragging on Anderson or Eloy Jiménez or Dylan Cease or whichever player isn't made in the typical La Russa mold, the Sox won't have anybody worthwhile to take those starts.

Spring training might be able to give us some indication of how these personalities are going to mesh, akin to the way Kenny Williams set the wrong tone for the Nick Swisher era by chewing him out from a golf cart. A good start seems more important than usual, because if it goes south quick, who's going to have whose back? The front office chose the players, but it didn't pick La Russa. Reinsdorf's White Sox of the last decade have a rich history of tangling their chain of command, then strangling themselves with it.

ROSTER BATTLES

It's pretty easy to come up with a 26-man roster with a fair amount of confidence, especially if you give yourself some grace and treat "Opening Day" as "the plan for 85 percent of the season."

The names in green are the ones who don't look like locks to me.

Zack Collins: He has the edge over Jonathan Lucroy because he's on a full 40-man roster, but it could also depend on what kind of opt-out language Lucroy has in his contract. If Lucroy looks like a rebound candidate and has the right to explore other options in April, the White Sox might want to retain Collins at Triple-A for depth. Collins could benefit from regular at-bats of any kind after spending most of the 2020 season in purgatory, at least early. Maybe not so much after a month.

Danny Mendick: He lost his spot on the postseason-bound team to an inactive Yolmer Sánchez last year, so he still has some proving to do. That said, if La Russa doesn't want Leury García as the only backup infield option, then there aren't any other options in the 40-man. Tim Beckham lurks if they want to dip into the NRI pool.

Andrew Vaughn: Unless the White Sox have a move up their sleeve, there isn't an immediately satisfying answer to DH. Vaughn should be great in the long run, but it's unnecessarily risky to saddle him with the output of a bat-only position without any actual-game experience above A-ball. But then you have Collins and Yermín Mercedes, who should have received more playing time last year if they were candidates to be entrusted with so much responsibility this year. The White Sox's attitude seems to be "Vaughn better be good, he's a first-round pick!", which sounds more like meatball fandom than an actual plan.

Carlos Rodón: It appears as though he has the inside track for the fifth-starter job if he's fully functional, if only because Reynaldo López still has an option remaining. With Rodón, he's seldom fully functional, hence the uncertainty (and $3 million price tag).

Jimmy Cordero: Familiarity bred contempt for Cordero last year, who didn't deserve to pitch as often as Rick Renteria used him. A different manager might rejuvenate him, although it's worth noting that his sinker-changeup combo wasn't as effective last year, even before the overuse. López could land here as a long reliever if five better starters loom above him, or maybe José Ruiz, who is out of options.

HEALTH

Back when the White Sox were congratulating themselves for their silver medal in the Manny Machado derby, Kenny Williams loaded up with pine tar for some incredible spin rate on their incentive-laden offer.

Capped off by one killer caveat:

I've already reached my monthly limit on rehashing the Machado thing, but blame the White Sox for injecting fresh life into that line by stopping after Liam Hendriks. "Basically stay healthy" is the idea, at least until the trade deadline nears. The White Sox's solution for their rotation depth issue was Carlos Rodón, fresh off multiple seasons of being the cause of the White Sox's rotation depth issues. In his defense, he's more promising than their ideas for backup catcher (Lucroy, who might be more metal than man) and DH (nobody).

The White Sox are running out a one-ply roster as a result. It's a great ply, but Vaughn is their entire impact offensive depth, and Michael Kopech is their impact rotation depth. The entire outfield has missed chunks of time over recent seasons, along with half the infield. Their starting nine and five-man rotation stack up well against the rest of baseball, but the depth is where they fall behind in projections, and it's how they're most likely to fall behind in the actual standings. It just doesn't seem like a great idea when the threat of a COVID-19 outbreak can shelve sections of the roster at a time.

The hope is that a 60-game season reduced wear and tear in the big picture; that Katz has fresh ideas for fresh arms; that nobody's going to lose themselves in the high skies of Arizona and crash into railings or bodies. As long as the velocity readings, innings and plate appearances are where they need to be, I'm not going to sweat how players perform. It's not like there are other options for the positions. Everybody just needs to get to the post for Opening Day, because La Russa is supposed to know how to take them from there.

(Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)