Which White Sox nonroster invitees will be worth watching?

When spring training opens next month, the White Sox will have 21 nonroster invitees in camp.

Several of the players on the list are retread veterans, including five who saw time with the Sox last season -- Dylan Axelrod (pictured), Brian Omogrosso, Hector Gimenez, David Purcey and Blake Tekotte.

Most Sox fans would just assume never see those guys on the South Side again. At best, these players are nothing more than organization depth.

Another group of players on this list are castoffs from other organizations, guys who stand little or no chance of making a big league roster. They include pitchers Parker Frazier, Omar Poveda, Zach Putnam and Mauricio Robles, infielder Alex Liddi and outfielder Denis Phipps.

All that said, one of the best parts of following spring training is seeing how some of the organization's prospects fare. Among those the Sox will be looking at this year are pitchers Chris Bassitt, Chris Beck, Cody Winiarski and Scott Snodgress; infielders Micah Johnson, Mike McDade and Andy Wilkins; catchers Miguel Gonzalez and Kevan Smith; and outfielder Keenyn Walker.

Who on that list will be worth your attention this spring? Well, I'll give you two names: Beck and Johnson.

Beck, 23, is the No. 9 prospect in the Sox organization according to Baseball America. He went 13-10 with a 3.07 ERA in 2013, splitting time between Winston-Salem and Birmingham. He won two playoff starts in helping the Barons to the Southern League championship. He's a strike-thrower with a low-90s fastball, a good sinker, which should help him if he ever plays at U.S. Cellular Field, and a decent changeup. His breaking stuff still needs to be refined, but he could be a reasonable back-of-the-rotation option for the Sox as early as 2015.

Johnson, a 23-year-old second baseman, is the No. 6 prospect in the organization. He is intriguing because he has game-breaking speed. He led all minor leaguers with 84 stolen bases in 2013. He was the MVP of the South Atlantic League All-Star Game before being called up to Birmingham, where he hit .368 in the postseason. We'll have to wait and see whether Johnson's hit tool develops enough to be a major league player. As they say, you can't steal first base. But, this is a player who can steal second and third if he can find a way to get on first consistently.

You never know which prospects will take a leap forward in a given year, but if I were to take an educated guess, Beck and Johnson would be the two I'd pick.

White Sox avoid arbitration with Gordon Beckham, Alejandro De Aza

Second baseman Gordon Beckham and outfielder Alejandro De Aza both agreed to one-year contracts with the White Sox on Friday, avoiding arbitration.

Beckham will earn $4.175 million this season. He has one more year of arbitration remaining before becoming eligible for free agency in 2016.

De Aza's contract is for $4.25 million. He also is not eligible for free agency until 2016.

These signings were expected, and the Sox have no other arbitration-eligible players remaining.

The thing that is interesting here is that De Aza is now the highest paid outfielder on the team, but he's slated for a backup role after struggling defensively and on the basepaths during the 2013 season.

As we mentioned when Dayan Viciedo signed his one-year deal earlier this week, De Aza could be a platoon partner in left field with Viciedo. Or, one of the two players could be dealt before spring training opens. Keep in mind the Sox still have Jordan Danks hanging around on the 40-man roster, and he could be seen as a cheaper alternative to De Aza as a backup outfielder.

I personally will not be shocked if De Aza is elsewhere when the season begins.

Clayton Kershaw to get record-setting deal; David Price also signs

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is the new richest man in baseball -- at least for now.

According to reports, the left-hander agreed Wednesday to a seven-year, $215 million contract with the Dodgers.

Kershaw, the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League, becomes the first player with a $30 million average annual salary.

Previously, the most lucrative deal for a pitcher was the one the Detroit Tigers gave Justin Verlander, $180 million over seven years.

In other pitching news, 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner David Price avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $14 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. The contract is the richest one in Tampa Bay franchise history. Price, who is eligible for free agency after the 2015 season, has been the subject of trade speculation. Since he did not sign a long-term deal with the Rays, I would expect that speculation to continue in the coming days and months.

After seeing the dollars these guys are commanding, it's comforting for me as a White Sox fan to know the team has its All-Star left-hander, Chris Sale, under control through 2019. Sale's five-year, $32.5 million deal with team options for 2018 and 2019 is a tremendous bargain in this marketplace.

I'll be interested to see what the Kershaw contract means for international free agent Masahiro Tanaka. No, Tanaka is not going to command $30 million a year, but the Dodgers have reportedly been major players in that sweepstakes. Are they still major players after committing such a large dollar figure to Kershaw? Or is it now a given that Tanaka is going to the New York Yankees, who are the team most in need of a top-flight starting pitcher?

After Tanaka signs, we should see the other dominoes start to fall among the free-agent starting pitchers. All the major free-agent position players have already signed. Meanwhile, you've still got three high-profile starting pitchers still on the market in Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza and Ervin Santana. Look for those three players to be consolation prizes for the teams that lose out on Tanaka.

Jose Abreu, other White Sox prospects hit the field in Glendale

The biggest curiosity surrounding the White Sox coming into 2014 has to be newly signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu. How much of an impact will he make in his first season in the United States? Nobody knows, but we all know he needs to be good if the Sox have any hope of hanging around in the AL Central race this year.

The Sox are getting a look at Abreu and some of their other young players this week at a three-day hitting camp at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. Newly acquired third baseman Matt Davidson and center fielder Adam Eaton also are participating, along with Josh Phegley, Marcus Semien, Courtney Hawkins, Jared Mitchell, Trayce Thompson and Keenyn Walker.

According to a report by CSN's Dan Hayes, the Sox are pleased with what they've seen from Abreu so far. Of course, what else would they say? Even if he looked bad, they would still say he looked good. But now is the time of year for optimism, and Sox fans can hope Abreu's prodigious power will come to the forefront when the season begins March 31.

“That’s a strong man right here,” new hitting coach Todd Steverson said of Abreu. “That’s a big man. He has a nice smooth, compact approach. He didn’t try to do too much with the ball and the ball was flying off his bat. I think he has a nice bright future coming up with him.”

“We try to keep in mind that it’s Jan. 14 and we still have a ways to go,” GM Rick Hahn added in Hayes' report. “But just watching Jose go through his work, you saw that professionalism as well as the plus-plus power on display today in only his first couple of rounds of BP. He’s a very serious hitter. He’s one who goes up there with a plan and has a great deal of ability and it’s going to be fun to see how this plays out over the next couple of years.”

It's good to hear that Abreu goes to the plate with a plan. The same couldn't be said of a lot of White Sox hitters last year. Hopefully, Steverson can help in that regard. After scoring a league-worst 598 runs last year, the Sox have nowhere to go but up offensively.

Single-day passes for SoxFest: I'm priced out

Single-day passes for SoxFest go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The annual event runs from Jan. 24 to 26. One-day tickets cost $50 for Saturday and $40 for Sunday. Two-day passes, good for admission Saturday and Sunday, are on sale for $70.

In other words, I won't be going. I'd love to buy a one-day pass for Saturday, but that's just too much money for me -- especially in this period of post-holiday financial malaise. It isn't just the $50 for the fest either. You gotta pay to get downtown as well, either by driving into the city and paying absurd parking rates, or using Metra or the CTA. Then, you gotta buy food. It's a day that will cost over $100 before all is said and done.

The Sox lowered their ticket prices last season to make the ballpark experience more affordable and family-friendly, and you wonder why they can't do the same with SoxFest.

I wonder whether they will sell out their one- and two-day passes this year, especially coming off a 99-loss campaign that was the worst in many of our lifetimes.

What's really funny is the Sox' website promotes the event by saying the Saturday pass is "just $50." As if that is just a drop in the bucket for all of us fans.

Maybe the Sox are counting on the idea that fans will be willing to pay for the experience of congratulating newly elected Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, who is among the former players on the guest list.

I'd like to be there, but the bottom line is I can't pay $50 for that experience. $25? Yes. Maybe even $30. But not $50. We'll see how the Sox do with their sales for the fest. That's the only true way to judge whether they've set prices correctly for this event.

The only thing I know for sure is I'm priced out.

Cubs' new mascot has a rough debut

Just when you thought the Cubs couldn't become a bigger laughingstock, they became the butt of many jokes Monday when they introduced their first official mascot in modern history -- Clark, a "young, friendly Cub" who wears his baseball cap backward, will welcome and entertain fans as they enter crumbling Wrigley Field to watch Triple-A baseball on the North Side.

"The Cubs are thrilled to welcome Clark as the team's official mascot," Cubs senior director of marketing Alison Miller said in a statement. "Clark is a young, friendly Cub who can't wait to interact with our other young Cubs fans. He'll be a welcoming presence for families at Wrigley Field and an excellent ambassador for the team in the community."

Great, so Clark is supposed to be a family-friendly mascot. He can start by putting some damn pants on. As far as I know, only Donald Duck gets away with the whole shirt-but-no-pants combination. How would you like it if the first person you saw when entering the ballpark was a deranged bear with no pants on? That sounds about as appealing as watching the Cubs bullpen attempt to protect a one-run lead. It's enough to make you put a gun in your mouth and blow your brains out.

You can always count on Deadspin.com to seize on something this like this. Their article referred to Clark as "a nightmarish, perverted furry." They went on to challenge their readers to "do something horrible" to Clark. Deadspin's readers delivered, coming up with several images that were decidedly not family-friendly. I wonder how Cubs marketers feel about that.

Can't wait until the crosstown series in May. I hope Southpaw, the White Sox mascot, punches Clark right in his exposed crotch.

Dayan Viciedo, White Sox agree on one-year deal

The White Sox avoided arbitration with left fielder Dayan Viciedo on Monday, agreeing to a one-year, $2.8 million contract.

Viciedo is coming off a disappointing 2013, during which he batted .265 with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs. Those numbers were down from 25 home runs and 78 RBIs in 2012.

It's unclear whether Viciedo will play every day for the 2014 Sox, or if he'll even be with the team when the season begins. The Sox appear set in center field with Adam Eaton and right field with Avisail Garcia. If the season opened today, the 24-year-old Viciedo would be platooning in left field with veteran Alejandro De Aza.

Will the Sox go into the season with that platoon? Perhaps, but one of Viciedo or De Aza could be used as a trade chip to upgrade the catching position before the offseason is over. 

The Sox still have two remaining arbitration-eligible players -- De Aza and second baseman Gordon Beckham.