Time to read the season previews ...

Hey, guess what I'm doing this weekend? Time to read some season preview magazines and see what the "experts" think of the upcoming season.

One thing I'm thinking: The folks who produce these magazines must not have been too happy about the slow free agency period this offseason.

They probably had to go to press before Manny Machado signed with the San Diego Padres and before Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Heck, Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel still don't have contracts, and both could be difference-makers in the pennant race. If someone ever signs them ...

Latest guess at White Sox's Opening Day roster

Tim Anderson

The White Sox are 6-10-2 in Cactus League play, and both of their split-squad games were rained out Tuesday. So with nothing meaningful to comment on, and with spring training about half over, let's take a guess at who makes the Opening Day roster as it stands right now.

Starting pitchers (5): Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito, Ivan Nova, Ervin Santana.
Comment: Of course, Santana's presence is dependent on his health, and so far, there's nothing that's been said that leads me to believe he's off track. The only real question is who starts the season opener. The smart money is on Rodon, because he is the most experienced and most accomplished of the younger guys. And I don't think they are going to give the nod to the journeyman Nova.

Relief pitchers (8): Alex Colome, Kelvin Herrera, Nate Jones, Jace Fry, Juan Minaya, Dylan Covey, Ryan Burr, Manny Banuelos.
Comment: None of the left-handed relief candidates have distinguished themselves. Fry was the Sox's best reliever last season, so he's on the club despite his struggling spring. But Aaron Bummer and Caleb Frare need to pick it up to make the team, and I can see Banuelos getting the nod as a second lefty ahead of both of them -- if for no other reason than Banuelos is out of options. Minaya has had a terrible spring, too, but he'll probably hang on because he had a 2.70 ERA the second half of last season. Covey has pitched himself back into the picture with a strong spring. Burr has been strong, as well, after struggling in his call-up to the majors last season. I'm thinking Burr gets a spot over Ian Hamilton, who is dealing with shoulder stiffness after he was in a car crash.

Catchers (2): Welington Castillo, James McCann
Comment: Same as it ever was. Will either Zack Collins or Seby Zavala be ready to come up from Triple-A Charlotte this year?

Infielders (6): Jose Abreu, Yonder Alonso, Yolmer Sanchez, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Jose Rondon
Comment: The Sox decided to rearrange the deck chairs after whiffing in their attempt to sign Manny Machado. Moncada now is the third baseman, probably for the long term, while Sanchez switches back to his natural position at second base. Is he keeping the seat warm for Nick Madrigal? Maybe. Anderson is having a great spring -- 12 for 27 with five extra-base hits and only four strikeouts. Please let that be real. Rondon makes the club because he's out of options and can play competent defense at any position on the infield. He also hits lefties, which is a skill this club needs.

Outfielders (4): Adam Engel, Daniel Palka, Jon Jay, Leury Garcia
Comment: Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck. At least Engel is a good defender, so he's your everyday center fielder. Garcia being a switch-hitter, I assume we'll see him quite a bit against left-handed pitching, since neither Palka nor Jay are particularly good at hitting lefties. Somebody on the roster is keeping a seat warm for Eloy Jimenez. The guess here is Palka, Rondon and whoever the eighth reliever is will be in a battle to stay on the team past mid-April.

Eloy Jimenez's spring training slump provides cover for White Sox front office

Eloy Jimenez

Eloy Jimenez would have been called up to the big leagues last season if it weren't for service time manipulation.

Let's just be honest about it. The White Sox aren't *that* concerned with his outfield defense. They are concerned about what their payroll will look like seven years from now, and they want to delay Jimenez's free agency for as long as possible.

For that reason, he will start this season at Triple-A Charlotte, even if he were hitting .997 in the Cactus League.

While I believe Jimenez, the No. 3 prospect in baseball, should be starting at a corner outfield spot for the Sox on Opening Day, the reality is we won't see him until about mid-April at the earliest. After that, the Sox can call him up without losing a year of team control.

And make no mistake, some in the front office have to be breathing a sigh of relief that Jimenez is 3 for 23 with eight strikeouts and only one home run so far this spring. If this continues for another week or two, Sox brass will be able to point to this slump as a good reason to keep Jimenez in the minors for a little while longer.

They won't be completely wrong. As a rule, I'm in favor of calling players to the majors for the first time when they are playing well, not when they are struggling.

However, I don't think Jimenez is your typical prospect. I don't think this slump will lessen his confidence. He didn't seem concerned in this latest interview, and I think he believes that he's a big-leaguer right now, today. That's half the battle right there.

Regardless of what anyone says, Jimenez is without question the best corner outfield option on the Sox's 40-man roster. No way Jon Jay, Daniel Palka or Nicky Delmonico should be playing ahead of him.

His cold spring hasn't cooled my opinion on him. I want to see him in the major leagues, and I think it pretty much stinks that he's being held back because of silly service time rules that hopefully will be changed in the next collective bargaining agreement.

Carlos Rodon's second spring start a good one

Carlos Rodon

Here's something encouraging: White Sox starting pitcher Carlos Rodon was sharp in his second Cactus League start.

The left-hander tossed four scoreless innings, allowing only one hit Thursday in a 9-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Rodon struck out three and walked one.

Dylan Covey also is making his case for a roster spot -- as a reliever, thankfully, not a starter. I've long thought Covey was miscast as a starting pitcher. I think he can help a team as a swingman, the 11th or 12th man on a pitching staff.

On Thursday, Covey relieved in the eighth inning and pitched the rest of the game, retiring all six Brewers he faced. Granted, none of this was against an "A" lineup, but I'm in favor of guys throwing strikes and getting outs, no matter the situation.

Rodon and Covey have been exceptions to the rule for Sox pitchers this spring. We've seen some inflated offensive numbers and some ugly Arizona box scores.

Let's look at the ERAs for Sox pitchers. For purposes of this exercise, we'll limit it to guys who are candidates for roster spots:

Alex Colome: 0.00
Covey: 0.00
Ryan Burr: 1.59
Ivan Nova: 3.38
Rodon: 3.86
Nate Jones: 6.75
Lucas Giolito: 7.71
Manny Banuelos: 8.10
Jace Fry: 9.00
Carson Fulmer: 9.00
Thyago Vieira: 9.82
Reynaldo Lopez: 10.13
Randall Delgado: 10.80
Caleb Frare: 13.50
Aaron Bummer: 17.18
Juan Minaya: 22.09
Kelvin Herrera: 27.00
Ian Hamilton: 36.00

Funny thing is, Hamilton got the win Thursday. He entered in the top of the seventh inning with a 5-1 lead and gave up four runs. The Sox answered with four in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead, highlighted by a 3-run homer by Danny Mendick.

Covey did the rest, and all of a sudden, Hamilton was a winner. In fairness to Hamilton, it was his first game action of the spring after he was in a minor car crash, so we'll give him a pass.

But looking at that list, there's nobody on the bubble who is stepping up to claim a job -- except for Covey.

Hysterical White Sox prediction from some guy at yardbarker.com

Check this out.

Am I reading that right? The author predicts the White Sox will go 91-71.

That would be a 29-win improvement over last season. Did this person step into an alternative universe where the Sox signed *both* Manny Machado and Bryce Harper?

Because that's what it probably would have took for me to believe that sort of improvement would be in the cards for the Sox. As we all know, the Sox signed *neither.*

Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease are cited as reasons for optimism. I, too, have high hopes for Jimenez and Cease, but even if that hope becomes reality, those guys are rookies. Even in the best-case scenario, I can't seem them boosting the Sox's win total by more than four or five wins.

I'm thinking 71-91 is going to be much closer to the reality, even in the weak American League Central.

Well, I guess I give the prognosticator credit for going out on a limb.

White Sox prospect Luis Robert injures thumb (again)

Can someone on the White Sox's coaching staff please teach Luis Robert how to slide?

The prized outfield prospect is once again injured, having hurt his thumb sliding head-first into second base on a stolen base attempt Saturday during an intrasquad game.

This is the third time Robert has hurt his thumb in the past 12 months. He first got hurt on a slide during spring training last year, and he reinjured the thumb on July 3 of last season.

Robert played in only 50 games in 2018; the injuries cost the 21-year-old valuable development time.

Fortunately, this injury is not thought to be serious. The team expects him to return to game action as soon as Thursday.

Sox manager Rick Renteria said Robert wasn't supposed to be trying to steal in the intrasquad game. He apparently made the attempt on his own. Renteria said the youngster was guilty of a "lapse in his own judgment."

I do applaud the Sox coaches for not wanting Robert to take risks on the base paths in meaningless games. However, it's clear he needs to be coached on his technique.

This is a player who is important to the Sox's rebuild. Fix this problem, so that Robert can stay on the field.

Madrigal among first cuts

The Sox made their first roster cuts of the spring Tuesday. Nick Madrigal, the team's No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, was among the players reassigned to minor-league camp.

Outfielders Blake Rutherford and Luis Gonzalez and left-handed pitchers Jordan Guerrero and Bernardo Flores also are headed to minor-league camp.

Second impression of 2019 White Sox ... more tolerable

I'm a glutton for punishment. After Sunday's disastrous game, I gave White Sox spring training baseball another chance on my commute home from work Monday afternoon.

I picked up the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Sox trailing the Los Angeles Angels, 6-5.

Moments later, the Sox tied the game on an infield single by minor-league catcher Nate Nolan that included a throwing error by Angels minor-league third baseman Jordan Zimmerman (not the Detroit Tigers pitcher).

I listened to the rest of the game, which ended in a 6-6 tie, before I made it home.

Hey, at least they didn't lose!

And they rallied from an early 6-2 deficit. I've read that Reynaldo Lopez struggled, allowing four earned runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. However, he said he was happy with the outing, and that he's not worried about his spring numbers. True enough, spring numbers don't matter for guys who know they are going to be on the team.

That said, it's nice when guys who are going to be on the team perform well. Take presumed closer-to-be Alex Colome, who retired the side in order in the bottom of the fifth inning. Or reliever Nate Jones, who allowed a hit but worked a scoreless sixth.

Backup catcher James McCann went 2 for 3 and is hitting .333 for the spring, so there's that.

The Sox are now 3-6-2 in Cactus League games. It will be nice when a game or two makes its way to TV, so there can be more to observe than just a few nuggets gleaned from a box score.

In the meantime, the next game on the radio is Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers. Presuming I have a decent day at work, maybe I'll be in the mood to tune in and listen to Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson during my drive time.