Projected White Sox lineup for Monday's opener vs. Oakland

Robin Ventura

White Sox manager Robin Ventura said the lineup he fielded in Tuesday's 6-2 exhibition win over the Texas Rangers would likely be the one he uses Monday when the season opens against the Oakland A's.

If that's true, here is Monday's lineup:

1. Adam Eaton, RF
2. Jimmy Rollins, SS
3. Jose Abreu, 1B
4. Todd Frazier, 3B
5. Melky Cabrera, LF
6. Avisail Garcia, DH
7. Brett Lawrie, 2B
8. Austin Jackson, CF
9. Alex Avila, C

Chris Sale, P

The biggest questions were who Ventura would use at DH, and how he would align his defensive outfield. Clearly, he's going defense-first here, with the weakest defensive outfielder of the four in the lineup (Garcia) serving as the DH. As long as Jackson is playing, he's going to be in center field. That moves Eaton to a corner spot. If Garcia is the DH, that puts Eaton in right field. If Cabrera gets a DH day, expect to see Eaton in left field with Garcia in right.

The Sox broke camp in Glendale, Arizona, with a 15-13-1 Cactus League record. They hit a major-league best 49 home runs and finished with a winning spring record for the first time since 2004.

The South Siders have two exhibition games in San Diego against the Padres on Friday and Saturday before the opener in Oakland.

One thing to watch this weekend: Mat Latos is slated to start Friday after pitching coach Don Cooper said the team needs more from the right-hander, who has a 12.46 ERA in 8.2 innings this spring. Cooper is looking for Latos to be more efficient and pitch deeper into games.

Latos is scheduled to start the fourth game of the season April 7 in Oakland. He's one of the biggest question marks as the Sox head north.

Jimmy Rollins will start at shortstop for White Sox on Opening Day

Jimmy Rollins

I almost forgot that Jimmy Rollins was in White Sox camp on a minor league deal.

The 37-year-old has had a big spring, hitting .354/.373/.604 with four home runs and 13 RBIs. It's been pretty clear from early on in camp that he was going to make the team, and the Sox made that official Wednesday, purchasing his contract from Triple-A Charlotte and adding him to the 40-man roster.

According to tweets by CSNChicago's Dan Hayes, Rollins will start at shortstop on Opening Day. Manager Robin Ventura said Rollins will not play every day, however. Tyler Saladino will get his fair share of starts at shortstop to try to keep Rollins healthy and fresh over the course of a long season.

Rollins will make $2 million in 2016.

The Sox on Wednesday also optioned pitcher Scott Carroll to Triple-A Charlotte and outrighted pitcher Jacob Turner to the minors.

That leaves 29 players left in camp, including these five: Travis Ishikawa, Jerry Sands, Jacob May, Phillippe Aumont and Hector Sanchez.

One of those five is coming north with the team. The smart money continues to be on Ishikawa.

Carlos Sanchez, Matt Davidson, Leury Garcia among latest Sox roster cuts

Carlos Sanchez

We are six days away from the start of the 2016 baseball season, and the White Sox are down to 31 players in major league camp after a series of Tuesday roster cuts.

Second baseman Carlos Sanchez, third baseman Matt Davidson, infielder Leury Garcia and relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Outfielder Jason Coats also was reassigned to minor league camp.

Sanchez and Davidson did just about all they could this spring. Sanchez, who appeared in 120 games for the Sox last season, hit .333/.368/.593 with six doubles, two home runs in six RBIs in Cactus League play. He had two home runs in Monday's 11-7 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Davidson was the biggest surprise at camp. After two seasons of hitting around .200 at Charlotte, he showed up in Glendale and hit .413/.438/.783 with a team-high five home runs and nine RBIs.

Unfortunately for these two players, they didn't do enough last season to earn their way into the organization's plans, and they are now blocked by offseason acquisitions Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie. Both Sanchez, 23, and Davidson, 25, are still young and would be better off getting everyday at-bats in Charlotte than occupying the 25th spot on the Sox roster.

It's looking like that spot is going to go to veteran 1B/OF Travis Ishikawa, who has posted a .289/.347/.556 slash line in camp, with two home runs and nine RBIs. Ishikawa fills the need for a left-handed bat and backup option at first base after the abrupt retirement of Adam LaRoche earlier this spring.

Nick Swisher released by Braves

Nick Swisher

The Atlanta Braves released veteran outfielder and first baseman Nick Swisher on Monday.

The 35-year-old former White Sox knucklehead hit just .195 with four home runs and 17 RBIs in 46 games for Atlanta last season. Here's the funniest line from the AP story:

"There was no room for [Swisher] on the roster after the Braves signed Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, Gordon Beckham and Emilio Bonifacio to contend for spots on the bench."

Yes, it's true, Swisher's career has bottomed out to the point that Beckham and Bonifacio are considered better uses for roster spots on a rebuilding Atlanta team than he is.

Swisher is set to make $15 million this year, but the Cleveland Indians are paying most of that bill after trading Swisher and outfielder Michael Bourn to the Braves last season in exchange for third baseman Chris Johnson. Any team can now sign Swisher for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.

I was horrified this morning to see the Sox listed as one of six possible landing spots for Swisher, according to an article on cbssports.com. Other teams listed are the Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland.

Swisher has hit just .224/.315/.373 in the three years since he signed a four-year, $56 million contract with the Indians. He has stunk for a long time. He's coming off surgeries on both his knees. He's 35 years old. I'd say he's done.

I hope the Sox stay far, far away from this guy. When Swisher was with the Sox in 2008, his nickname was "Dirty 30," as he wore uniform No. 30. I called him "Dirty .230" because that's about all he could hit.

At this point, a .230 average from Swisher would qualify as wishful thinking for any team that signs him.

The White Sox's spring leader in RBIs? Avisail Garcia

White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia made several mechanical adjustments at the plate this offseason. He has lowered his hands. He's standing taller in the box, and his head position was changed in hopes of getting him a longer look at the ball.

We said at the start of spring Garcia was one of the players to watch in camp -- in fact, we had him No. 1 on our list -- to see how these changes would work. All the usual caveats about spring numbers being (relatively) meaningless apply, but I'd say Garcia has given the Sox reason for optimism.

He hit his fourth home run of the spring Sunday in a 13-9 win over the San Francisco Giants. He's posted a .333/.385/.708 slash line in 51 plate appearances this spring. Nine of his 16 hits have gone for extra bases. The four home runs are tied for the team lead, and his 16 spring RBIs are tops on the team.

Can it carry over to the regular season? Garcia will continue to be one of the players to watch as the games begin for real next week in Oakland.

Mat Latos has mixed results in first spring outing

Mat Latos

The pitching line for Mat Latos in his first spring outing looks ugly: seven earned runs on 11 hits over 4.2 innings.

That said, the White Sox right-hander's performance wasn't without positives. He allowed only two of those seven runs through the first four innings. His fastball was clocked between 89 and 92 mph, about where it should be, and he threw a couple of sharp curveballs to record two of his four strikeouts. He also declared his troublesome left knee to be healthy after the outing.

But that fifth inning didn't go so well. He gave up two home runs and quickly turned a 3-2 lead into a 7-3 deficit (although the Sox would rally to win, 8-7). Latos noted that he gave up "a couple cheap hits" and allowed himself to become frustrated on the mound.

"I didn’t expect it to be a complete explosion, that was embarrassing," Latos told CSN Chicago's Dan Hayes. "But I’m healthy, the knee feels good. Like I said, first inning through fourth inning shows how I really feel. Just again, a dumb move by me. A blonde moment, if you will, just getting out of what I wanted to accomplish and that’s not the game plan. We don’t want to get aggravated when we’re out there. Stick to the game plan. If it’s not broke don’t fix it. I kind of let it to get me and that was a dumb, selfish mistake and we’ll progress there."

Another potential explanation for the horrible inning: Latos isn't strong enough yet to pitch deep into games. That theory was offered by manager Robin Ventura.

“I thought the first few [innings] he was crisp,” Ventura said in Hayes' report. “He looked good. He was down [in the zone]. After that, there could be a couple things in there -- fatigue, could be getting him out here for the first time. I think it’s just getting him back out here and getting him stretched out and getting him stronger. Encouraged by the start of it just how crisp he was.”

We'll get more answers as we see more of Latos in the final two weeks of spring. If he looks like the guy he was in the first four innings Tuesday as he pitches deeper into games, then he's going to help the Sox this year. Time will tell whether this fifth-inning implosion is any cause for concern.

And if you are concerned about Latos, consider this: Jeff Samardzija, the guy Latos is replacing in the Sox rotation, has an 8.53 ERA with the San Francisco Giants this spring. Samardzija has given up five home runs in 18 spring innings with San Francisco. Sound familiar? Again, I'll take my chances with Latos on a one-year deal worth $3 million over the $90 million over five years the Giants gave Samardzija.

White Sox option Erik Johnson to Triple-A Charlotte; Carson Fulmer opening eyes

Erik Johnson

The White Sox will have one right-handed pitcher in their Opening Day starting rotation. It just won't be Erik Johnson.

The Sox optioned Johnson to Triple-A Charlotte on Monday as one of three roster moves. Pitcher Tyler Danish and infielder Steve Lombardozzi also were assigned to minor league camp.

Johnson's demotion is a sign the club sees Mat Latos as its fifth starter going into the season, although Latos is yet to pitch in a game this spring. As for Johnson, he did nothing to distinguish himself in two starts, allowing nine runs on 10 hits in six innings.

The other rotation candidate, Jacob Turner, has made three Cactus League starts, but he has looked shaky -- allowing nine earned runs on 13 hits over 7.2 innings. He allowed two runs and lasted just two innings in a struggling performance against the Oakland A's on Sunday.

Latos seems to be the leader by default for that rotation spot.

Meanwhile, Carson Fulmer continued to impress Sunday with 3.1 scoreless innings and four strikeouts against the A's. It caught my attention on the Sox broadcast Saturday when pitching coach Don Cooper said Fulmer is further along in his development now than Carlos Rodon was at this same time last year.

Cooper reiterated the point when Scott Merkin of MLB.com asked him if Fulmer could contribute to the 2016 Sox.

"Absolutely. Why not?" Cooper said. "I believe at this point, right now, compared to last year, he's slightly ahead of where [Carlos] Rodon was."

Manager Robin Ventura also praised Fulmer in a story filed by CSNChicago.com's Dan Hayes.

“He’s jumped up there pretty high,” Ventura said. “Coop’s excited about what he’s been doing down here, making some adjustments and really putting himself on the radar for a couple of needs that might arise. He could probably fill both of those. Just an impressive young guy and is very mature and is learning very quickly as he goes along.”

This is a change from what we heard at SoxFest, when Ventura and general manager Rick Hahn tried to tamp down high fan expectations for Fulmer.

The 2015 first-round draft pick is not going to come north with the Sox, but his recent performances and the latest comments from team brass suggest his stay in the minors might not be a long one.