Beckham is projected to be out for six weeks, and if there’s one point of relief for him, it’s the relative degree of certainty about that six-week timeline.

From Mark Gonzales’ piece:

“It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. We’ll get the surgery done and I’ll be back. It’s not one of those things like a big question mark on how long it’s going to take.”

Wednesday night’s lineup of Jeff Keppinger at second base and Conor Gillaspie at third can be expected to become the norm, but six weeks means a disabled list stint and a disabled list stint means a roster move.

Carlos Sanchez is the most (the only?) exciting potential replacement in the minor leagues, but has played less than 50 games above A-ball and is viewed as a long-term replacement. Unless the Sox were looking to make that dive, they should look for a way to buttress that Gillaspie-Keppinger platoon splits nightmare they’re fixing to throw out there.

With the up-the-middle capabilities of Steve Tolleson and Tyler Greene being redundant to Angel Sanchez (concerns about his bat aside), Brent Morel seems like he could offer the most help as a platoon partner to the left-handed Gillaspie.

The actual roster move will be made prior to Friday’s game in Cleveland, according to reports.

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In this case, that voice was Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles, who was simultaneously relieved that the Giants would actually be getting something for a player who seemed doomed for the waiver wire, and amused to be passing on a player whose defense could be described as what is shown below to another team.

“…His fielding is pretty rough. And by “rough”, I think the phrase that we settled on was ‘he throws like Johnny Damon wearing boxing gloves’, and it’s not like he showed off soft hands in his brief appearances.”

That’s certainly troubling and limiting, but let’s take a moment to consider the trade from the White Sox perspective.

First, they traded right-handed pitcher Jeff Soptic, who’s firmly outside the top 20 in a very poor farm system, but is a live arm that any organization in the league would be convinced they could transform into a useful reliever. That’s barely a prospect, but it’s a prospect, which is more than one usually yields for a player they intend to waive at the end of spring yraining.

Therefore, Conor Gillaspie should be assumed to have as legitimate shot as anyone to soak up the last positional spot on the Opening Day roster, and CSN’s Dan Hayes (and I have it on good authority that Nick Schaefer agrees) says that his left-handed bat makes him an intriguing partner for the notoriously platoon-restricted Jeff Keppinger.

Second, this should throw a bit of cold water on the excitement that’s been lent to Brent Morel. Everyone can be pleased about his range of movement and effort levels, but the Sox trading for someone to come challenge him for a roster spot is a more tangible statement on the team’s belief in his ability than any press statement. It also pushes dreams of Morel reclaiming a starting job and turning Keppinger into a utility player or a motivational device for Gordon Beckham farther into the stratosphere.

Finally, maybe Gillaspie’s not awful? Nick was quick to send me the Baseball America profile for him from last year, which included this portion:

“He always has had supreme contact and pitch-recognition skills, along with the ability to turn around quality fastballs. He hits for average with some gap power and a healthy amount of walks, using a short, line-drive stroke that requires little maintenance. At worst, he projected as a valuable left-handed bat off the bench.”

He’s far from a fiend like Keppinger, but Gillaspie can make contact if he can do nothing else on a diamond, sporting just a 13.1% career strikeout rate in the minors. He’s no impact player, but contact and plate discipline makes it a bit harder for him to fall on his face.

Just a bit. Like, he’ll be able to put his hands out first.

The lack of a platoon split in his consistent minor league mediocrity limits his use as a bench partner, but if he could actually punish right-handed pitching, he wouldn’t be getting dumped in spring training to forestall a DFA.

When in doubt, trust Morel having a minor league option left to carry the day, and for Gillaspie, to wind up being that left-handed bat off the bench that we heard so much about.

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Still, a few players will inevitably report early for camp out of a desire to impress their employers, financial pressure to have a good season, or even genuine eagerness for baseball. It’s exciting, in a way

I’ve been trying to rhapsodize about the day of pitchers and catchers reporting for a few years now, and it’s time to admit that my heart is not in it. The baseball season–especially this year, with the World Baseball Classic–whirs to life slowly. This is a stage, and it’s followed by players in uniform running around, then fake baseball that gets increasingly less fake as the Spring wears on, and then finally real baseball, and that’s when all of our life schedules change. If MLB was really the product they hawked from February to the start of April, its critics might have a fairly good point.

But there is one thing that gets going full-bore starting this week.

I have arrived in sunny Glendale, Arizona. ST reports on MLB.com and chisox.com begin early Monday morning

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) February 11, 2013

The beats are on the case! Which, if nothing else, means there will be a steady supply of content and stories to sift through for information. There’s not much more to this baseball blogging thing than that. The early storylines are already getting laid out.

Brent Morel is really trying to make this interesting

Allegedly healthy and fully capable, Brent Morel is making a seemingly doomed bid to get his third base job back from a guy who was handed a three-year contract and has been penciled into the #2 slot in the batting order. Between the September 2011 explosion, the Spring Training back injury and his god-awful 2012 season, it’s hard to pin down exactly what a fully functional Morel is, let along judge if its better than Jeff Keppinger.

Keppinger’s signing simply signalled that the Sox were done putting all of their trust in that Morel would be a full-time third basemen, but the new guy is capable of playing multiple positions otherwise occupied by disappointing Sox prospects, so a resurgence from Morel would be mighty welcome.

John Danks needs to progress through his rehab

This one is obvious, since there’s the whole matter of the next four years and the $57 million that he’s owed. But since the White Sox are justifying their lack of off-season improvements to the offense with a pledge to win games like the Rays do, having a top-end of the rotation that actually performs as well as ‘Sale-Peavy-Danks’ sounds is now what the season is riding on.

You can eliminate Charlie Leesman grabbing the last spot in the bullpen as a long reliever from the list of the Spring Training storylines 

Per @mdgonzales LHP Charlie Leesman out until midseason rehabbing from knee surgery from injury covering 1B in IL playoff game last season

— FutureSox.com (@FutureSox) February 11, 2013

All eyes on Tyler Flowers

Having already been through the ringer of SoxFest, Tyler Flowers will soon begin to display his rather ugly and displeasing method of offensive production for the general public. Flowers could probably swat an .800 OPS and many would still find the switch to his high-strikeout style jarring, but at least Manto has glowing positivity to be bestow upon his off-season work.

“With Flowers, it went great,” Manto said. “Bainsey and I had a chance to spend some time with him to make sure he was aware of his backside. That’s what we’re most concerned with, with his collapsing.

“He did a great job making the adjustments all winter long. Tyler had sent me some video with his workouts and when we got to Chicago we were pleasantly surprised with the progress that he’s made.”

And if the adjustments don’t stick, Tyler Flower’s collapsing backside will be a source of ire throughout the South side, which would be its own fun.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan