With that said, it was nice to see the White Sox open their spring training schedule on Saturday by mercilessly pummeling the high-priced Dodgers. Look no farther than the list of pitchers the Sox used on Sunday–which has a small chance of not having a single 2013 major league contributor on it–for the nearest reminder of the integrity of spring competition. But it’s better to dissuade irrational exuberance than ease panic. The White Sox are undefeated, and are going all the damn way. Tell this to everyone you know up until they lose their first spring training game. It will be worth it.

No major steps on John Danks‘ rehab take place until next month, so Matt Thornton‘s inflamed elbow is the one source of hard news coming out of Glendale, and from Scott Merkin, it certainly sounds like this story stream is running dry.

Matt Thornton threw a 35-pitch bullpen session Sunday morning at Camelback Ranch and reported absolutely no discomfort.

“Not at all. Felt great,” said Thornton, who mixed in all of his pitches. “Aside from being numb from the cold and wind, it’s fine.”

Welp, (brushes off hands), that’s the end of that chapter.

The veteran left-hander played down the soreness, even joking that it must be a slow news run in White Sox camp to place so much focus on what he didn’t even consider a minor setback.

Pretty much, Matt. Pretty much.

It’s hard to believe that there’s another line of stories about Gordon Beckham‘s batting stance coming around, and yet, here they come rolling down the road. Of course, Beckhams’s a starter on the team, and persistently working on his hitting (because it’s never to the point of not needing work), and it makes sense that it’s getting reported. But the uncanny resemblance to previous versions of the story have to be wearing on Beckham himself.

The crux of the piece is that Beckham is moving forward with the crouched stance that he showed at the end of 2012, which achieved mildy improved results, but it’s amazing to hear that after all of the work that’s been put into tweaking Gordon’s swing over the years, hitting coach Jeff Manto still termed the staff’s approach as a major overhaul:

“It was an unusual situation where when we looked at him and thought, ‘Where would we start first?’ The unusual part is collectively, we said we would change his top hand,” said White Sox hitting coach Jeff Manto of Beckham. “That’s unheard of. He has such a strong grip, and like an overgrip, I guess. I don’t know what you would call it on his top hand. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Beckham hit .250/.355/.438 in September, with a dead-even strikeout-to-walk ratio, and his typically awful batting average on balls in play (.246).

As the weekend’s work of blogging and beat-writing has revealed, the benefits of having Adam Dunn bat fifth in the order are three-fold

1. He’s not as good as the hitters in front of him in the order (the intuitive reason)
2. His lack of double plays and reliance on home runs make him a poor hitter to run in front of, and the Sox won’t be running with Paul Konerko (that comes courtesy of Larry from South Side Sox’ research)
3. Dunn actually hates it when men on base run in his eye line, to the point where it scatters his thoughts too much for him to swing (that comes courtesy of Van Schouwen)

If the only things we can actually trust to carry over from Spring Training are injuries, the only manner of checking in with AL playoff competition is from macabre observations of their health, and assessing whether or not it improves the Sox chances. The practice feels icky, but since the Sox are all about touting their superior health as a path toward a playoff birth, that plan includes the more talented teams above them being hampered by aches and pains as well.

To that end, Curtis Granderson breaking his forearm leaves the Yankees without their starting center fielder for 10 weeks is a significant event. He was no miracle worker last season, but he’s hit 108 home runs in three seasons in New York. It’s not a positive development for the Yankees.

For the Tigers, Ramon Santiago‘s calf strain just opens up the competition among their light-hitting middle infield reserves, and Andy Dirks‘ strain of his intercostal muscle (in his chest) is very mild, but does re-open concerns about his ability to stay healthy and hold down the left fielder role after he only played 88 games last season. However, Victor Martinez is back, excited and has already homered in Spring Training. Perhaps this picture of Miguel Cabrera booting a grounder is the most cheerful thing that can be shown about the Tigers.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Not that they were ever a sure bet to, but it’s been quite a trip from the moment Thornton inked his two-year extension in Spring Training of 2011, to this current race to get to the end of the contract—if only to renegotiate a lower rate–without Thornton’s ability fading away completely.

In March of 2011, the White Sox had an elite reliever coming off an All-Star appearance, entering into the last year of his contract, and about to become a closer. No reliever getting $5.5 million annually, or what was effectively a three-year commitment, should be taken lightly, but the Sox were praised for getting out ahead of a potential windfall for the best bullpen guy. They paid Thornton to be an elite reliever before they might have to suffer whatever extra bonuses the ethereal label of proven closer might afford him. And with his skill set, and even success in closer cameos, they had every reason to believe he would earn that label.

Of course, as Thornton admitted about his experience as a closer, “things have not gone right.” Beyond the zaniness of the defense that more or less became a scatter band behind him during save situations, Thornton’s command wavered badly in the first half of 2011, and even his recovery suggested that 2010 was probably a peak season, not a new level of mastery. It’s odd to speak ill of a season where Thornton’s FIP and xFIP were both below 3.00, but it was the first blip on his resume in three years, and offered uncertainty–beyond general concern about his age–to his performance over a contract that was expected to be a bargain.

But 2012 is what really jiggled the circuits in regards to how Thornton can be conceived of as a pitcher. In terms of velocity, strikeouts, swinging-strike rate, and runs allowed, it was all Thornton’s worst work since 2007, but it featured a significant alteration is his approach. Another mile ebbed away from Thornton’s fastball, but he also took a large step away from throwing the heat nine out of every 10 times as he did before, and tried to work in a slurvy slider that varied between effectiveness and just being a strike-grabbing offering. The all-conquering fastball approach was gone, and with it–and no change-up–Thornton’s platoon situation downgraded from Chris Sale status (good against righties, pointless slaughter against lefties), to where handedness needed to be considered before bringing him in the game.

It’s hard to think of where to map Thornton’s performance from here, because the transitional nature of his approach is mixed with evidence of his decline. He could continue to lose his fastball, he could continue to develop secondary offerings that he didn’t give much thought to when he was blowing everyone away. The forces of his depreciation are probably stronger than his adjustments–he’s 36, for goodness sake–but by what degree?

The point of bringing up the contract is largely to emphasize the speed of the shift. Within a two-year span, an elite, feared reliever with solid peripherals and a sustained track record of success went through a thorough transformation–especially in the way he’s regarded by the fans.

Meanwhile, Jesse Crain–an intense fly ball pitcher in U.S. Cellular Field who puts runners on base by the truckload, was signed to a three-year deal after a peripheral-defying, low-ERA season in pitcher-friendly Minnesota, has gone right ahead and had two-straight intense fly-ball, walk-heavy, peripheral-defying, low-ERA years in Chicago. Jesse Crain, with all of his periods of not being able to throw a strike, half hour long innings and #Crainwreck hashtags, has a 2.54 ERA as a member of the White Sox.

Relievers are volatile, very volatile. It’s a concept that seems wildly accepted, if only from looking at the contract lengths that shudder to go three years, let alone beyond. But despite our best attempts to intone this principle, real life examples blow our already altered expectations away.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

What was supposed to be a pitchers duel turned into a hit parade early. With Chris Sale facing off against Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers in Arlington on Friday night, most baseball fans expected to see a few hits scattered around with a run or two being more than enough to claim a victory. But with a total of 14 runs scored in the game and 5 runs scored in the first inning, it was quite the opposite between the AL West and AL Central leaders.

The White Sox plated one run in the first inning on an Alex Rios sacrifice fly. Not to be outdone, the Rangers answered back in the bottom half of the first with 4 runs. A Josh Hamilton sac fly tied it at one and a Nelson Cruz 3 run homer gave the Rangers an early 4-1 lead. I’ll be honest, with Darvish on the mound and a 3 run deficit in the first inning, things didn’t look that great for our Sox.

The Pale Hosers would bounce right back in the second, putting up two runs on a Kevin Youkilis bomb, only to chalk up two more runs in the fourth on a Alejandro De Aza single with runners on second and third. The Sox would add another run in the seventh on an Alex Rios fielders choice, scoring Adam Dunn from third and giving our White Sox the 6-4 advantage.

Things would get a little interesting in the seventh inning as the Rangers staged a hefty threat. But with bases loaded and the ever dangerous Josh Hamilton at the plate, Matt Thornton would induce a ground ball resulting in a fielders choice and would retire Michael Young on a fly out to right field, minimizing the damage to only one run and preserving a one run lead going into the eighth.

Fast forward to the top of the ninth. With Dunn on first and your local White Sox insurance agent, Alex Rios at the plate the Sox would throw up a few runs to cushion the lead. Starting with a Rios double plating Dunn (7-5 S0x) and ending with an Alexei Ramirez two run homer giving the Sox the 9-5 lead heading to the bottom half of the inning.

Enter Addison Reed and the rest is history as the Sox would come out of this one winners with the final score of 9-5.

Sale had a tough start and we saw a few tough innings, but all in all the Sox showed they are a tough team, fighting back from an early deficit in order to overcome and hold off a very solid Rangers ball club in their home park. I still think the bullpen needs a little help and with the trade deadline approaching and the market for pitchers slowly diminishing to a pile of nothing, the Sox might need to make the best with what they have (which honestly could be a lot worse, in terms of their pitching situation). The offense is going to be ok and the rotation is not bad (should be interesting to see what happens with John Danks). That bullpen just scares me.

Oh and by the way, the Tigers lost, so we are now 1.5 games up. Lets get the next one tomorrow, boys.