Now that Matt Lindstrom has been signed–the terms have not been released but I tend to trust rumors that have been plastered up on the team’s official website–the White Sox finally have the complete bullpen (provided Addison Reed steps up) necessary for them to tout their pitching staff as a strength…a strength worthy of leveraging a playoff campaign on.

Speaking of leveraging things on arms–boy, that  sound exhausting…maybe those arms could use a break. In light of that, Robin Ventura has already announced intentions to hold John Danks–he of the shoulder troubles that could still yet spell the end of his time as an effective starter–and Chris Sale–he of the wonky mechanics, tender elbows, late-season velocity loss–out of the early games of a Spring Training schedule bloated by he World Baseball Classic.

It’s all in the name of proper prudence, but given the recent troubles of the pitchers Ventura is protecting, it raises questions how close to full-strength each starter is. Language about Danks being prepared for Opening Day has become steadily less certain in spite of his remaining on schedule, and Hector Santiago is behaving like someone who knows there are starts to be had. He dropped out of the World Baseball Classic despite having a start guaranteed to come his way if he stayed on with the Puerto Rican team.

“It’s just bad timing. Right now, with [John] Danks, I can be a rover: starter or spot guy. I don’t want to risk it, go over there and have some doubt that I’m … . I’m all for the White Sox. They mean everything.”

Between that quote, the screencap in the whitesox.com article about his dropout being an image of a bummed-out Roy Oswalt, and his heartrending outreach efforts in Connecticut that garnered a long profile from ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick and this video, Santiago is putting on the full-court press toward earning affection. The post-strikeout mound-circling and the scooping phone numbers  from the bullpen was enough for me, but this definitely helps.

Having good pitchers, and pitchers who are really good people is one thing, but concerns about the White Sox season and its chances are rooted in an aging and troubled offensive core. Between the stopgap nature of the Jeff Keppinger signing, and the off-season tease of a “left-handed bat” that never came to fruition, a fixing upgrade to an offense that stalled out and killed the season in September hasn’t made its way forth.

Appearing on CSN Hot Stove on Tuesday, GM Rick Hahn again offered the notion that offensive help might be coming with the line “we’re not done.” Since, the Lindstrom signing is apparently being held till SoxFest for an official announcement, Hahn could be referring to that and not be a liar, just a buzzkill. Instead, he made a point to refer opaquely to trades that he had been cultivating, to offer the reminder that it’s being considered.

Robin Ventura seems to be preparing to enter the season as is, and discussed the possibility of switching last year’s #3 and #5 hitters–Adam Dunn and Alex Rios respectively–in the order so as to space out his two left-handed bats from one another. The move has balanced enough pros and cons–Dunn provides a service in seeing a lot of pitches, but also had the same OBP as Rios last season and more lingering problems in his production–that the simple desire to avoid giving easy innings to LOOGYs makes sense. They both need to produce like #3 hitters to prop up the offense anyway.

The speculative talk from the front office about the team’s chances can seem like an uninspired response to the double-barreled assault Detroit is launching at their own competitive window, but Opening Day doesn’t function as a deadline for a team as active and successful in the mid-season trade market as the White Sox. If it all comes down to pitching, as Kenny Williams reminded, then that unit of the team proving itself capable of a playoff run in the early months will be what finally provides the impetus for reinforcements elsewhere.

Additional tidbits

Per Pale Hose Perspective monitoring a conference call with Robin Ventura:

-Hector Santiago is still behind Jose Quintana for the 5th starter slot for now, despite all the hubbub.

-Josh Phegley has a chance to compete with Hector Giminez for the backup catcher slot. Phegley’s defense is supposedly improved, but not nearly enough to make his presence on a 25-man roster not worrisome

Both Jake Peavy and Gordon Beckham held impromptu Twitter chats. Gordon’s of course had his standard-issue heckling 

“@mitchkwik: @gordonbeckham your ass better hit .260 this year” ok champ

— Gordon Beckham (@gordonbeckham) January 23, 2013

But my favorite was Jake Peavy’s oddly pragmatic advice to the youngsters:

“@wheaton_ben: @jakepeavy_44 advice for an aspiring pitcher?”Sell out!

— Jake Peavy (@JakePeavy_44) January 23, 2013

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

IT IS A WORLD OF EXPERTISE THAT I BRING TO THIS POST

However, while I believe it silly to fork over hundreds of dollars to see baseball players not play baseball, and believe panels of players and executives speaking to fans are inherently designed to be removed of scoops, I can still run through a press release full of scheduled appearances and make comments.

So then…

JANUARY 25-27, PALMER HOUSE HILTON HOTEL, 17 EAST MONROE ST…CHICAGO, OBVIOUSLY

Current White Sox players scheduled to attend are Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, Chris Sale, Adam Dunn, Addison Reed and Gavin Floyd (!!!!!). SoxFest is serious business, and I’m sure that Floyd’s presence on the schedule means his presence on the 2013 White Sox is written in stone, and that trading him requires a lot more than the Sox simply calling their publisher, and telling them to remove his name from the event programs before they go out to print.

In seriousness, Floyd–should he be there–would probably come the closest to occupying the role Adam Dunn had last year, as the underperforming veteran who needs to explain why things are going to be different. Instead, Dunn returns for the most part as a conquering hero along with Sale.

Alexei Ramirez was already discussing plans to work harder at the end of last season, but between his decent batting average and high RBI total, I have my doubts about how much people noticed how bad he was in 2012.

Paul Konerko will be the target of retirement questions and will probably give a surprisingly honest answer.

Last year, the theme for former players attending was 2005 heroes, with Joe Crede, Chris Widger, Pablo Ozuna, and Cliff Politte joining franchise mainstay Frank Thomas, and that’s carrying over to a lesser degree this year. I suspect that the 2005 team will be getting acknowledged in some way at SoxFest every year for the forseeable future, since so many of these guys are ending their playing careers and getting jobs with the organization. (Reminder: 2005 was a while ago).

Aaron Rowand–released by the Marlins out of Spring Training, and free enough to do some broadcast work for 670 AM last year–will be on hand, in addition to Jermaine Dye, and Joe Crede, who is about as officially retired as Dye at this point. Crede’s only 34, and it’s sad to think how long he’s been done, and how much fun it was to watch him play 3rd base. But that sorrow can be offset by Frank Thomas being around, and remembering how unlikely it was that he would be a smiling, glad-handing representative for the team this time seven years ago.

Outside of the never-ending 2005 nostalgia tour, Black Jack McDowell, former hulking 80′s slugger Greg Luzinski, and 70′s OF/1B Carlos May are expected to attend, in addition to Ron Kittle, who attended last year and is turning into a bit of a regular.

Go-to topics of conversation for McDowell have to be Dr. James Andrews ruining his career and costing him millions, and getting knocked unconscious in a bar fight that involved Eddie Vedder. Or the ’93 team. You could always ask him about the ’93 team.

Given the difference in size of the crop of players from last year to this, I would expect some more appearance announcements before the event. A.J. Pierzynski may be gone, Philip Humber and Brent Morel may be irrelevent, John Danks might be busy rehabbing, and Alex Rios would probably rather die than leave Puerto Rico to go to Chicago in January, but it seems odd that Matt Thornton, Tyler Flowers and Jesse Crain would all be out of the picture after attending in 2012.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan