Of course, that selection is only a preliminary gesture. Rios could still opt out, and he’s been more or less off the grid, out of the country, and on radio silence since getting married in December.

Well, apparently he still answers his phone.

Rios confirmed in a text message that he will play for Puerto Rico.

-Mark Gonzales

Besides Rios being a veteran who can’t be easily micromanaged in the same way as a prospect, and a position player, one thing that should remove worry about him playing in the World Baseball Classic is his career record. While Rios has been tremendously inconsistent, he’s always been there, being inconsistent–2006 was the last time he logged under 140 games in a season. He was ridden hard in 2012 for sure, but he’s rested, and proven to be trusted to get through baseball game without breaking a clavicle. This is a far cry from Carlos Quentin asking for approval to appear on Wipeout.

More pressingly, the WBC will allow for some reacquaintence with Rios’ swing. His smooth, gliding stroke whipped balls into the left field bleachers one minute and into the right-center gap the next during the summer months of 2012, was still a work in progress throughout for much of the season. There were the ugly portions of Spring Training as Rios tried to force a whole-field approach, there was the first month of the season where he had yet to tap into his pull power, and finally, to close the season, there was the longest stretch of effectiveness of Rios’ time in Chicago.

The temptation is to consider that the end of a linear story where Rios is fixed and hits happily ever after, but the past three seasons have taught us better. Rios will still just be a veteran working out the cobwebs by the time the WBC rolls around, but it will be interesting to see where his head is at when he steps to the plate. Also, his hands, feet, and hips.

To get ephemeral, I initially skimmed past Gonzales’ note confirming Rios’ attendance and wound up rifling through the outfielder’s twitter history to see if there was any indication of his intentions, and wound up coming across the goofiness of the pictures he sent out.

There’s a fond memory of him tweeting out a picture of a gash sustained making his famous slide into Omar Infante, reminding us of the hardworking nature he adapted in 2012…and then there’s a picture of him using a Garrett’s popcorn mug with a German-made coffee “system” that costs at least $2,000, is plugged into his water line, and is probably custom-installed. That serves to remind us that he’s a baseball player who has had a ton of money invested in him.

And yes, it appears that I Twitter-stalked Alex Rios and I can’t undo it.

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As such, there is a seemingly random smattering of members of the White Sox organization that are in the process of considering whether to participate in the tournament. The event itself teeters on the edge; it seems unwise in principle to have the organization’s players participate in an exhibition, but it also serves as a boost for their morale to represent their country, and is such a piddling amount of playing time that the risk is minimal, even trivial.

It makes things more complicated that all those being considered for the Sox are pitchers, who are made of paper mache and cannot be trusted to fetch things from tall cabinets.

Andre Rienzo, RHP – Brazil – Committed to Play

Rienzo represents an almost best case scenario for participation, since he’s a prospect–meaning he inherently needs reps for development–and did not have the benefit of a full 2012 season after he was suspended last April for testing positive for PEDs.

Better yet, the Brazil team doesn’t have the slightest chance of getting out of pool play, so Rienzo isn’t looking at anything much beyond a single start.

Jesse Crain, RHP – Canada – Committed to Play

Total workload is not something usually considered with Crain, since he hasn’t topped 70 innings in a season since Bush was in office. Besides the possibility of some higher-leverage work, a couple of relief appearances for–yet again, not a team expected to go very far–should not be much different than Crain’s normal activity. He worked all of 1.1 innings in the 2009 Classic.

However, with the oblique troubles that Crain dealt with all throughout 2012, he’s far from a road warrior who can be trusted to skirt by without problems.

Hector Santiago, LHP – Puerto Rico – Wafflin’

Santiago has gone back and forth throughout the Winter. When the off-season begin, the organization was all about continuing his momentum toward becoming a starter. But after completing the Puerto Rican Winter League season, it looks like it’s up in the air. At the very least, one has to admire to way Santiago is leveraging for the role he wants.

“It would be an honor to pitch for Puerto Rico. If they want me to start, I might do it. But I haven’t spoken to (Sox general manager Rick Hahn), and it might not be the right time to leave the White Sox.”

In his article (linked above) Mark Gonzales seems to phrase John Danks’ ability to return in time for the start of the season as indefinite, in which case it seems a lot more likely that the White Sox would urge Santiago to come back. Given that Santiago seems dead-set on starting above all other concerns, it’s likely he would acquiesce.

Chris Sale, LHP – USA – Out

Part of being an organization greatest hope/strength/source of anxiety, is getting used to be being treated like a hemophiliac without an immune system. To his credit, Sale sounds like he realized he was never going to be a part of the USA roster.

“I don’t think throwing as much as I threw last year and exceeding limits that were set, I don’t think throwing in competition earlier than I was supposed to be is best for myself and the team,” Sale told MLB.com during a phone interview from his Florida home. “I want to be as strong as I can for the whole year, for myself and for my team. I want to still have gas left in the tank if we get into October like I hope.”

Dayan Viciedo & Alexei Ramirez, LF & SS – Cuba – Out

Seem like obvious candidates, right? Apparently there’s some sort of government situation going on, though. Too bad.

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“I don’t think throwing as much as I threw last year and exceeding limits that were set, I don’t think throwing in competition earlier than I was supposed to be is best for myself and the team,” Sale told MLB.com during a phone interview from his Florida home. “I want to be as strong as I can for the whole year, for myself and for my team. I want to still have gas left in the tank if we get into October like I hope.

“It would be awesome representing our country and playing in the World Baseball Classic. At the same time, my teammates are counting on me and I’m counting on myself to be there for those guys this year and come back as strong, if not stronger. I just don’t think pitching in competition before I was supposed to would be best for myself and the team.”

As a White Sox fan, I’m more or less thrilled. Not over-the-top thrilled, because there would be some delight in Chris Sale eviscerating the entire world in an open competition. But after witnessing Sale spend the entire 2nd half unsuccessfully holding off mounting arm fatigue, adding high-leverage innings into the middle of his pre-season preparation for something that in no way helps the White Sox win baseball games loses its appeal.

That seems like a constant obstacle for the World Baseball Classic as a marquee. Success in Major League Baseball is all about maximizing value, and getting the most reps and opportunities for the best talent on the roster. With that in mind, a player as valuable, critical, and rife with injury concerns as Chris Sale–a top 5 AL starter who is needed to get through 30+ starts, but dealt with elbow soreness and velocity loss throughout 2012–has no business being put at risk.

That’s an easy argument to make, but I could talk myself out of allowing countless others if caution was the order of the day each time (Example: Danks and Floyd were hurt all of last year, Konerko is too old and achey, WHEN DOES RIOS GET A DAMN DAY OFF?, etc.).

One could even inquire how much work Hector Santiago needs to pile up before the season, since he’s been pitching steadily through in the Puerto Rican league for the past couple of weeks. Otherwise, he represents a case of a player for whom glorified exhibitions are a positive. Hector’s still an up-and-comer who could benefit from being called to perform as a starter, without his pratfalls being counted in actual MLB standings.

Of course, “a tournament of Hector Santiagos” probably isn’t a tagline Bud Selig is comfortable with, though it’s likely he won’t have to be. There will be enough players whose gusto for the competition will be enough that they will insist upon participating, and hyper-durable cases like Justin Verlander that only fools would worry about, that the rosters should be dotted with enough stars to promote.

But with this treatment of Sale, along with the demands made on his playing time during the All-Star Game, and also Jake Peavy’s sly ducking of work in that same contest, the Sox have made a point of not wasting innings on games that don’t matter.

And the more they make that point, the harder it is to see why anyone would.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan