White Sox Opening Day lineup

Scott Merkin:

Other White Sox links:

• J.J. previews the outfield, and the bullpen. And together with Toni Andracki publishes the 2012 All-Chicago team.
• James previews the AL Central race, and explains the White Sox’ advantage as the start of 2012.
• Fangraphs’ Marc Hulet says there are dark clouds over the South Side..
• MLBTR reviews the White Sox offseason.
• FutureSox posts the previews for the Sox minor league teams (rookie ball starts after June’s draft): Charlotte Knights (AAA), Birmingham Barons (AA), Winston-Salem Dash (A+), Kannapolis Intimidators (A). Baseball America previews the Sox minor league system too.

And Slate’s Lily Rothman has an excellent article on the plight of Minor League players.

Chris Sale’s 1st Spring Training start: Friday, March 9, 2 pm CT @ WGN-TV [UPDATE]

http://twitter.com/#!/scottmerkin/status/174963251950534657

Broadcast Schedule.

UPDATE: First 5 starts:

John Danks is set to start the team’s Cactus league road opener on Tuesday in Tempe against the Angels, with Jake Peavy pitching Wednesday at home against the Brewers and Gavin Floyd on Thursday in Surprise against the two-time defending American League champs from Texas. With Chris Sale pitching Friday in Glendale against the Cubs, the opening rotation appears to be set up, although nothing official has been announced by manager Robin Ventura past Humber on Monday.

Jose Quintana starts Monday’s “B” game against the Indians, with Simon Castro and Brian Bruney also pitching. Will Ohman, Jesse Crain, Addison Reed, Hector Santiago, Pedro Hernandez, Charlie Leesman and Nestor Molina pitch Monday after Humber, who is ready to test his early work in actual games.

Other White Sox links:

• James looks at Paul Konerko’s comments.
• J.J. and Tony Andracki post the 1990-1999 All-Chicago team.
• Will Carroll and Dan Wade published their 2012 White Sox team health report.
• Mike Newman scouts the toolsy Keenyn Walker and gives us his scouting report.

Herm Schneider is in the best shape of his life

No kidding, he really is:

The most noticeable change among the Sox’s traveling party was trainer Herm Schneider, who declined to disclose how much weight he lost this winter.

Daryl Van Schouwen says it’s 70 pounds:

http://twitter.com/#!/CST_soxvan/status/172376926575538176

BTW, here’s a picture of Herm from August of 2011:

Good job Herm!

Other White Sox links:

• James looks at Tyler Flowers replacing A.J. Pierzynski, and replays the April 12, 2008 Sox-Tigers game (Gavin Floyd’s breakout).
• J.J. looks at the battle for the last spot in the Sox bench, and contributes to publishing the All-Chicago 2000-2011 baseball team.
• Baseball America released its ‘2012 Top 100 prospects’ list. The only Sox prospect on the list is 23-year old RHP Addison Reed at #66.

A.J. Pierzynski down; Donny Lucy up [UPDATE]

Merkin @ CWS:

The White Sox placed catcher A.J. Pierzynski on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a fractured left wrist and purchased the contract of catcher Donny Lucy from Triple-A Charlotte.

This marked Pierzynski’s first career trip to the disabled list. The 34-year-old catcher, whose placement on the DL was retroactive to Saturday, suffered the injury Friday against Kansas City, when he was hit by a Bruce Chen pitch in the third inning.

The legend of Cy Chen grows…

UPDATE: Herm Schneider says Pierzynski could return on August 29 because the fracture is more of a “compression” fracture.

Other White Sox links:

• J.J. writes about Juan Pierre’s and Brent Lillibridge’s rebounds.
• James talks about many things, one being Juan Pierre’s rebound and recaps the last week (and talks about Mark Buehrle).
• Brett Ballantini talks about Adam Dunn’s struggles.

Dr. Fishbein is trying to straighten out Adam Dunn

Remember Dr. Fishbein? His new assignment is trying to straighten out Adam Dunn. Padilla @ ESPN:

As if Adam Dunn’s head wasn’t messed up enough, he just got schooled on the golf course by the team psychologist.

Talk about mind games.

The good news, though, is that Dunn spent the time last week talking things through with Jeffrey Fishbein, who has been with the club off and on since spring training. …

Other White Sox links: J.J. says Jake Peavy doesn’t belong to the bullpen and puts on his GM hat, James identifies the White Sox All-Star players, FutureSox recaps the moves in thew Sox minor league system, John Danks’ MRI reveled only a mild strain of his right obligue and he’s expected to return after one rehab assignment, Patrick Newman at Fangraphs recaps Herm Schneider’s greatest hits, and Joe Posnanski says 2011’s Adam Dunn is the least exciting player ever.

Ozzie Guillen thinks Jake Peavy will miss 3-4 regular-season starts

Jake Peavy says the White Sox are making the decisions. Merkin @ CWS:

But while Peavy realizes the final call involves his input, it ultimately comes from White Sox general manager Ken Williams, manager Ozzie Guillen, pitching coach Don Cooper, head athletic trainer Herm Schneider and the team’s medical staff. So reports of Peavy convincing Guillen or even begging the manager to let him pitch through shoulder discomfort on Saturday against the A’s, after Peavy had been crushed all week by the flu and missed work between starts, were a bit overblown, in the hurler’s opinion.

“Ozzie and the staff have had complete control from the start,” Peavy said. “I didn’t beg, I didn’t ask. I let those guys make the decision — Coop, Herm and Ozzie.

“They obviously know I wanted to pitch and stay on schedule. They’ve known that from Day 1. I certainly didn’t, as it was portrayed in certain situations, try to beg to get out there. I told them I’d do whatever they wanted me to do as a staff and I pitched.”

and

Basically, Peavy will be out of action for 48 hours and will be replaced by Philip Humber for Thursday afternoon’s start against the Cubs at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, Ariz. There’s no timetable for Peavy’s return, although Guillen guessed Peavy would miss three or four regular-season starts and return some time in the second half of April.

BP’s White Sox Injury projections

Corey Dawkins and Marc Normandin:

Summary: The White Sox are consistently among the healthiest teams in the game. They have ranked first in DMPI [Days Missed Per Injury. The average number of days missed per team injury] in each of the past two years and have lost the fewest days to injury three years running. The organization as a whole is dedicated to medical care, and it shows in the results above and on the field. Even a healthy Chicago club wasn’t quite good enough to take the division from the Twins last season, but most of the players whom General Manager Kenny Williams added over the winter in an attempt to make up ground don’t appear to have upped the team’s health risk by a significant margin. …

Will Carroll’s 2011 White Sox Team Health Report

Carroll @ SI:

I’ve heaped enough praise on Herm Schneider over the years that it’s bordering on the romantic. The interesting thing isn’t the results; those speak for themselves. To me, it’s that even as close as I watch this team and their medical staff, we don’t know much about them and their methods. Quick: Who’s the team doctor? While many can name their team’s doc off the top of their head, it’s not quite so easy here. Even few Sox die-hards will know Dr. Charles Bush-Joseph. Schneider is known for his rehab of Bo Jackson, but even after long time S&C coach Steve Odgers moved on to the Boras Institute, nothing seemed to change. (More interestingly, there’s little evidence that Boras clients are significantly more healthy than others.) There’s seemingly a black box instead of a training room in U.S. Cellular Field. Injuries go in and productive players go out. The Sox understand this and have been able to bring in high-risk players such as Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, and now Jake Peavy. The alchemy that happens, turning risk into wins, continues on in 2011. There’s not a lot of red here, which means Schneider and his staff can focus on the high-leverage players. …

BP’s Ben Lindbergh looks into the time spent on the DL more

Lindbergh @ BP:

… If Schneider has the magic touch, he must be among the most valuable non-players in the game; the head trainer has served the Sox in that capacity since 1979, but since our records go no further than 2002, we can’t check to see whether the long-tenured Schneider’s success predates Cooper’s arrival. For what it’s worth, pitcher DL days and position player DL days were weakly correlated at the team level during the 2002-10 period, with an r of .32, though that could reflect common approaches to injury treatment more so than similar incidences of injury occurrence. …

Herm Schneider wins another ‘DL Cup’

Days players spent on the DL in 2010:

Jared Mitchell, Jake Peavy both continue to improve in their rehab

Padilla:

Top prospect Jared Mitchell also continues to improve after surgery this spring to repair a tendon tear. He was injured while making a catch during spring training.The outfielder’s recovery is taking place with Single-A Winston Salem, and he is progressing “very well,” according to White Sox trainer Herm Schneider.

Jake Peavy also “continues to improve.”

UPDATE: Merkin:

Mitchell continues to work on hitting, running, agility and taking fly balls at Class A Winston-Salem, within a controlled environment. Mitchell is also working on getting stronger as the ankle heals.

Paul Konerko gets a cortisone shot [UPDATE]

whitesox.com:

The only White Sox regulars given the day off were first baseman Paul Konerko and catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who caught nine innings a day earlier in Arizona.

Konerko had a cortisone shot in his left hand to treat a lingering thumb injury, but a team spokesman said he’ll play Friday in Atlanta.

UPDATE: Gonzales:

That’s largely because he and trainer Herm Schneider have taken preventive measures to protect a right thumb that nagged him in 2008 during a subpar season.

“Since then, Herm and I have done a good job of staying in front of the pain, to where I’ll get the (pain-killing) shots before it gets bad,” said Konerko, who rebounded in 2009 with a .277 batting average with 28 home runs and 88 RBIs. “We’re protecting it better, cutting down on the workload, not hitting all day just to hit — all that helps. We’ve done a pretty good job of monitoring it better.

“In 2008, I figured I better start taking care of this, or else you’re not going to be able to swing the bat the way you want to. You still feel it. I can feel it, but it’s nothing that’s stopping me from being able to do what I want to do at the plate, and that’s the key.”

Bobby Jenks claims his calf was torn last September

Cowley:

… Where it gets interesting, however, is Jenks saying that the right calf that has slowed him a bit was actually torn in September when he was shut down. That was news to the Sox, as trainer Herm Schneider reiterated through a member of the Sox public relations team that it was just a strain. …

Will Carrol’s Sox team health report

Caroll:

The Comeback: Almost no one comes back from plantar fasciitis. The one big exception? Pujols. Of course, he’s not human, and Quentin is. The effectiveness of the medical staff at keeping Quentin productive could be the difference between first place and fourth. One new therapy that’s being used is called lithotripsy. Originally developed to help with kidney stones, it consists of pulses of sound being carried into soft tissue to break up the small osseous spurs that cause the inflammation. If you’ve ever stood in front of a speaker at Prive on a Friday night, you still have no idea what this is like. Pujols described his experience as “like being hit on the feet with sticks.” We’ll see if the advanced techniques of sports medicine and a great staff can make Quentin like Pujols in at least one way.

He has 3 guys on red: Carlos Quentin, John Danks, and Freddy Garcia, and 3 on yellow: Gavin Floyd, Jake Peavy, and Bobby Jenks.

More evidence Herm is doing a heck of a job

Zimmerman:

Since I have already looked at the salary lost to the DL for individual player totals and teams totals from 2002 to 2009, I will now look at the individual teams by year (injury information from Josh Hermsmeyer at RotoBlog.com) .  Looking over the lists the only points I noticed was that the Mets and Dodgers did not do a good job of keeping their high priced players off the DL while the Chicago White Sox did an amazing job.  Here is the top 20 teams and bottom 10 by total salary lost (link to a spreadsheet with all the teams and years for reference). …