TCS Morning 5: About that Erik Johnson piece

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Tom Verducci's latest piece, very surprisingly on the topic of Erik Johnson, contains some hard information on his, up to this point, mysterious decline and surprising relative to form. After his disastrous 2014 filled with velocity loss, control problems and a summer of getting tuned up at Triple-A Charlotte that left him fearing he was on his way out of the organization (which seems a bit panicked), Verducci reports that Johnson sought the help of a private pitching coach to clean up his mechanics.

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Important stuff from a 3-2 coming out party for Jeff Samardzija

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Jeff Samardzija had Torii Hunter struck out in the first inning, he had fooled him with a tumbling sinker that looked like it had slid under his desperate lunge, only to have it dribble out between Geovany Soto's legs and was called a foul tip. Two batters, and maybe five minutes later it was 2-0, after Samardzija had blown his two-strike count to Hunter, allowed him to score when he blew an 0-2 count to Joe Mauer for an RBI double, completely fell asleep as Mauer got a running lead and stole third, which allowed him to score on sacrifice fly.

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Gordon Beckham is helping the White Sox win

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Gordon Beckham has the ideal qualifications for a utility infielder, in that he was a below-average starting infielder for several years. More specifically, he was good glove, bad bat guy who was drafted as a shortstop, and spent his MLB career getting reps at second and third base. The concern was that he would be misused. Then there was some mild Spring Training concern that he was completely washed up, but mostly it was concern that he would be misused.

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Your 2015 Chicago White Sox in a perfect world (or the apocalypse)

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Baseball season is finally here.

After months of speculating, the White Sox's 25-man roster is set and the starting nine will take the field this afternoon against the defending American League champion Kansas City Royals.

Now that all the roster-building questions have been answered, what can we expect out of these guys?

Let's take our best guess.

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White Sox roster edges closer to completion

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The official White Sox 25-man Opening Day, World Series-bound roster is not to be announced until Thursday, but they're eeking ever closer to full resolution, while also completely holding off on any decision of who is getting booted off the 40-man roster. The story of the Sox roster is akin to Harry Potter, but only in the sense that it's hesitant to decisively purge any significant characters.

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Let's play another round of 'Who gets kicked off the 40-man?'

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Reporter/mensch Dan Hayes broke the tiny rumor this weekend that the Sox are shopping Eric Surkamp as a means to clear space on the 40-man roster. The Sox originally acquired Surkamp off waivers, then lowered his stock--not that they should have done anything else--by using him as a LOOGY rather than a spot starter, and even in that role he was cannon fodder for four-fifths of the season. He probably is going to have to wind up leaving the way he came.

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Your Ultimate 2015 White Sox Spring Training Primer

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Spring Training is finally here. What this means is we can all get excited about the sight of actual major league baseball players on an actual baseball field, and then cry over the realization that we're still six weeks away from meaningful games being played.

Still, the season of optimism is upon us, so let's take a look at some of the important things to monitor during the White Sox's time in Arizona.

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The Catbird Speaks 1.23.15: The most exciting list of non-roster invites I have ever seen

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Geovany Soto and Jesse Crain's returns to Chicago coupled with actual prospects to watch during Spring Training made Thursday's announcement of non-roster invites probably the most interesting in...well, human history. With pitchers and catchers reporting coming in the next month, The Catbird Seat gang got together to dish about the upcoming season and then insult the Twins a bit.

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