On the day before the start of SoxFest, Robin Ventura spent a lot of time answering questions -- first on a conference call, then on Chicago Tribune Live. Given the number of topics he tackled, his inexperience with the job and his lack of contact with most of his players, he's speaking in vague, open-ended terms. It doesn't do us much good, but it puts him in a better spot as he prepares to run his first spring training.

Here's what we can glean from the bulk of it...

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Joe Cowley authored an opinion piece entitled "White Sox should make Chris Sale their closer, not put him in the rotation".

Well, allow me to retort. Joe's words are in bold:

The White Sox began the week tossing promotions around.

Buddy Bell had a snazzy new vice-president title thrown on the sign in his parking spot, and Nick Capra was named director of player development.

It's January so it's not unusual for promotions to happen at the start of the year.

Even left-hander Chris Sale took time out after his return from honeymooning in Maui to discuss his promotion. Sale, 22, is preparing to make the jump from proven reliever to promising starter.

That's great!

Too bad Sale’s promotion might be the one the Sox regret in early May.

I guess Cowley, like Keith Law, thinks Sale can't start in the big leagues.

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The spring training schedule once again presents multiple opportunities to see or hear the White Sox in preseason action. The schedule includes six games on television (five on Comcast SportsNet and one on WGN), nine games on WSCR and twelve games on chisox.com (all of those webcasts are free).

Of course, the press release does not actually tell you exactly which games will be on what. For example, this is how they describe the TV coverage:

The first televised game will be March 9 against the Cubs on WGN-9 at Camelback Ranch at 2:05 p.m. CST. Comcast SportsNet will carry five games, starting with a March 23 game against Arizona at Camelback Ranch in Glendale. CSN will wrap up its spring TV schedule April 3 against Houston at Minute Maid Park at 7 p.m.

Thanks for that, I guess. [Edit 7:30pm: The White Sox put up the other dates. The six games are 3/9 v Cubs; 3/23 v Diamondbacks (night game); 3/25 v Giants; 3/29 v Dodgers; 4/1 v Reds; and 4/3 v Astros (night game).]

The real fun will be this:

WSCR broadcasts the first of its nine games on Monday, March 5 at 2:05 p.m. CST when the White Sox open spring training against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Glendale. WSCR again will feature the on-air tandem of Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson. Four of the nine game broadcasts (March 10, 17, 24 and 25) feature an "interactive" format, allowing listeners to interact with Farmer and Jackson, as well as pre and post-game host Chris Rongey during the broadcast.

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Baseball broadcasters love it when batters use the opposite field. When a right-handed hitter uses right field, it will be called "a nice piece of hitting." And when a guy hits a line drive to right field in the middle of the slump, they'll point to that swing as a harbinger of fun times a-comin'.

It's a good rule of thumb. It describes Alex Rios' problems perfectly -- he used to collect a fair amount of his hits to the opposite field, and now he pulls everything into the ground. Gordon Beckham is similar, except when he's not driving a fastball the other way, he's missing it completely.

But it's not a one-size-fits-all claim. Some guys need to pull the ball more often. We saw Jerry Owens' career flame out because he fouled fastballs over the third-base dugout. We haven't seen Jordan Danks, and that's one of his problems. It's optimal for a hitter to use the opposite field, but if he can't pull the ball with authority when the opportunity presents itself, it's going to be difficult for that bat to stay in the league.

For four months of the season, Brent Morel had the same problem. He poked the ball to the right side a lot. Those efforts didn't amount to much.

We know September was a different story. Morel blasted eight homers, drove in 19 runs and posted a line that looks nothing like his game, a wild .224/.340/.553.

But August is a fascinating month in and of itself. The .620 OPS doesn't suggest it, but when you look at how he went about it, there were some signs of a breakout on the way.

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It's not exactly a secret that the White Sox have the worst farm system in baseball. John Sickels recently said that very thing. What piqued my interest was a combination of a conversation I had with Colin and this line from the esteemed Mr. Sickels.*

Hitting is a disaster. I like Tyler Saladino but I have huge doubts about their other hitting prospects.

Colin brought up the excellent point that the washout rate for pitchers in the White Sox farm system seems to be much lower than that of other teams, but for whatever reason we can't develop hitters. With that in mind, I would be thrilled if the White Sox focused more heavily on hitting this June. Since the team hasn't used their first pick on a high school player since local product Kris Honel back in 2001, it seems reasonable to expect them to draft from the college ranks yet again. That lets me use this fantastic list that Matt Garrioch put together. Since the Sox have the 13th pick, there is little to no chance that Deven Marrero or Michael Zunino will be playing on the South Side any time soon. So since we miss out on the current top two hitters (and do keep in mind this is very early and things are bound to change), here are a few players I would be excited to hear have their name called on my birthday.

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In his evaluation of the Prince Fielder signing and its impact on the division, U-God noted that the Detroit Tigers just filled out the biggest contract in AL Central history. That made me wonder what the competition looked like, and here's what I was able to remember/discover. Let me know if I overlooked one.

1. Prince Fielder, 9 years, $214 million
Detroit, 2012

2. Joe Mauer, 8 years, $180 million
Minnesota, 2011

3. Miguel Cabrera, 8 years, $153 million
Detroit, 2008

4. Magglio Ordonez, 6 years, $90 million*
Detroit, 2005

5. Justin Verlander, 5 years, $80 million
Detroit, 2010

6. Justin Morneau, 6 years, $80 million
Minnesota, 2008

7. John Danks, 5 years, $65 million
Chicago, 2012

8. Alex Rios, 6 years, ~$62 million**
Chicago, 2009

9. Paul Konerko, 5 years, $60 million
Chicago, 2006

10. Travis Hafner, 4 years, $57 million
Cleveland, 2009

* Contract was originally five years and $75 million, but an $18 million option for 2010 vested, nullifying a $3 million buyout.
** Approximate amount of money owed to Rios at the time the White Sox claimed him off waivers.

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Well this certainly isn't good. In case you haven't heard yet (shame on you for being a bad fan or a responsible adult), Prince Fielder agreed to a 9 year/$214MM contract with the Detroit Tigers today. Remember a week ago when Victor Martinez tearing his ACL slightly opened a window? Consider that window slammed shut, locked, boarded up, and bars installed over the frame. Detroit now has the two best hitters in the division. While anything can happen during the season, it's pretty safe to say that if the Tigers weren't already the odds on favorite to win the Central, they damn well are now. So what does the biggest contract in the 18 year history of the division mean for everyone else?

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