White Sox spring training cuts get serious

While Cat Stevens said the first cut is the deepest, I question his knowledge about spring training rosters.

With the White Sox fielding a rather deep active roster -- especially in the relief department -- it was going to be difficult for a non-roster invitee to make a lot of headway. Sure enough, the first round of cuts featured a lot of those names on the "who's who" list -- your Josh Walls, your Nik Turleys, Colin One through Colin Kleven, etc. Chris Beck was the most notable name, but he's coming back from elbow problems, so he needs more pitches than the big Sox can give him.

The second round is when it gets real, and before Adam LaRoche up and retired, the biggest White Sox news from Tuesday was the release of Mike Olt, whose Slinky-like trip down the White Sox roster ended with a thud. He was previously designated for assignment when the White Sox signed Austin Jackson, then outrighted to Charlotte when nobody claimed him.

While his descent was steep, it was understandable. The White Sox have three playable third basemen on the 25-man roster, and even Matt Davidson is getting interesting again, so the Sox don't need a right-handed option there, especially one with contact problems that undermine power. He'll live on as one of those random third basemen Sox fans name-drop to prove their cred 20 years from now, but everybody's in a better place now.

Daniel Webb, on the other hand ...

Webb was also among Tuesday's cuts, as he continues his equally precipitous drop with fewer contributing external factors. Yes, he entered the spring on the outside looking in after the additions of Jacob Turner and Matt Albers. However, with nearly 100 major-league innings to his name over the last two seasons, he was a break or two from being back in it.

Instead, even with Zach Putnam and Jake Petricka nursing minor injuries, Webb finds himself out of it. It's easy to understand -- his spring numbers were abysmal, and he couldn't be excused for them after the way he ended 2015.

Sure, he cut his WHIP in half, but that's because it doesn't count HBP (he's plunked three batters this spring). That's how he ended up getting sent to minor-league camp while a whopping 23 pitchers remain at the adults' table. Barring a renaissance, you can probably put Latham's Tommy Kahnle ahead of Webb on your first-reliever-up depth chart.

The other two cuts were two first-time prospects meeting their inevitable fates -- Brandon Brennan, who had a good time (0.00 ERA over two games), and Jordan Guerrero, who didn't (36.00 ERA over two games).