Robin Ventura arrived at Camelback Ranch – Glendale this morning, prepared and antsy to begin his first spring training as a major league manager.

“I’m tired of just looking at paper and everything else,” Ventura told the media during an 11 a.m. briefing.  “It’s nice to just get here and see guys in uniform, see guys hitting, throwing, that’s the fun part.”

Here’s a selection of Ventura’s Q&A with the Chicago and national media:

Does it feel like it’s been years since you were actually hired?

“It has. It seems like a long time without doing anything really. You can talk to guys and everything, but it’s different once you actually get here, and the work starts being done and things like that. It’ll be nice once everyone gets here, but it’s at least nice to be here with pitchers and catchers already out here doing stuff.”

Planned out first-day speech?

“I don’t know if I’ve actually planned it out. I mean I know what I basically want to say as far as them understanding who I am and what’s expected. I don’t have it written out, but I know what I want to say.”

What are you going to say?

“I can’t waste all my material here right now.”

How quickly will you decide on closer position?

“There’s competition for everything, but as far as guys coming here with a clean slate, I’m obviously the guy for that because I haven’t really been around to see them enough to pinpoint exactly who’s going to do what in regards to the bullpen. I’m open for letting it go through the spring and seeing how guys do, see what our needs are and go from there.”

Do you have an idea that you keep between the coaches?

“I have a lot of ideas that I’m probably going to keep between myself, the coaching staff and the players. I’m not just going to pinpoint anything right now, we’ll just go forward and get the spring going and see how it goes.”

What do you want to get out of Spring Training?

“Obviously the goal is to get as prepared as you can for Opening Day and to get going into the season. I don’t want guys getting hurt. I want them to get enough at-bats and playing time. If we have spots that guys are working to earn I want to at least give them the opportunities and appearances to be able to show what they have and then we’ll make decisions off of that. That’s what spring is for – to get prepared to actually play in the season, and that’s the goal.”

How do you view flying under the radar/underdog role?

“I don’t know if we’re flying under the radar. We still have the same goals – we’re here to win games and we have to figure out how to do that. Once we suit up and get ready for the season, that’s our goal. Detroit has kind of earned that, coming off what they did last season and signing some players this year. But it’s not going to change the way we approach anything, we’re not going to concede anything to anybody. So that’s fine, everybody can say that, but it’s not going to change my attitude or the teams attitude.”

Will your laid back attitude will help the team?

“Well I hope so. I don’t consider it always laid back. I do have things I believe in as far as the way they play. Hopefully guys can play better; after last year that’s just the situation we’re in, and no one is going to let them up from that without guys playing well. That’s just the facts and that’s just the way it is. We have a long way to go to prove that wrong.”

Any players you’re looking forward to seeing?

“All of them. I haven’t seen any of them really do anything, and it’s good to be here to see all of them.”

Did you dread Spring Training as a player?

“No, spring is fun. You get here and you’re starting back over, starting new. It’s different as a manager getting to see the differences of being ready to come as a player – physically being ready – where this is more mentally being ready to deal with 25 guys versus just worrying about yourself.”

Is this a dictatorship?

“Absolutely. (Smiling) It’s my way or the highway.”

Is there a tone you want to set with the team during the spring?

“I think there’s always a tone you end up with. I don’t necessarily think you can force it on them, but your leadership with your club is kind of going to set that tone. It’s about being prepared to win games, and that’s really the focus of how we’re going to do things.”

Difference between leadership with an individual vs. leadership of a team?

“I’m just going to look around instead of looking into one guy’s eyes. To me it’s not a big difference as far the message you want to get across, it’s the same. We’ll just deal with it.”

Have you thought about your first confrontation, first trip to the mound, etc?

“I’ve never gone to the mound and taken someone out, so that’ll obviously be new. As far as talking to guys, I’ve had arguments with guys before, and competition just brings that out. That’s the nature of what we do, and if you’re passionate about it and care about it, that stuff just happens. It doesn’t mean I don’t like you, it’s just the way we do things.”

On what the job has been like so far:

 “It went up and then it went down for a long time because there really wasn’t anything going on. Now it’s been building ever since SoxFest. It was nice to get there, see guys, talk to guys, just seeing that guys are ready to come out here and they’re getting ready to compete.”

On the organization of Spring Training:

 “Well that’s obviously new, but there are formats that have already been in place before. We obviously bring our own things and modify things, and that’s part of having a staff, they do a lot of that stuff. I look over it all and make sure it’s what I approve of and then we go from there.”

On if he thinks he’s replacing Ozzie Guillen or just the new White Sox manager:

 “There’s probably a little of both. I don’t look at it necessarily that I’m replacing him, but I can only look at it as I’m just happy to be in this position with the White Sox. You’re talking about a guy who won a World Series here, played here, managed and won a World Series, so until that stuff happens I’m just proud of what he did and we’ll continue to move forward.”

On if he worries about players’ opinions of him:

 “Eventually they’re going to have to want to play for me, so I do care what they think as far as that. I don’t want them thinking I don’t care about them or care about this organization and how we play. For me, that’s the most important first step in interacting with them.”

 On his focus on the team’s effort:

 “Effort, it’s going to be about effort. This game is so hard as far as mentally; you lose a lot of games, you win some games and to be able to bounce back from that, stay consistent and not lose focus on what’s right and what’s wrong in the way we play the game.”

On if he expects the veterans to do extra work:

 “I think everybody does extra work. We have early work and things like that and guys, they do those things. I think if guys pass on that stuff and the kind of stuff that needs to be done then we’ll obviously have to deal with it. I see guys wanting to put in the extra effort.”

On his managerial style:

 “I’ve seen and played for different people and you take away different things. Hopefully, I can bring a lot of the things that I like. As far as being a manager, you want to be honest, up front and excited to be there, not screw up and don’t make any mistakes. But if you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not trying either, so there’s a fine line there. I want guys to be able to enjoy coming to the ballpark. I want them to want to come to the ballpark and play hard, that’s important.”

On the Ventura way:

 “My way? My way or the highway? No. You would like to have it to where you have a way, and it goes beyond your big-league level, you want your minor leagues to feel that this is the way we play baseball, this is what’s expected of you from the minor leagues to the big leagues. Instead of letting go and not caring about little things, you bring that back to the focus of fundamentals and enjoying what you’re doing.  It’s not hard if you’re enjoying what you’re doing.”

Hanging Around

Quite a few players have arrived in camp early, including Matt Thornton, who lives just up the road, Dan Johnson, Philip Humber, Chris Sale and Brent Morel.  Others continued to arrive throughout the day.  Several players headed to the weight room, out onto the field to play some catch and a few to the batting cages behind the clubhouse.  A.J. Pierzynski was expected to arrive later in the day as well.  Coaches began arriving today as well, as Juan Nieves, Joe McEwing, Harold Baines and Mark Parent came by camp to unpack and meet.

Eager to Go

The White Sox clubhouse is all set up and ready to go as are Camelback Ranch – Glendale’s always pristine practice fields.  Vince Fresso, Gabe Morell and their staff have all of the lockers arranged with jerseys hanging.  Roger Bossard, ace groundskeeper, has been in Arizona for over a week preparing the fields and practice mounds for tomorrow’s first workout of pitchers and catchers.  It is amazing how much time and effort go into preparations for spring training even before the players arrive.

First Day Schedule

Thursday starts with annual physicals for staff, pitchers and catchers.  After a late morning clubhouse meeting, the Sox are scheduled to head out onto the field around noon.  Half the team’s pitchers should throw from mounds around 1:30 p.m., and the day should wrap up around 3 p.m., a little later than normal for early in the spring.

Several fans at SoxFest 2012 asked the panel of Rick Hahn, Buddy Bell and Doug Laumann about the perception that, according to some publications and their ratings, the White Sox farm system trails in terms of drafting, signing and developing top prospects. Here is Hahn’s answer from the SoxFest seminar:

“We don’t get too hung up on these ratings. I understand they are a big story right now, and obviously we prefer to show well as oppose to showing poorly. But that’s not the priority within our draft and within our minor league system. Our goal is to do two things with the minor league system; first, provide high impact assets for the major league club in Chicago. This year we have a potential impact starter in Chris Sale who was home grown, a potential impact back of the end bullpen guy in Addison Reed and a right fielder, an everyday position player, in Dayan Viciedo who we developed. So from that element, the farm system is doing what we need it to do.”

“The second thing a farm system needs to do is create trade assets that allow us out onto the market and acquire players to help us in Chicago. We have those available. Obviously, I’m not going to go deep down that list, but there are guys who people want who will allow us to go out and get big league help.”

“Now, the ratings system isn’t based upon other clubs’ opinions. It’s usually based upon a reporter’s opinion, as well as a handful of scouts who will talk to that reporter. In contrast to rating 30th, in 2001 we ranked 1st in Baseball America’s farm system and we had five guys in baseball’s Top 100. Jon Rauch was in the Top 5, Joe Borchard was in the Top 25, Joe Crede was in the 30s, Matt Ginter was in the 40s, and Danny Wright was in the 60s. One of those guys contributed to a championship in Chicago. One of the other four had himself a nice career but bounced around as a journeyman reliever. It’s incumbent upon us to know the players who are going to help us win a championship – players like Joe Crede – and who are the guys who the rating system has inflated or exaggerated a little bit? Those are the guys you trade for other assets, like we did with Carl Everett to help us win in 2005.”

“Over the past five seasons we have been able to draft talented players who have not needed much time in the minor leagues; guys like Chris Sale, Daniel Hudson, Addison Reed, Brent Morel and Gordon Beckham. Addison and Chris give the White Sox two pitchers who went from Class A ball to the major leagues in one season. That’s a tribute to them, to our scouts, to our development staff and to our entire organization. No other MLB team has had two pitchers move that quickly.”

“So if you have these players – guys who already are helping us win games at the big league level – follow a typical developmental path, they are still in the minor leagues. Add them into our Top 10 prospect list and I would guess we would certainly rank far higher than we do today.”

“Yes, we prefer to rank higher but it’s not the purpose of the farm system. It is right that in recent years we have not devoted as many assets to the draft. The fact of the matter is we have X dollars to spend and we made a decision that we were committed to win at the major league level. When you do that you have to make sacrifices elsewhere. I will tell you under our new collective bargaining agreement, our draft spending is going to increase dramatically. Our international spending is going to increase dramatically as well, and with Marco Paddy now representing the organization internationally, we are now ready to reinvest in Latin America. As a result, we are going to start showing up a little better in some of these rating systems. But at the end of the day, give me the Chris Sales, the Addison Reeds, the Dayan Viciedos, and give me the assets that we can move to help Chicago win another championship. That’s what we care about.”

Must’ve heard the word “consistency” 50 times during the LOOKING AHEAD seminar: Farmer w/Flowers, Lillibridge and Morel. In approach, routine, mentally, physically, “consistency” is key during a long season, especially for a young player.  Other tidbits:

-When a fan said she and her son saw him at a community event last season, and her son told Tyler he’d hit a home run that night, which Tyler did, his response: “I like that.”

-Lillibridge on Konerko: “We all thrive off of Paulie.”

-Morel: “The best players in the game understand how to deal with failure.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

-Flowers: “I like facing guys with high ERAs.  Guys with low ERAs tend to be better pitchers.”

-Lillibridge on how he’s improved as a hitter: “I made a point to not miss pitches down the middle or get into a hole by swinging at bad pitches. I try to think up the middle – because if you’re late, it goes to right field, if you’re early, it’s probably still fair in left, and if you’re on time, it’s a shot up the middle.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

-Also said his favorite position is his natural one, shortstop, but ”I love to play anywhere in the infield, and I like playing center and running around and jumping the wall.”

-When asked how he felt playing first base last season when Paulie was hurt: “I’m comfortable over there, but I felt bad because I was such a small target. I stood on the base so the guys could see me.”

-WHEN ASKED WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE PEOPLE COME TO WATCH THEM PLAY BASEBALL:

> Morel: It’s pretty cool. We’re lucky.”

> Lillibridge: “You can’t beat it.  I still get nervous during every game, and I think that’s a good thing.”

-Tyler on AJ: “We get along great. We had a couple confrontations early, like he does with everybody in the league.”

-Morel: “We’re really happy that Robin is here. We have extreme confidence in our coaching staff, and after a frustratinbg year last year, we’re all looking forward to putting that behind us and just playing ball.”

And on that note…

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed the weekend with us at the Palmer House Hilton – and to everyone else who followed along the way.  Like always, SoxFest kicks off the White Sox Baseball season, and your excitement gets us excited, too.  What a fun weekend. Don’t forget – if you attended SoxFest, tomorrow we encourage you to go to www.whitesox.com/survey to share your thoughts about the event.  We value your feedback and try to make SoxFest better every year. Who’s ready for SoxFest 2013?

Well, first things first: On to Spring Training!

Standing room only crowd for the SLUGGERS seminar: Melton w/Big Frank, Joe Crede and Kittle – which started with Kittle and Melton cracking jokes (Melton said Frank and Joe were running late because “They’re probably up in the suite stuffing their faces, with Kittle adding “They’re eating lobster.”).  Kittle talks up the White Sox Fantasy Camp. Joe and Frank show up – and Melton realizes he and Joe are wearing the same shirt.

-BEST OF FRANK:

> “I’m not worried about the Sox this year. They’ll be fine. Robin’s a steady man, a good man, he’ll be great for this ballclub.”

> On being such a great hitter: “I came up in baseball with the mentality of just getting hits, and I never changed that, but I also took my walks.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

> On steroids: “It’s a shame. Some guys wanted to be the best ever, and they got greedy. It’s called karma. Use what God gave you.”

> Advice to a young baseball player: “Have fun in your childhood. Just play and have fun. If you love it and keep going, then you can ramp it up starting around 13-14.”

> Toughest pitcher: reliever Jeff Nelson. “He was like 6’7″, dropped down with a nasty breaking ball. Could never figure that guy out.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

> Nastiest pitch he ever saw: “Pedro Martinez’ change-up. It would drop straight down like a split-fingered fastball. I’d be like “That was a split-finger fastball, right? Nope.”

-First PG 13 comment by Kittle: 11:08 CT.  Also said his toughest pitcher was third-base coach Jim Leyland, who threw batting practice for the Sox then. (Ba-dum-bum…)

BEST OF CREDE:

> Toughest pitchers: “Mariano Rivera…like I’m sure a lot of guys say.” And Jose Contreras when he was with the Yankees: “He was throwing 95-96 with a splitter for strikes. So he throws one of those, and I’m like ‘I don’t know if this is going to work out, if I have to face guys like this every day.”

> On the sequence of events during the infamous AJ play in the ’05 ALCS vs. the Angels (when Joe was at-bat and knocked in the winning run): “I thought he struck out, then he’s safe and I’m thinking ’I hope it’s not AJ running the bases.’ They bring in Ozuna to pinch run, and I knew he would steal, so I took some pitches.  One of them was a good pitch, and I thought maybe I missed my pitch, but I still knew I had a chance to end the game.  The guy hung a slider, and I got the hit.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

> On coaching for the White Sox: “Down the road, that’s something I’d think about. I actually just interviewed for a coaching job back home…maybe I should start there.”

> “I wouldn’t have won a Silver Slugger or made an All-Star team without ‘Walk’ (Greg Walker.)” (With Frank adding, “Joe was Mr. Clutch, and he should’ve won a Gold Glove.”)

KITTLE QUIPS

> On steroids: “I popped M&Ms.”

> Joking to a fan: “Just wait back there for your butt-whooping.”

MISC.

> Fan congratulates Frank for his “award-winning performance” in the movie “Mr. Baseball.”

> Another fan tells Frank, “I’m honored to breathe the same air as you” …before saying her favorite player of all time is Joe Crede.

>  Swear that Joe preened when a woman started her question with “Crede, you’re gorgeous.”

> And finally, Frank’s reply when Melton said he should’ve been a three-time MVP instead of two: “I love you, man.”

SoxFest = LoveFest.

More great quotes coming out of the SoxFest seminars today…

-The third chapter of YOUR 2012 WHITE SOX w/Stone, Robin, Coop, Manto and Parent:

-Coop on the bullpen: “We have four openings, and the guys will let us know who belongs.” Listed Addison Reed, Hector Santiago, Zach Stewart and Dylan Axelrod as candidates.

-Robin: “You can’t force a player to do something, but you can get him to want to do it.”

-Manto on Beckham: I feel like his struggles “are behind him. We’ll be doing a lot of drill work in Spring Training.”

-Parent: “We’re going to be more gritty.”

-Fan asked what Robin was going to do about Adam Dunn…his response: “Well, I know I’m going to put in the lineup on Opening Day.”

-Right at the end, a woman said most of her family members are Cubs fans, to which Robin joked loudly, “OK, we’re done here.”

Kris V., congrats on the birth of your very first grandchild (safe for us all to assume a White Sox fan) … A little Tom Quaid bird told me today at SoxFest.

At 9 a.m. today, Coop was already working on the pitching schedule for Spring Training. He was surrounded by paperwork and wrote out the team’s March pitching plans on a legal pad, sliding them across the table for Robin and Mark Parent to review.

“You’ll throw the second day of spring,” Coop said to Phil Humber, who had just sat down with his breakfast.  “Plan your workout schedule around that.”

“Great,” answered Humber.

Nice variety of seminars to close out day two of SoxFest.  First up, From the Draft to the Major Leagues w/Assistant GM Rick Hahn, Minor League Field Coordinator Nick Capra, Director of Amateur Scouting Doug Laumann and Director of Player Development Buddy Bell.  Some interesting tidbits:

-HAHN ON TRADES THIS OFFSEASON: “We feel like we replensihed the next level of players coming to Chicago.”

-MORE HAHN: “We don’t worry about player or prospect ratings.  Our job is to get our players to Chicago.”

-HAHN, PART 3: We promote players if we feel like they can help at the next level and if they’ve earned it, regardless of pedigree.”

-BELL: “The best day of our year is when all of our draft picks sign.  And then our job is to slow everything down for them.”

-LAUMANN ON PLAYERS WHO USE FAKE NAMES/AGES: “It’s prevalant, but getting better. Major League Baseball is doing a great job of cleaning it up.”

-CAPRA ON WHITE SOX PROSPECTS:

> Jordan Danks: “If he works out a few things, we’ll have a special player there.”

> Josh Phegley: “Been unlucky with injuries, but he’s a take-charge guy.”

> Brandon Short: “Doesn’t stand out athletically, just gets the job done. He’s a sleeper.”

> Trayce Thompson: “Really excited about him. Five-tool guy, has a chance to be a great major-league player.”

> 2011 1st round pick Keenyn Walker: “Still getting acclimated to our program, but we see good things. You just can’t pass up that kind of talent.”

-BELL ON 2010 1st-round pick JARED MITCHELL: “I would take him in the draft every year. He’s doing some swing changes.  When it clicks, he’s going to be an All-Star. His ceiling is so high.”

***

BATTER’S BOX seminar w/Hawk, Adam Dunn, Brent Lillibridge and hitting coach Jeff Manto. Always interesting to hear players talk about situational hitting. Too much to type, but suffice it to say there’s quite a thought process at the plate – approach on certain counts, attacking the pitcher’s weaknesses and exploiting tendencies…good stuff.  So maybe “Don’t think, just hit” is a bit of a misnomer.  Other highlights:

DUNN ON BEING BOOED: “It’s happened before (in Cincinnati).  It’s hard, but you have to give them a reason to cheer. I feel like I can handle it.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

-AND ON THE STRUGGLES OF SWITCHING LEAGUES: “None. It’s still baseball.”

-LILLIBRIDGE ON HIS APPROACH TO HITTING: “When Manny (Ramirez) was here, it was great to pick his brain because he’s an amazing hitter.  He said he looks for a spot, not a pitch.  Doesn’t matter if you watch two strikes go by, wait for your spot.”

-AND ON HITTING IN COLD WEATHER: “Don’t try to do too much. It’s not good to add to your baseball swing. You try to swing harder to hit it out, you end up with a lot of popouts to 2B. I did enough of that in the past, so I’m not doing that again.”

-MANTO: “With a guy like Adam or any great hitter, when they struggle, as a hitting coach, there’s not really a ‘Hey, guess what I found!” moment where you just give him the answer. He just needs to find his comfort zone again and play ball.”

Adam sounded relaxed and ready for the season…

***

Final SoxFest seminar of the day: WHITE SOX MARKETING w/Senior VP of Sales/Marketing Brooks Boyer, Senior Director of Community Relations Christine O’Reilly, Director of Ticket Operations Mike Mazza and Director of Ticket Sales Tom Sheridan. A few points of note:

-BROOKS: “Our goal for every fan is to have them say when they leave, ’Wow, what a great time!’ We want to make all 81 home games an event.

-AND ON DYNAMIC PRICING: “Prices may go down 30 percent for certain seats for some games. Best to get tickets early.”

-AND ON THE BULLS/WHITE SOX TRAINING ACADEMY IN LISLE: “There’s nothing better than teaching kids how to play the game the right way in a White Sox uniform.”

-CHRISTINE ON THE WHITE SOX VOLUNTEER CORPS WINNING THE COMMISSIONER’S AWARD FOR PHILANTHROPIC EXCELLENCE, AND COMMISSION SELIG PRESENTING THE AWARD AT SOXFEST: “ So cool! I think it’s the first time a sitting Commissioner has attended a SoxFest, so it was very exciting.”

Thank you to all the fans who shared their feedback about SoxFest, game enhancements, promotions, etc.  And on that note – we’re sending a SoxFest survey out on Monday to all attendees.  Do know we take that feedback very seriously and look forward to hearing from you.  On Monday, you can visit www.whitesox.com/survey to share your thoughts.

Photo: Ron Vesely

With tired feet, another festive Saturday SoxFest in the books. Keep following along on www.whitesox.com/soxfest, via @whitesox on Twitter and on the official Sox Facebook page (oh, and here, too!). Hope you’ve enjoyed the updates, videos and prizes so far. To those attending tonight’s Family Party at SoxFest – enjoy! More fun to come tomorrow…

Feels like Opening Day is right around the corner with so many Sox fans geared up and talking about the team and the season at SoxFest.  Nothing better than seeing the excitement in fans’ eyes when they get an autograph or a game-worn jersey or get to ask a player a question during a seminar.  Can’t beat SoxFest Saturday.

And speaking of seminars…

Batting leadoff today – 2012 White Sox with Robin, Coop, hitting coach Jeff Manto and bench coach Mark Parent.  Some quotes of note:

-COOP:

> “Still haven’t decided on the order of the starting rotation, but we expect them to do the bulk of the work.”

> “I like not being picked to win – like in ’05 – but we’re not coming in with low expectations.”

> On Peavy: “He’s been hampered by injuries, really, since we got him – and he’s still won some big games for us.  He’s past those injuries now, so we expect big things from him, like all our guys.”

-MANTO:

> “It’s a honor to follow “Walk” (Greg Walker).  He treated me great, have a lot of respect for him.”

> ”The big thing is, each at-bat, have a plan.”

> “I may be the hitting coach, but fortunately, I’ll be surrounded by great hitting coaches too, like Robin and Bainesy.”

-PARENT:

> On his role: “Make sure what Robin wants to get done gets done.”

> “It’s important that the minor-league guys are on the same page with how we’re operating at the major-league level, doing the same things.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

-MORE ROBIN:

> “We need to prove that last year was an abherration.”

> On how the game has changed: “Video. In ’93, I think we were still using cassettes. Now you can see your whole career on one video.”

> On bringing in Parent as bench coach: “I know what I don’t know.  As a catcher, he saw the game from a different perspective.  He’ll make up for what I can’t do.”

> “I won’t treat everyone the same – you’re just not going to treat Paul Konerko the same way you would a rookie – but I will treat everyone fairly.”

Photo: Ron Vesely

> When a fan addressed him as “Coach Ventura,” he joked “That’s MANAGER Ventura!”

> Hawk mentioned that when Robin came up, he was a “shaky” 3B. Robin: “VERY shaky.” Hawk: “OK, he was bad.” Robin: “Not bad…shaky.”

> On the Nolan Ryan altercation: “It’s not like he derailed a promising UFC career.”

That and Pablo’s champagne quote from earlier are competing for best of the weekend so far…

2nd Saturday seminar: Arms Race w/Stone, Danks, Sale, Humber and Ohman.

ADVICE FOR KIDS

> Humber: Like my dad told me, ‘Never let anyone out-work you.’”

> Danks: I always remember what Nolan Ryan told me: ‘If you want to be good, throw a lot.  Practice.’”

> Sale: “Dude, have fun.  If you’re not having fun, why do it?”

> Ohman: “I’m so far removed from being a kid. Chris could be my son.”

-SALE ON CONVERTING TO A STARTER: “I’ve been doing more long toss, more long-distance running. And I actually started swimming this offseason…like Michael Phelps.”

-DANKS ON HOW TO AVOID A SLOW START: “If I knew, I wouldn’t have started 0-8 last season.”

-MORE FROM DANKS: “We were as surprised as anyone” about last season’s struggles. “I think Adam (Dunn) and Alex (Rios) are going to have huge years.”

-SALE ON HIS FIRST THOUGHT WHEN HE GOT TO THE MAJORS: “These guys hit the ball hard!”

-When a fan mentions that Stone won the Cy Young Award, Ohman deadpanned: “Let’s talk about current players.  Leave the past in the past!”

-When a little girl asked each guy about the toughest hitter they face, Danks said Michael Cuddyer. When someone said he moved from Minnesota to Colorado, Danks pumped his fist.

-Ohman’s answer: Kosuke Fukudome, “and I got a bruise on my forehead to prove it!”

-Sale couldn’t think of anyone – so Ohman grabbed the mic and answered for him: “No one can hit him.”

Next up: From Draft to MLB…

Wrapped up the Friday seminars with a look back at the ride in ’05: Beltin’ Bill w/Neal Cotts, Cliff Politte, Pablo Ozuna and Joe Crede.

WHEN THEY KNEW THEY HAD A CHANCE TO ACTUALLY IN THE WORLD SERIES

> Cliff: Going up 2-0 on Boston in the ALDS, “we knew after that, with our pitching, we’d take our chances in a seven-game series.”

> Joe: same – “I saw Boston win the World Series the year before, and they were good.  So to play them the next season and win on their turf was huge.”

WHEN THE DIVISON LEAD WHITTLED DOWN IN AUG/SEPT

> Joe: “We didn’t panic.  We felt OK because of our pitching.”

> Cliff: “When it was going bad, the bullpen phone was ringing all the time.  I was like ‘Stop ringing!’”

ON THE CAMARADERIE OF THAT TEAM

> Cliff: “I keep in touch with Neal, Paul, Buehrle.  I haven’t seen Joe in six years, but it’s like I saw him yesterday.”

> Pablo: “I still talk with Uribe, Timo Perez, Damaso Marte, Freddy Garcia, Contreras.” (To which Melton replied, “So all the Irish guys.”)

Photo: Ron Vesely

WHAT THEY REMEMBER MOST ABOUT WINNING THE WORLD SERIES

> Joe: “I didn’t realize the impact when we were in Houston,  But when we got to Midway and saw all those people…and then the parade.  I mean, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  Then I go to my hometown, which has like 300 people, for a parade - and 2,000 people showed up. “

> Cliff: “It was surreal, and you guys were awesome. I remember thinking, ‘This kind of thing doesn’t happen to me.’  And we couldn’t have asked for a better place to do it.”

> Neal: “Living in Chicago full-time, that offseason I got to see how much it meant to White Sox fans. And the parade, that crowd, that moment, pretty special.”

> Pablo: “A lot of champagne, making me crazy.”

                                                 Photo: Ron Vesely

And somewhere in between, a fan got Joe to hug his wife because his wife always said ”Crede’s my sweetie.” (And after the hug, Joe said, “Well, now my back feels better.”) Only at SoxFest, indeed.

Plenty more SoxFest 2012 highlights to come; looking forward to seeing more of you throughout the weekend, and keeping the rest of you updated on all the happenings.  Make sure to keep track as well at www.whitesox.com/soxfest, on Twitter (@whitesox) and on the White Sox official Facebook page – lots of cool prizes, videos and updates all weekend long.

Until tomorrow…