Camp Sites: White Sox, no longer needy, can get greedy

NOTE: Paste BN Sports' Paul White, via car, causeway, plane and rail, will reach every major league camp this spring.

Follow his exploits on Twitter – @PBJWhite – as he makes his way through the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues before he imparts all you didn't know about every team right here.

TODAY: Chicago White Sox

GLENDALE, Ariz. – It was a year ago when Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said one more good offseason like the one he'd just completed would be just fine.

"It might not be possible to bring in four from the outside to be impact-type guys," he said then after energizing a rebuilding process with the additions of Jose Abreu and Adam Eaton.

Then again …

"Every team and every general manager has check lists going into the offseason," says Eaton, a full year into what the White Sox are building. "To have the list that we had – we had a pretty extensive list – seemed like around every corner, we checked a box off. For me sitting at home, it was a lot of disbelief at the boxes getting checked off."

Adam LaRoche to replace retired Paul Konerko in the first based/DH mix with Abreu – check.

An established closer in David Robertson – check.

Significantly beef up the starting rotation behind ace Chris Sale with, oh, how about Jeff Samardzija – check.

Melky Cabrera to take over left field, where the White Sox ranked last in baseball with 44 RBI and 26th in the majors with 200 total bases – check.

Hahn was perfectly clear a year ago that 2015 was the real target.

Bull's-eye.

This offseason was so good that not only was Hahn able to bring in four impact guys, he was able to make four more additions that could end up being his entire bench – Emilio Bonifacio, Gordon Beckham, J.B. Shuck and Geovany Soto.

"We know we don't get any trophies for the offseason and we have to play the games," says Eaton. "But we are excited with the guys who are in camp and guys who put us in a position to win this year."

And the White Sox are so excited about the way this process is working that they gave Eaton a five-year contract extension last week.

"Adam serves as a catalyst, brings a spark of energy to the ballpark each and every day and helps ignite our offense," Hahn says. "He provided everything we look for in a leadoff hitter, a center fielder and a competitor after joining us last season."

The $23.5 million deal for Eaton, 26, includes team options for 2020 and '21. The additions of Eaton, who hit .300, and Abreu, whose All-Star and rookie of the year season included 36 homers, 107 RBI and a league-leading .581 slugging percentage, transformed the White Sox.

Eaton's energy changed a mostly plodding offense and Abreu became a clubhouse factor, especially among Latin players.

But Eaton was merely an enthusiastic observer during the offseason, especially one day in December.

"The Robertson and Samardzija day," is what Eaton calls it.

It was when Hahn finally pried Samardzija away from the Oakland Athletics with a four-player package.

"All the focus was on Samardzija with the trade," Eaton says. "At the winter meetings, there was constant media. I kinda watched that – Samardzija this, Samardzija trade that, gonna happen tomorrow. Then all of sudden, they slipped Robertson under our nose. Then a couple hours later, the Samardzija thing happens. That was pretty mind-blowing, a crazy 24 hours for me and lot of the guys."

The White Sox's opening-day roster could include just one player they drafted – relief pitcher Jake Petricka -- assuming 2010 first-rounder Sale is on the disabled list; he's in the final stages of recovery from a broken foot. Three others – Abreu and the likely double-play combination of Alexei Ramirez and Carlos Sanchez – were international signings.

For a team that lost 99 games in 2013, winning offseasons is important. Now for the next step.

**

Nobody walks quite like Jim Thome. Nobody fills a room with his presence quite like Thome.

And nearly 30 months after the last of his 612 home runs, Thome still can't get enough of the clubhouse.

He's a special assistant to the general manager, but this is hardly a ceremonial role for a fan favorite.

He's a player favorite, too, and if there's any ceremony surrounding Thome between now and his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2018, it's the clubhouse welcome he gets.

It's a typical spring morning as Thome comes into the White Sox clubhouse in full uniform, greets a few folks and grabs a folding chair.

Where that chair lands is important. On this morning it's in the corner of the clubhouse previously occupied by Konerko. LaRoche has that locker now, and the White Sox set up the empty one next to it for LaRoche's 13-year old son Drake, who tags along with Dad and even has "LaRoche II" over the locker.

"LaRoche I" already has picked Thome's brain on the nuances of the designated hitter, something LaRoche will do along with his normal first base work in tandem with Abreu.

Now, Drake is picking up the Thome wisdom, too. So are Eaton and Beckham in a lively preworkout conversation.

It's what Thome does.

"It's giving back to the game and giving back to young players that want that input and want that advice," he says.

Take outfielder Trayce Thompson. He has spent most of his spring answering questions about his brother, hot-shooting Klay of the NBA's Golden State Warriors. He's proud enough of his older brother, but he'd much rather talk about regaining a power stroke in his swing, thanks in part to work he has done with Thome.

Thompson, 24, has an outside shot at a roster spot but probably will lose out to more experienced Shuck and continue refining his game at Class AAA.

But that he's even in the mix is linked to the work with Thome that began last fall, plus time with White Sox minor league hitting coordinator Vance Law making mechanical adjustments.

You want power, come to Thome, the modern-day prototype of the big-swing guy with exceptional coverage of the strike zone. His career average per every 162 games was 39 homers, 111 walks and 162 strikeouts.

He's available, and he's with the White Sox because, though he spent far more time with the Cleveland Indians among his six major league teams, this is home – as in closest to his Peoria, Ill., roots.

His input goes well beyond the White Sox clubhouse. When veteran Jeff Francoeur was looking for a spot to try to extend his career this spring, he heeded Thome's advice to try Philadelphia, where he could work with Charlie Manuel, a guest instructor in the Phillies camp.

It was Manuel who was Thome's hitting guru in the Indians minor league system and eventually the majors more than two decades ago. Now his prized pupil carries on the work.

"If you can give a kid a piece of advice or be around here and somebody asks you a question about hitting or about the game in general and you see them have success, that's the biggest accomplishment of all," Thome says.

"Adam, talk about the media"

Be careful what you ask, Eaton.

The center fielder knows the difference between a good question and an interview gone horribly wrong.

"There definitely is a magical way of going about asking a question and getting feedback," he says, sounding like the instructor at the team's media training day. "Then returning a question that's relative to what you got back."

Actually, he's a veteran/victim thanks to the folks at White Sox broadcaster CSN Chicago.

"I was thrown in the fire with Super Bowl media day," he says. "I enjoyed it though."

Eaton, one of baseball's more willing participants on the receiving end of questions, was enlisted to wield a microphone at the controlled mayhem that is the mass interview sessions with Super Bowl participants.

"I tried to have fun with it," he says. "But it was a different perspective that I've never had before, controlling the conversation. When given feedback, running into other questions. It's a muscle in my brain that I need to continue to work and continue to get better at."

Maybe this wasn't the ideal place to start.

"It was nuts," he says, laughing. "It was ridiculous. My mom always told me to wait your turn to talk but, in that situation, you better butt in and be loud."

And that still doesn't guarantee things will work out as planned.

"I had a checklist in my hand," Eaton says. "And it seemed as soon as I asked the first question, they covered my other two questions, and I was like, 'I don't have anything else for you, sorry.' It was an eye-opener."

But he's ready for more.

"I think being an athlete can kind of bring a little different perspective," he says. "I think from dealing with the media and having a good relationship with the media, I can bring some insight and ask some good questions. I think I'd definitely do it again. But Super Bowl media day I might say no to. That was a little overwhelming."

GALLERY: Spring training scenes