White Sox head to spring camp with lineup, rotation nearly set

CHICAGO -- The busy past few months for general manager Rick Hahn, executive vice president Ken Williams and the entire White Sox front office set up the key components of this team's lineup, rotation and bullpen moving into the 2015 season. In fact, no less than eight impact moves left precious few roster decisions to be made for manager Robin Ventura and his staff heading into Spring Training.

Yet, there are some important spots to be figured out, beginning when pitchers and catchers report on Friday.

"Obviously second base needs to be determined," said Hahn during a recent interview. "The role of how Robin ultimately is going to use players with some versatility on the roster, guys like [Emilio] Bonifacio and [Gordon] Beckham and seeing how they are going to fit in.

"[White Sox pitching coach Don] Cooper is always very enthusiastic, but a couple of things he's particularly exciting about is being able to spend a full spring with Hector Noesi and Javy Guerra. Those are a couple of guys he has targeted, along with Dan Jennings, that he thinks we can get even more out of than they have been able to do before at the big league level."

Video: Williams excited for 2015 after busy offseason

In Part V of MLB.com's seven-part White Sox Spring Training preview, we take a look at the projected lineup, rotation and bullpen for 2015. Some of these spots are still at the guess stage, such as Micah Johnson getting the edge over Carlos Sanchez, Bonifacio and Beckham at second base.

2014 record
73-89, fourth in the American League Central

Projected batting order
1. CF Adam Eaton :
.300 BA, .362 OBP, .401 SLG, 10 3B, 15 SB, 1 HR, 35 RBIs in 2014
2. LF Melky Cabrera :
.301 BA, .351 OBP, .458 SLG, 16 HR, 73 RBIs in 2014
3. 1B Jose Abreu :
.317 BA, .383 OBP, .581 SLG, 36 HR, 107 RBIs in 2014
4. DH Adam LaRoche :
.259 BA, .362 OBP, .455 SLG, 26 HR, 92 RBIs in 2014
5. RF Avisail Garcia :
.244 BA, .305 OBP, .413 SLG, 7 HR, 29 RBIs in 2014
6. SS Alexei Ramirez :
.273 BA, .305 OBP, .408 SLG, 21 SB, 15 HR, 74 RBIs in 2014
7. 3B Conor Gillaspie :
.282 BA, .336 OBP, .416 SLG, 7 HR, 57 RBIs in 2014
8. C Tyler Flowers :
.244 BA, .297 OBP, .396 SLG, 15 HR, 50 RBIs in 2014
9. 2B Micah Johnson:
.294 BA, .351 OBP, .403 SLG, 22 SB, 5 HR, 44 RBIs in Minors in 2014

Projected rotation
1. Chris Sale , 12-4, 2.17 ERA, 208 K in 2014
2. Jeff Samardzija , 7-13, 2.99 ERA, 202 K in 2014
3. Jose Quintana , 9-11, 3.32 ERA in 2014
4. John Danks , 11-11, 4.74 ERA in 2014
5. Hector Noesi, 8-11, 4.39 ERA in 2014

Projected bullpen
Closer: David Robertson , 39/44 saves, 3.08 ERA in 2014
RH setup man: Jake Petricka , 2.96 ERA in 2014
LH setup man: Zach Duke , 2.45 ERA in 2014