GEOVANY SOTO WILL LIKELY BE ON THE OPENING DAY ROSTER

The White Sox announced all their non-roster invites to spring training on Thursday, and while it's interesting news because it's a nice reminder that spring training will actually be here soon enough, it's not really interesting news.

Yes, sometimes a non-roster invite makes the team out of camp, but more often than not they don't. Aside from the minor leaguers the team just wants to get a nice look at, the others are usually the type of players that are washed-up but can't admit it to themselves, and the team doesn't mind using their body during camp.

Hey there, Brad Penny. No, I'm not talking about you! I'm sure you still have "it!"

But this year there's one invite that I would almost consider a lock to make the Opening Day roster. His name is Geovany Soto.

MY SABER SOX LINEUP

There was a bit of a debate amongst Sox fans on Twitter this morning about lineup construction and the way things are always done. It started because the White Sox signed Melky Cabrera, and we're all assuming that Cabrera will bat second in the lineup.

He's the ideal two-hole hitter!

At least, that's the common conception based on the way that managers have always filled out their lineups. But there are arguments that there are better ways to construct your lineup, ways that, by and large, most managers don't utilize.

Sabermetricians (henceforth to be referred to as NERDS in a loving manner, for I do appreciate the NERDS and would consider myself a bit of one when it comes to baseball) used years worth of data to determine whether or not the way that lineups are put together really is the optimal way to do things.

Turns out they aren't, at least not according to the data.

WHAT'S WITH THE LOVE FOR YOENIS CESPEDES?

With the Red Sox signing both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez there have been plenty of people willing to tell you that Yoenis Cespedes is now available for trade. Many believe that the Red Sox will have Hanley in left field before long, which makes Cespedes expendable.

And that makes sense.

What makes less sense to me is the amount of White Sox fans I know that think they should trade for Cespedes. I've even seen national writers like Jon Heyman tweet that Cespedes could be used by Boston to trade for a pitcher like Mat Latos which only leads to one simple question from me.

Why?

IS MIGUEL MONTERO NECESSARY?

Tyler Flowers had his best season with the White Sox in 2014. That's a good thing, but like most things, it's all relative.

Flowers had set the bar rather low for himself, and it's somewhat sad that a season in which he finished with an OBP of .297 and an OPS+ of 95 could be considered a career year, but that's the situation Flowers finds himself in. It also leaves the White Sox in a position in which they have to wonder whether or not an upgrade is something they should pursue, or if the money should be spent elsewhere.

The fact they've apparently checked with the Diamondbacks on Miguel Montero might give us an indication about how they feel. Montero is still owed $40 million over the next three seasons, which is a sizeable investment for this White Sox team to make. But the question is whether or not it'd be worth it.