Konerko accepts Sox' new offensive philosophy

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Two days before SoxFest last month, Paul Konerko made a pitch for the White Sox to bring back designated hitter Jim Thome.

Konerko also lobbied management to retain another veteran slugger, Jermaine Dye, and continue on with the Sox' longball mentality.

The White Sox' captain swung and missed on both requests. Thome is now with the rival Twins and Dye is still waiting for an acceptable offer.

It's going to be an adjustment, but Konerko said the change in offensive philosophy manager Ozzie Guillen has been pushing for has its good points.

"It's a different lineup," Konerko said. "I think we'll hit a good number of home runs, probably more than people think, but it won't be 40, 40, 40, 20. It might be more 15 to 25 with a bunch of guys and we can still win games."

With a solid rotation headed by Jake Peavy and Mark Buehrle and quality bullpen arms, maybe the White Sox won't have to launch 200 home runs to win.

"The main thing for this team I think is getting that mind-set where we go into every game thinking this is going to be a 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 knockdown, drag-out affair of tough baseball," Konerko said. "If anything happens better than that, great. But that mind-set, if you can get that mind-set in your head early, you're a tough team."

Meet and greet: With cameras rolling for 'The Club,' a reality series featuring the White Sox on the MLB Network this summer, manager Ozzie Guillen spoke to his players before Friday's first full-squad workout of training camp.

"I was more calm, more relaxed," Guillen said. "I cursed a little less. I finished up the meeting when I said, 'Good teams win games, bad teams have meetings.' I got my point across to the players: Don't just prepare to play, prepare to win."

Making a pitch: The Sox are being widely projected as a first- or second-place team in the AL Central and are again expected to face their stiffest challenge from Minnesota.

Some of the offensive pop is gone, but Jake Peavy and Freddy Garcia are back at the top and bottom of the rotation for the full season, and J.J. Putz looks like a viable option if closer Bobby Jenks struggles.

"From a players' standpoint, you like the pitching side of it," Paul Konerko said. "That's not our department, but when you look at it, it's very solid. Deep in the rotation, very good at the back end so that could make the game shorter. As a position player you just look at it as if we can score some runs early and get that habit going early in the year, that's how it happens."