Sox’ Morel the man at third base

MESA, Ariz. — As much as White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says he’ll try to protect Brent Morel, he says he expects a lot out of the rookie.

Before the White Sox played the Cubs on Thursday at HoHoKam Park, Guillen named Morel his starting third baseman. That pushes Mark Teahen into a role of playing all over the diamond.

“Teahen will be here just for his offense,” Guillen said. “Moving around to different positions, it’s hard for everyone. We don’t expect him to be a Gold Glove. We expect him to do the best he can. There’s no doubt if this kid (Morel) makes the ballclub, he has to play every day.”

Morel, who turns 24 next month, played in 21 games for the White Sox last year, hitting 3 homers after hitting a combined 10 at two minor-league stops.

In Thursday’s 8-7 loss to the Cubs, Morel singled in his first at-bat and lined a hard single up the middle his second time up.

After the game, he heard the good news from reporters.

“I haven’t heard it from (Guillen), so we’ll wait and see,” he said. “Just know my role and do what I can to help the team win and try to not really do anything else.”

Guillen said he would hold out Morel against some tough pitchers early in the season, but when the name of former third-base hopeful Brian Anderson came up, Guillen said he expects more from Morel.

“I expect a lot more from Morel, a lot more,” Guillen said. “I think Morel is a way better player than Brian. With all my respect, Morel can do a lot of stuff. I think Morel since he got here, he has impressed a lot of people.

“He’s a kid. We have to be patient with him. We have to make sure we protect him. But that’s a different type of animal. This kid has a chance to be very, very, very special player.”

Teahen has a hitting line of 333/.467/.528 this spring. Guillen mentioned the outfield as another place Teahen could see time when he does play.

“I don’t (envision) 600 at-bats, but there are going to be enough at-bats,” the manager said. “We’re going to figure out how we’re going to play him and when. I talked to him early and said, ‘We’ll figure out how to get you in the lineup.’ We’ll figure out lineups early in the season. We will have to protect Mo from some pitchers.”

Things did not go as well for Phil Humber, the likely fifth starter in the White Sox rotation. Humber gave up 5 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings. He also walked four.

“My command today was terrible,” Humber said. “Not just the walks, but falling behind guys. It’s hard to expect good results when you’re walking guys and falling behind like this.”

Humber said he wasn’t sure if he’d start April 6 in Kansas City, where that spot in the rotation falls, but Guillen said afterward there was no other realistic option.

“That’s out of my control,” Humber said. “I was focused on getting ready for today, and I’ll take it day by day from there. I haven’t thought about April at all, to be honest with you. Every opportunity you get, you want to take full advantage of. It was an opportunity, and the results were not what I was looking for. At the same time, you’ve got to shake it off and go to the next start. I don’t think one game is going to make or break anybody, especially in spring training.”