Ventura refuses to concede anything

Pressure is surviving an 0-for-41 hitless slide during your rookie season.

Pressure is wondering if your career instantly ended following a slide into home plate during a 1997 spring training game that left your right foot literally dangling off the ankle bone.

Pressure is summoning the courage to say enough is enough and charge a mound occupied by the menacing Nolan Ryan.

Robin Ventura dealt with all kinds of pressure during his 16-year playing career.

Not only did he overcome, the slick-fielding third baseman with the sweet left-handed swing established himself as a force on and off the field.

Many seem to think the pressure of managing the White Sox with no experience is going to be too much for Ventura, but that's not necessarily true, at least for now.

Let's take a closer look:

Expectations:

The Sox have not been a last-place team since 1989, when they finished seventh in the old American League West Division at 69-92. That was Jeff Torborg's first year in the White Sox' dugout.

As the 2012 season draws near, Sports Illustrated is the first national publication pegging the White Sox for the cellar in the AL Central.

Couple that with captain Paul Konerko's blunt assessment at the start of spring training — “This can be a very successful year without making the playoffs” — and it is safe to assume the pressure on Ventura to deliver a winner in his debut season in the dugout is nearly nonexistent.

That's not to say Ventura is accepting inevitable failure.

Since taking over as manager for Ozzie Guillen on Oct. 6, Ventura has acknowledged the Sox' shortcomings but insisted they can be competitive.

“We're not going to concede anything to anybody,” Ventura said. “We still have the same goal. We're here to win games and we have to figure out a way to do that.”

The White Sox didn't win last season because they were fundamentally unsound, Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham didn't hit and Jake Peavy was not healthy.

Ventura has stressed the need to play the game right since training camp opened.

And if Dunn, Rios, Beckham and Peavy reemerge, it could be an interesting season. If not, well, general manager Kenny Williams is going to take the heat, not Ventura.

Style:

Most of the local media is already missing Guillen.

His gift for gab kept reporters happy and deflected pressure from his players.

Ventura never talked much during his playing days, and not much has changed in his new job.

Ventura likes to joke around as much as anybody, but he is no match for Guillen.

Come to think of it, neither is any other manager nor head coach in professional sports.

Ventura is not going to blast his players in public like Guillen often did, but he did lay down some strict laws at the start of spring training.

“It's offensive to me for people to come in and not put out a good effort,” Ventura said. “It's pretty much that simple.”

School of thought:

Ventura is not a big sabermetrics guy, so he'll fit right in with the White Sox.

The Sox still rely more on gut feelings and eye tests than BABIP and WAR, but they are slowly accepting new-school thinking.

“I'm in the middle,” Ventura said. “You go with your gut and what your eyes see. (Sabermetrics) tell a story, but not the whole story. We get that information and we'll go over it based on the numbers and trends.”

sgregor@dailyherald.com