GLENDALE, Ariz. — Normalcy returned to Chicago White Sox camp on Day Two of spring training, or whatever passes for normalcy these days at Camelback Ranch.
Kendall Graveman greeted the media in the clubhouse by complimenting them on their smiles, a reference to MLB’s decision to end the mask-wearing regulations for reporters from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sox ace Dylan Cease voiced confidence that he would repeat his breakthrough performance of last season while Yoán Moncada addressed the absence of clubhouse leader José Abreu. Liam Hendriks’s bout with cancer was also on everyone’s mind, as was the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which made Graveman get teary-eyed when discussing his selection to Team USA.
And Joe Kelly referred to himself in the third person three times in less than 30 seconds while discussing his new book.
It was back to baseball again, though the elephant in the room — MLB’s investigation of Mike Clevinger amid domestic violence allegations by the mother of his daughter — was still very much present.
For a team coming off a decidedly stomach-churning season, the White Sox are well aware of the need to project some positive vibes this spring. It’s almost as important as the ubiquitous PFPs and cutoff drills.
“Sometimes you need to get hit in the mouth a little bit to realize, ‘Hey, maybe we were not as good as we thought we were, and we need to really focus a little more to get better,’ ” Graveman said.
“And I’ve had that as an individual in my career, and teams have that as they go through a season and the life span of a core group of guys. So as bad as we didn’t want it to happen last year, the timing could be correct if we take (the lesson) the right way and continue to move forward to not let it happen again.”
Manager Pedro Grifol, who didn’t get much of an opportunity to be in Chicago over the winter to talk with Sox fans, said he knows how anxious they are for real change.
“I got a sense of the anxiousness at the press conference,” he said.
“Well,” I interrupted, “that was us.”
“Well, when I was around town, at restaurants,” Grifol continued. “I haven’t been in Chicago that much to get a good feel as a whole, but I understand it. I get it. I mean, we’re expected to do some things. I get that. We’re not going to shy away from expectations. They are what they are. They’re here.
“We didn’t perform to our standards last year and changes were made. I’m not going to sit here and hide from expectations, and they’re not going to hide either. They know what we’ve got to do. We know what we’ve got to do.”
Some veterans were present but unavailable to talk. No one seemed too eager to discuss the elephant in the room — Clevinger — who showed up Thursday morning and quietly put on his uniform at his corner locker. One player gave him a big hug to welcome him to the Sox.
The Sox front office was out front in convincing Clevinger to talk with the media Wednesday, and he expressed his belief he would be exonerated. And Clevinger’s speech to the team on the opening day of camp was welcomed by players who did agree to talk, with Kelly saying it took “a lot of (guts) to do something like that, right?”
“I don’t know anything about the allegations,” Kelly said. “I know for him it’s probably weighing on his mind every single second or minute.”
A former teammate of Trevor Bauer’s, Kelly said he doesn’t try to “talk to guys that have been through that” and asked for the MLB process to “take its course.”
“But for him, standing up in front of a group of let’s say 40, as a first time meeting someone, it showed me a lot there,” he added.
Cease said it was a good idea for Clevinger to “put it out there so there wasn’t any awkward tension” in the clubhouse.
Graveman, a former teammate of Clevinger’s in the Cape Cod League, called Clevinger’s speech a “very professional” way to handle things.
“Obviously I don’t have much to say about it,” he said. “I want to see how the rest of it plays out. And Mike did an outstanding job of articulating and communicating with us, I will say that… I told him ‘thanks’ afterwards for speaking to the team because some people would not do that and I’m thankful that he’s the guy that did stand up and had some things to say to us. That was pro.”
None of the players addressed the allegations, saying they didn’t have the facts. Cease said Clevinger would be accepted as a teammate but “obviously everything going on with the investigation is probably going to be the biggest factor.”
Meanwhile, the minicontroversy in waiting — Kelly’s new book, “A Damn Near Perfect Game” — might have to take a back seat this spring with everything else going on. Kelly’s raucous love letter to baseball, with some profanities and plenty of Astros-bashing mixed in, was written during the lockout and will be released soon.
So why did Kelly decide to become a writer?
“I kept getting the same question over and over,” Kelly said. “I do get bugged and irritated a little bit easily. It was like, ‘Hey, Joe Kelly, love you, but when are we going to play baseball?’ ‘Hey, Joe Kelly, ‘F’ baseball. When you come back I’m not going to watch you.’ ‘Hey, Joe Kelly, why are you guys being greedy?’ ”
Kelly’s book should at least bring some levity to the Sox clubhouse. Perhaps he can do some clubhouse readings.
And if he’s looking for a subject for his next book, the 2023 season might be an interesting topic.
