Spring Camp - Day 6

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Manager Ozzie Guillen has no idea when injured pitchers Bartolo Colon and Jose Contreras will be cleared to take the mound, but the White Sox manager does know it will be this spring.

If all goes well, he even offered up a warning for the rest of the American League Central Division.

“I’m going to predict this – if we have Contreras and Colon, watch out,” Guillen said on Friday. “It’s going to be a pretty good club. We’re good without them, but I think we’re going to be better. We got three veterans with the two kids. I think the pitching staff is going to be stronger.”

Contreras’ recovery from a ruptured left Achilles tendon last August has been the talk of camp so far. Not only because he showed up 30 pounds lighter, but three months ahead of schedule. As it stands now, Contreras has gone from a pitcher expected to help come July, to a guy that can now challenge for a spot in the rotation out of camp.

“If you give Contreras the ball to be on the mound right now, he’ll start the game,” Guillen said. “That’s how good he feels.

“Contreras, we have a plan for him. He will start in spring training. I don’t know what exactly which day he will start, he will start and we’ll see how we can handle him.”

As far as Colon and his recovery from bone chips being removed from his elbow, “He said ‘I’ll be there for you, sooner than people think,’ ” Guillen added.

DYE JOB

Guillen on Jermaine Dye being traded: “He’s going to hear the truth from me and Kenny [Williams] about trades. Kenny already told him, ‘We’re not trading you.’ You never know how we’re going to handle this year. I guarantee if we’re in the pennant race, we’re not going to trade anybody. If we’re not, then that’s when Kenny makes the decision what to do with the ballclub.”