Who's on third? Oz says 'wait'

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Brent Morel had two singles in five at-bats Friday night to raise his average to .244. Because of his defense — and he had another good game with the glove against the A’s — the rookie remains the favorite to win the starting third-base job over Mark Teahen, who is batting .474. But Guillen stopped short of naming Morel after Friday’s game.

The Sox braintrust met Friday morning to discuss the third-base job; the extra outfielder’s competition between Lastings Milledge, Brent Lillibridge and Alejandro De Aza; whether they will open the season with 11 or 12 pitchers; and who the last spot on the staff might go to if they start with 12. But Guillen revealed few details about the talks.

“I need to talk to a couple players about the situation we had in the meetings,” Guillen said.

The meeting including general manager Ken Williams and assistant GM Rick Hahn. Asked if everybody was on the same page in the meeting, Guillen said “no, not really” because none of the players in question have played themselves out of a job.

“When you have guys play like Milledge, Lillibridge, De Aza, Teahen played and the way Humber and (Gregory) Infante pitched … we have a little idea about what we want to do but we have to talk to some of them yet.”

Guillen said he wouldn’t be opposed to carrying 11 pitchers even if Jake Peavy is ready to take his first projected start on April 5, which would open another spot for a position player. Pitching coach Don Cooper favors 12 pitchers.

“That’s the thing we’ll discuss next week when we make a definite decision about what we’ll do,” Guillen said.