Ricky Speaks: Mum's the word!

So, Ricky, can you tell us about your 2020 rotation yet?

"Uh, no. Give me a day or two, to give you what you might already assume."

Ricky, have there been any elements of Summer Camp you'll incorporate into next year's spring training?

"There is, and I don't want to share it with you. Great question ... but let it stay proprietary."

Now, these two exchanges above could be read as terse and impolitic, if you, say, never watched a single one of these Ricky Speaks videos. But, it being Ricky, you know that even his demurrals are shared with a smile.

But thus it was on Friday, with the manager back in full swing and getting closer to having a rotation, roster and even lineup set, with Opening Day looming in a week.

To the latter end, Renteria offered a sunny report on Yoán Moncada, just back into camp after coronavirus but apparently hardly missing a beat to date.

"I was pleasantly surprised with Yoán, he was doing the leg workout, took ground balls early, did his throwing program," Renteria said. "His legs look better than I thought they’d look, as well as his movements and explosiveness ... I’m not trying to hold him back, just want to know he’s listening to his body and help him draw a conclusion so that he’ll be OK when he’s up."

And Renteria, who has been terrific in modeling proper behavior for baseball in pandemic times, did admit that even he has a brain cramp at times.

"When you’re playing a team sport, you're so used to certain behaviors." he smiled. "I still give a little knuckle [bump] sometimes, then I remember and I go wash my hands. There have been a lot of 'air fives.'"

For the full Renteria media session, watch below, courtesy of the White Sox: