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Yoenis Cespedes, who met with the Miami Marlins and toured their new ballpark on Wednesday, could head back to the Dominican Republic as early as Thursday, said his agent, Adam Katz.

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The Miami Marlins will officially court Yoenis Cespedes Wednesday, but Tuesday the Cuban free agent said he already likes the team.

"It would be good [to play here]," Cespedes told reporters at Miami International Airport Tuesday. "There are a lot of Cubans and they would support me a lot. Hopefully I can play for the Marlins."

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ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine and Doug Padilla took your baseball questions during a live chat on Tuesday. See what they had to say about Yoenis Cespedes, Jorge Soler and Gerardo Concepcion, among other topics. Click here to submit your questions.

Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes’ next step toward signing with a major league team will eventually happen on U.S. soil, as he awaits his chance for face-to-face meetings with his agents and interested teams.

The plan, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, is still to have Cespedes in a big league camp by the third week of February.

The five-tool centerfielder will be a rich man before he sees one pitch in spring training, as industry sources tell ESPNChicago.com that the bidding for the Cuban defector may go as high as six years, $60 million.

The Chicago Cubs and the Miami Marlins may be driving the price up. The speedy 26-year-old outfielder said a month ago that the Cubs appeared to be the most aggressive team pursuing his services, having taken him out to dinner a few times. And Miami team owner Jeffery Loria has told his people that signing Cespedes is a priority for the Marlins, due to the large Cuban population in the Miami area.

Many other teams, including the Chicago White Sox, are still in the mix for Cespedes, who is waiting for a visa from The Dominican Republic, where he recently became a citizen.

The Chicago White Sox signed infielder Dan Johnson to a minor league contract, the team announced on Friday.

The left-handed-hitting Johnson, 32, split his time between the Tampa Bay Rays and their Triple-A affiliate Durham. Johnson batted .119 with two home runs and four RBIs in 31 games with the Rays and hit .273 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs at Durham.

Originally drafted by the Athletics, Johnson had his best season in 2005 when he batted .275 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs with Oakland.

Now that Yu Darvish is a Texas Ranger, all the attention on the international market has gone to Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, with the light becoming brighter last week when his residency in the Dominican Republic was established, making him finally eligible to sign. His U.S.-based representative, Adam Katz, insists that Cespedes will be in camp with a team, so a signing could happen soon, and it's time to talk about just how good he can be.

Once again, opinions on where Cespedes fit on the scale were all over the board, with both extremes occurring as one exec took all five big leaguers ahead of Cespedes, while another chose Cespedes over all five established players.

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ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine and Doug Padilla took your baseball questions during a live chat on Tuesday. Click here to read the chat wrap.

CHICAGO -- Sorry Brent Morel, it’s going to be awfully hard to avoid the comparisons between you and your new manager Robin Ventura.

Last season Morel was being compared most often to Joe Crede, but with Ventura occupying the manager’s office now, a new comparison has taken over. It’s enough to make Morel cringe.

“I don’t feel like there should be a comparison [with Ventura] at all, or anything like that,” Morel said, suggesting he isn't worthy of it at this stage of his career. “But I’m happy he’s my manager and will be open and will help me to get to that next level offensively and defensively. I’ll be able to pick his brain. He’s so open about it. He wants everybody to get better and I’ll try to help as much as possible.”

The two have their differences of course, the biggest being that Morel bats from the right side while Ventura batted left. And while asking Morel to reach Ventura’s power numbers is pushing it, the final month of last season suggests that Morel can deliver the long ball at the major-league level.

Where Morel might rank ahead of his manager is on the defensive end. In a SoxFest seminar with fans on Saturday, broadcaster Hawk Harrelson noted how Ventura struggled with the glove early in his big-league career before turning himself into one of the best in the game in that category.

Morel showed numerous instances of brilliance on defense last year, with some miscues mixed in. His biggest room for improvement on defense figures to come on throws, especially when he is rushed or there is traffic on the base paths.

While it seemed clear that Alexei Ramirez's growth at shortstop was aided by a former shortstop in Ozzie Guillen, it’s going to be hard to track Morel’s progress without giving an assist to Ventura.

Helping the bond between Morel and Ventura is the fact they hail from the same region of California. <!--Morel grew up in Bakersfield and went to college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Ventura grew up in nearby Santa Maria and still makes his home there.

“Obviously growing up there I had a chance to meet him and stuff like that but I don’t know if there is a better fit for this team than he is,” Morel said. “I’ll be able to learn from him and pick his brain a little bit. It will be nice.”

Ventura shouldn't get the credit for all of Morel’s future progress, though. The young third baseman made huge strides offensively in September when his approach at the plate completely changed.

Not only did he become more aggressive as evidenced by hitting eight of his 10 home runs over the final month, he also mixed in some patience. Morel had 15 walks in September after walking just seven times before the final month.

That month won’t completely erase a season when he batted a pedestrian .245 with a .287 on-base percentage, but the fact that he heads into 2012 with a little bit of momentum is reason for optimism.

“I was a little disappointed, more with just my mental approach to the game, trying not to mess up, make the team, be on the team and really got caught up in being that good defense third baseman and living with it,” Morel said. “[In September] I really just got selfish and aggressive, putting time in and developing an approach. So I will just carry that over the next year.”

CHICAGO -- How the Chicago White Sox fill their vacant closer role is anybody’s guess, although one certainty is that Matt Thornton will be in the mix for a second consecutive season.

At the start of SoxFest week, manager Robin Ventura tabbed Thornton as the favorite for the role. Days later in a radio interview, pitching coach Don Cooper sounded like somebody who wasn't ready to set Las Vegas-style odds on who might end up with the job.

Thornton himself said this weekend that he is ready to step up and earn the role he won out of spring training last season. And he has the confidence that if he does earn the job, it will turn out much different than last year.

“For me, any time I have failed in my career at anything … it doesn’t matter what it was, whether I was young, throwing strikes, I have always worked hard to get back to that point and be able to do it,” Thornton said.

There was no denying his struggles at the start of the 2011 season. He blew his first four save opportunities in succession, and by the final day of April, his ERA had swelled to 8.64. By May 6 he was not only carrying his four blown saves but watched his record fall to 0-3.

While the statistics confirmed his struggles, Thornton was also dealing with some unprecedented bad luck. He seemed to be the victim of much of the club’s early-season defensive woes, while the number of broken-bat hits against him also mounted.

Once the runners made it on base, whether they deserved to be there or not, Thornton looked uncomfortable and couldn’t avoid giving up the big hit.

“It kind of became a joke with my teammates,” Thornton said about all the broken-bat hits against him. “They were kind of blown away to see what happened. Whatever. I won’t ever make excuses. They got a hit, that’s all that matters. They got on base period, whether it was a hit, walk, error, whatever. They got on base and scored runs to tie the game, win the game, whatever. It was my fault. I will always stand there and face the music and bounce back from it to be better.”

The slow start and the loss of his job as closer defined Thornton’s season. Never mind that he rebounded to post a 2.89 ERA in May, a 0.77 mark in June and a 1.35 ERA in July. That success didn’t come as a closer. The left-hander never seemed to shake the perception that when the stakes were high, he couldn’t handle the pressure.

None of it will make him back down for another opportunity to end victories this season. Thornton said that recent history suggests he should be just fine in 2012.

“I remember after the ’07 season, it was a terrible year for me and I came back from that one [angry]; I was ticked off,” Thornton said. “I came back and had really good years after that. ... So yeah, I guess you can say I’m coming in a little ticked off again. I didn’t get the job done and I’m irritated by it and I want to prove that I am still as good as I was three years ago.”

For now, it appears that Thornton and Jesse Crain will duel this spring for the Opening Day closer role with youngster Addison Reed waiting in the wings. Reed is lined up as the closer of the future, but impressive outings in a set-up role could land him the job earlier than expected, which is just how Sergio Santos became the closer last season.

“Robin obviously has made comments about me supposedly having the lead for the closer job right now,” Thornton said. “Well, we haven’t started spring training yet so you don’t know what will happen. I’m not worried about roles. I’m just going to go out there and be ready to go wherever they need to help us win games.

“We have a great division. Kansas City’s youth, Detroit’s juggernaut lineup, Cleveland’s team last year and now with another year of experience. It’s going to be a fun division. It will be fun for us too and I’m looking forward to surprising teams.”

CHICAGO -- When the Prince Fielder-to-the-Tigers bombshell news filtered to Robin Ventura -- however the laconic manager of the White Sox absorbs his news -- it didn't cause so much as a ripple in his coffee.

"I didn't have too much of a reaction," Ventura said at SoxFest on Friday afternoon. "I didn't have a big 'Oh my gosh, what have I gotten into?' He signed there, great. We're worrying about what we do."

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CHICAGO -- As the only returning member of the Chicago White Sox's core coaching staff, Don Cooper’s job is both simple and complex at the same time.

Unlike the rest of the staff, which includes hitting coach Jeff Manto, bench coach Mark Parent and manager Robin Ventura, pitching coach Cooper knows his charges well and knows what to expect from each one.

But that also puts Cooper on the spot.

Ventura has mentioned multiple times this offseason that he will lean hard on Cooper when it comes to all things pitching. The latest such Ventura reference to the subject came in a Saturday morning seminar at SoxFest with the coaching staff.

Aside from finding a legitimate closer, Cooper’s biggest task this spring could be to set Chris Sale on a course toward being a solid major-league starter. Sale will move into the rotation this season after a year and a half in the bullpen.

Having never pitched upward of 200 innings -- or even started a major-league game for that matter -- Cooper will need to assist Sale in the transition to his new role.

“Listen, we're not going to handcuff this kid,” Cooper said Saturday. “… We're going to give this kid just enough work experience, let him go. And as the season’s going, and I don't mean in the first half, as the season goes, we'll continue to assess where he's at.”

Without a lot of starting depth beyond their top five, Sale won’t be afforded much of a learning curve. He will have to produce right away for a club that needs just about everybody to return to their career norms or deliver to their potential if the Sox want to have success.

“It's uncertain because he hasn't done the role,” Cooper said. “But he has pitched as a starter his whole career. There's going to be uncertainty in any guy’s first year starting in the big leagues because it's a huge challenge.”

In a pitching seminar Saturday morning Sale addressed the subject of his transition from college pitcher to major-league reliever in a matter of months. He said the jump was startling but he handled it well for the most part.

Then despite some brief stumbles, Sale had an impressive first full season in the major leagues.

Next year will come with yet another adjustment, and the quicker that adjustment happens the better off the White Sox will be both in the short and long term.

“What's the worst thing that could happen to Chris Sale? He gets hurt.” Cooper said. “So we're going to do everything in our power not to let that happen. We have control over that to a large degree. How do we have control? Watching the workloads, watching how many sidelines he has. I'll keep an eye on that.

“We'll make sure to track throwing in between starts, innings and pitches in a game, how many innings he has as the season goes. It’s going to be a continuing assessment. The No. 1 goal for all of our players is stay healthy. If they do stay healthy, then they’re going to go out there and do the things we envision them doing.”

CHICAGO -- The loudest countdown on New Year’s Eve might have been coming from the Adam Dunn household.

The disappointing Chicago White Sox slugger is among those glad that the calendar has turned to 2012 -- the further he can get away from the worst season of his career the better.

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CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams is still feeling his son's pain.

Kyle Williams of the San Francisco 49ers muffed one punt and fumbled another in last Sunday's NFC Championship Game as the New York Giants earned a berth in the Super Bowl. His fumble in overtime set up Lawrence Tynes' winning field goal in New York's 20-17 victory.

"As a father, it was absolutely awful. Even if it weren't my kid, I'd still feel bad for what happened," Ken Williams said Friday night at the White Sox winter festival.

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CHICAGO -- When they weren’t tiptoeing around trying not to anger Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox were performing one of their new key roles as this weekend’s fan convention opened Friday.

Forget slogans. This season is going to require a real, live, interactive marketing campaign almost as much as solid pitching and a potent offense.

And as they’re finding out, talking a good game, at least in January, is a whole lot easier.

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CHICAGO – With a clear mind, Gordon Beckham has promised a season more in line with his talent.

In each of the past two seasons, Beckham has dealt with lengthy offensive struggles, but to his credit he did become a highly regarded defensive second baseman last season.

Now comes the challenge of putting the entire package together. General manager Kenny Williams has already suggested that Beckham’s White Sox career is at a crossroads and he needs to see more from the University of Georgia product.

“Listen, it’s not about me; It’s not about any one person,” Beckham said. “It’s about everybody doing their work, and getting out there, making sure they are ready to play then going out there and doing it. I’m not putting any extra pressure on me to do anything.”

What he will do is to use 2011 as silent motivation for the 2012 season.

“I know I can play,” he said. “I had a bad year last year and I will remember every bit of it because I never want to feel that way again. That’s the only thing I will remember of last year, just the way I felt, who I was. I didn’t like that and don’t want to be back there.”

Last year around SoxFest there was talk about how Beckham was looking good in the batting cage. That never translated onto the field. Once again, there is some January talk about Beckham turning a corner, this time the word is from Beckham himself.

“I’m much better now,” he said. “I finally got back to kind of feeling like I did a couple of years ago, before any of this happened. I finally feel that I have that confidence back and the edge and swagger back that I had. I guess when you feel it you know it, and I feel it. It’s one of those things. It’s nice to be back on the other side of that.”