GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Over in Wrigleyville, there's the ‘Cub Way.' But on the South Side, there won't be a ‘Sox Way,' per se, although first-year manager Robin Ventura stressed preparation and fundamentals throughout his first meeting with reporters at spring training on Wednesday.

“My way? My way or highway? Well, you would like to have it to where you have a way and it's beyond your big league level,” Ventura said. “You want your minor league to feel that way, too, that there is, ‘this is just the way we play baseball, this is what we expect of you' from the minor leagues to the big leagues. I think that's kind of the gist for Dale (Sveum).

"Probably what they're talking about is instead of letting go and not caring about the little things, you bring that back to the focus with the fundamentals and enjoy what you're doing. And it's not hard when you enjoy what you're doing.”

There wasn't much to enjoy from last season, which saw the White Sox finish 79-83, ship a handful of players out of town, move on from manager Ozzie Guillen and lose starting pitcher Mark Buehrle to Miami via free agency.

Ventura didn't get into specifics regarding when he would choose a closer or fill the open bullpen slots, or how he expects the club to replace Buehrle's 31 starts and 205.1 innings pitched. What matters the most right now, Ventura said, is giving players the opportunities to prove themselves.

“I'm not going to pinpoint anything right now,” he said. “We'll just go forward, get spring going and see how it goes.”

Neither did Ventura provide a preview of what he will say when he addresses the team for the first time next Tuesday.

Ventura did however show his dry sense of humor during a 14-minute session with the media. Known for having good relationships with former teammates, Ventura said that whenever he has to address the team as a whole, “I'm just going to look around instead of looking in one guy's eyes.”

And about whether he cares if he's liked in the clubhouse he said, “Eventually they're going to have to want to play, so I do care what they think as far as that.”

While this will be a season of many firsts for Ventura, the former third baseman said he's played for enough managers to have an idea of what type of manager he would like to become.

“I've seen and played for different people and you take different things and hopefully I can bring a lot of those things I like,” he said. “But as far as being a manager, you want to be honest, up front and excited to be there -- and not screw up, don't make any mistakes. But if you don't make any mistakes you're not trying, either. I want guys to enjoy coming to the ballpark, that want to come to the ballpark, and play hard.”