"If Opening Day were today, the White Sox rotation would be John Danks, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, Philip Humber and Chris Sale — with an order to be determined.

The wild card in the group is Sale, 22, who has the stuff to be a 15-game winner, but is untested as a starter. He has pitched nowhere near 200 innings and thus will be brought along slowly.

"It's uncertain because he hasn't done the role,'' pitching coach Don Cooper said. "But he has pitched as a starter [in college and the minor leagues]. There's going to be uncertainty in any guy's first year starting in the big leagues because it's a huge challenge.''"