La Russa a proven winner, and that's all that matters to White Sox

Make the best of an awkward situation.

That's the objective for White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito as he prepares to play for a new manager - 76-year-old Tony La Russa - who has been out of the game for nearly a decade and is currently dealing with his second drunken driving arrest since 2007.

"I'm very comfortable going into spring training because I think that we're in a very, very good position to win," Giolito said. "At the end of the day, winning games is all that matters. And I think that with our coaching staff, with the players we have, how far we've come, kind of putting that all together, it puts us in a really, really good spot.

"Being in a good spot to kind of start having success makes me feel good."

The Sox finally got over the hump last season, posting their first winning record (35-25) in eight years and making the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Eight losses in the last 10 games and a quick postseason exit cost manager Rick Renteria and pitching coach Don Cooper their jobs, setting the stage for La Russa's return to the White Sox's dugout.

Like teammate Tim Anderson, Giolito is intrigued by the surprising move and open to playing for a Hall of Fame manager who has three World Series rings.

"Having Tony La Russa as our manager, one of the most decorated managers in the history of baseball, there's not much to complain about there," Giolito said. "I've had a couple conversations with him on the phone and I am a big fan of, we didn't get into too many specifics, but I am a big fan of kind of his coaching philosophy, I guess you could say. What he was talking about, what he wants to bring to the team starting Day 1 of spring training."

On Tuesday, the Sox announced Ethan Katz, Giolito's pitching coach in high school, is replacing Cooper.

Miguel Cairo is the White Sox's new bench coach, and he knows La Russa very well after playing for him in St. Louis for four seasons.

"I learned how to win," Cairo said. "That's something (La Russa) hates, losing. I hate losing and something you learn from him is how to be a professional, first of all. And how to win.

"He's one of the most prepared managers I've ever been with and you can tell by his record. He don't miss anything. He's way ahead of the other manager and the other team. He manages the game before the game happens. It's unbelievable how smart he is and how well prepared he is."

Before he was hired as manager, La Russa tried to get Dave Duncan back on his staff as pitching coach. The 75-year-old Duncan was not interested.

The White Sox wound up hiring Katz, and he is gradually getting to know La Russa.

"We've talked more along the lines of spring training and how that's going to look," said Katz, the Giants' assistant pitching coach last season. "He plans spring training, which is very unique. Usually it's the bench coach. He's planning spring training, so I've shared my thoughts on like what I'd like to see the pitchers get out of each day.

"We've been in line with kind of the stuff that Dave (Duncan) has done in the past, what he's done and liked. We're building that relationship right now."

When spring training does arrive, the White Sox are going to have big goals. That would have been the case no matter who the manager is.

"Oh my gosh, the talent that they have," Cairo said. "It's amazing the kind of players that they have. You know, they already have a taste of going to the playoffs. Now it's get a taste of going to the promised land. The promised land is the World Series, that beautiful ring and the parade in Chicago after the season.

"If you see Chicago, it's one of the cities they know how to celebrate a championship. It would be awesome to get that ring and be besides these guys because they have so much talent."

Hitting coach Frank Menechino said he was "caught off guard" by Renteria and Cooper being fired, but he sees things the same way as Cairo.

"World Series or bust," Menechino said. "And that's the right attitude to have, you know? We have to go there, we have to make it, our goal is to win it and that's it."