There’s a lot of talk in Sox news these days. Well, not so much talking as a whole lot of saying. Saying, for example, that the offense will correct itself. Saying Jose Contreras is awesome on some simultaneously lower yet higher level. Saying the coaches are all just super.

So what?

If Greg Walker says the last-or-almost-in-the-American-League-in-just-about-everything White Sox can hit, does that make it so? No, of course not; but it does mean he believes they can.

If Ozzie Guillen says his guys’ jobs are safe, does that mean they’re all fireproof? Come on, no one loves their co-workers that much.

If Brian Anderson says Jose Contreras is pitching as well as he’s ever seen Jose Contreras pitch, does that mean another 17-0 run is in order? Ha!

So what are they saying out there in Soxland? Not much, if you think about it. But what’s interesting is not that the words and the actions are so entirely unrelated, but that the words are massive news and totally necessary in and of themselves because the action is entirely nonexistent. Anderson says. Walker says. Guillen says. And that speaks volumes more about the state of the team than any numbers, forecasts or kicker quotes ever could.

There’s an old saying that a good story is one that shows rather than tells. If Sox bats really can bring the thunder, no one should have to insist they can. If anyone’s jobs are safe, they’ll just go about their business of not losing it. If a guy really is that great, no one has to remind you of it. As a favorite singer of mine once said, “I can either tell you how I’m going to kick your a–, or I can just hand you your arms.”

Someday soon, we all hope, these Sox will indeed do the same. The arms, I mean; sabre-rattling hasn’t really been getting the job done the way anyone would have liked it to.