In the past, I have been reluctant to give my endorsement to Josh Fields as the White Sox third baseman of the future.

The reason? His defense stinks. At left, you can see him tripping over his own feet after missing a ball against the Royals. But apparently, we're all in for a big shock when spring training opens in a few weeks.

If Fields has, in fact, improved his defense, that takes away one major hole in the Sox infield. We know Fields can provide some pop at the bottom of a batting order, as evidenced by his 23 home runs in 2007. But he needs to catch all the ground balls that Mark Buehrle throws in order to be an everyday player.

Right now, here is the Sox infield:
1B: Paul Konerko
2B: ?????
SS: Alexei Ramirez
3B: ?????

If Fields is the answer to those question marks next to 3B, Sox fans can feel better about their team's chances in 2009.