Pitchers and catchers day is similar to Black Friday, in that their importance to the business of the season are both diminished by the creep. A good chunk of the team arrived in Arizona before the battery members were officially required to arrive. Forget throwing and receiving -- the White Sox have already been tweeting and Instagramming and Facebooking hitters hitting.

Of course, there's a difference between the two -- Black Friday is naturally annoying to some degree, and the creep ruins people's Thanksgivings, whereas pitchers and catchers can creep up as early as it damn well pleases, because it's baseball.

Either way, the official reporting date still signals the official end of the offseason. Thanks to everybody who hung around for what was a lively offseason, and welcome back if you hadn't been around. Although based on the headlines the White Sox generated and the traffic numbers, it sure looks like our winter retention rate was much higher than normal.

Conor Gillaspie stole the show on pitchers and catchers' eve, as far as I'm concerned. Give Dan Hayes the assist for crafting one of the more compelling tweets* of all time:

Conor Gillaspie drove 18 straight hours from Wichita. Arrived in town last night. Said 5 Hour Energy got him through it easy. — Dan Hayes (@CSNHayes) February 19, 2015

So many thoughts come to mind, but I almost don't want to share any of them, because everybody should be able to process it through their own organic filters and experiences. Stop reading here if you need some time.

Pause.

Pause.

Pause.

OK, here's one: When somebody tells you about a long drive, there's usually no need to ask them how many hitchhikers they picked up along the way. In this case, there stands a non-zero chance of being a non-zero answer.

At any rate, Gillaspie may not be my favorite thing about watching the Sox, but he might be my favorite thing about blogging the Sox. I'd have to think about it a little more carefully, but if he still has some work to do in that department this season, he's off to a helluva start.

(*The most compelling tweet is still this one.)