Nate Jones (glute) will re-start an exercise and strengthening program Wednesday.

Jones reported to camp with a left glute strain, which has kept him from any throwing. He's feeling better now, though, and it sounds like he'll begin playing catch soon. "Oh, absolutely," Jones said. "Everything is feeling good. We let it calm down, so the next step is a couple of days of exercising and strengthening it back up and then start tossing and see how it feels and go from there."

Nate Jones will be re-evaluated next week after reporting to White Sox camp with a glute strain.

"We're here for an extended period of time, so there's no need to rush through anything," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "We should know more sometime next week how long this is going to be, but at this point we're not projecting out anything into the season." Jones told trainers he suffered the strain about a week before camp opened. He'll contend with Matt Lindstrom and Daniel Webb for the closer job this spring.

Nate Jones is dealing with a minor glute strain and has been shut down for a few days.

The White Sox, as any other team would, are simply playing things cautiously early in camp rather than have a player push things too hard and risk further injury. Jones appears to be the early favorite to land save chances in the White Sox bullpen entering the 2013 season, and certainly has the strikeout numbers and solid peripherals to succeed in that role if given the opportunity.

Nate Jones believes he is ready to close for the White Sox.

Chicago has declined to name Addison Reed's successor, but smart money says it'll be Jones. "Listen, man, I can go back to Shingo Takatsu, [Dustin] Hermanson, Bobby [Jenks] and all the years after that [Sergio Santos, Santiago]," White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said. "We never had, 'Hey, we just acquired a closer.' We always figured out who was the best guy to close." In other words, don't expect Chicago to make Fernando Rodney a contract offer. The 28-year-old Jones flings an upper 90s fastball that he compliments with a hard slider. Jones is coming off a season in which he struck out 89 over 78 frames. "You have to be mentally tough; you have to grind it out," Jones said of a closer's mentality. "If something happens the night before, you have to forget that pretty quickly because you will be out there the next night doing the same thing. I feel I have the capability to do that."

MLB.com's Scott Merkin believes that Nate Jones is still the favorite to open the season as the White Sox' closer.

The club has refused to name a closer following the trade of Addison Reed, which isn't really a surprise. Matt Lindstrom has some closing experience and the White Sox like the upside of Daniel Webb, but Jones should be the clear favorite to begin the season in the closer role. The 28-year-old has a fastball that hums in the upper 90s and is coming off a season when he struck out 89 over 78 frames.

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn named Nate Jones, Matt Lindstrom and Daniel Webb as the team's possible in-house candidates to replace Addison Reed as closer.

"I don't feel the urgency to anoint anyone the closer," Hahn said. "Frankly our scouts and player development people have done a real nice job over the years providing us with options, and I'm confident that's going to continue." Most have pegged Jones and his career 9.3 K/9 rate as the early favorite for the role, though Lindstrom has the "closer experience" thing working in his favor. Webb is surely a longshot for the ninth inning given that he only has nine career appearances at the big league level, but the Sox do like his upside.

Nate Jones has been blasted this season to the tune of a 6.33 ERA over 21 1/3 innings.

Jones won the final spot in the White Sox bullpen in 2012 and rewarded Chicago's brain trust with a 2.39 ERA over 71 2/3 frames. He's running out of time to turn things around one year later and a demotion could be in the offing. An interesting anomaly, for all you stat heads: Jones was 8-0 last season. This year? He's 0-4.