As if the Chicago White Sox haven’t mucked up enough of their on-field plans since reaching the brink of pennant contention a few years ago, now they muff what should have been the easiest call of the new year regarding a much more serious issue.

Mike Clevinger and Sox management should have just shut up about MLB’s ongoing investigation into domestic abuse allegations made by the mother of his baby daughter until the case ran its course.

At the very least, if general manager Rick Hahn felt the responsibility to address the issue when spring training opened — as he did — then he should have been better prepared to address not only the gravity of the non-baseball part of what they got for their $12 million free agent signing but also the apparent lack of due diligence in making that commitment to a player willing to sign a one-year deal so early in the free agency period.

“It’s a very fair question, the question about the level of due diligence that we do,” Hahn told reporters in Glendale, Arizona, during the spring-opening scrum on the subject. He vowed to reevaluate those processes.

Mostly, Clevinger did nobody involved any good when he and the team trotted him out to speak to the media — well, nobody but the media. Which is fine with us. And certainly fine for the fans who want to hear as much info as they can from the parties.