The White Sox have already spoken to Mark Buehrle about taking a more active approach to his offseason workout program so that all the speculation about injuries and “stiffness’’ that circulated around him this spring will go away.

“Buehrle has never been Johnny-condition guy in the winter,’’ pitching coach Don Cooper explained on Monday. “But now he’s getting older and he needs to do more. We talked to him about this [in the spring camp]. He needs to pay more of a price before spring training.’’

Because as it stands right now, just playing a few sessions of catch, as well as recently turning 30 years old, is no longer enough.

“I don’t throw much in the off-season,’’ Buehrle admitted on Sunday. “I take off a lot in the off-season and use spring training to get ready.’’

Like they did with closer Bobby Jenks a few winters ago, the Sox would like to see that change.

Manager Ozzie Guillen was talking about Buehrle’s health on Sunday and said of Buehrle’s spring that he, “got set back because he was sore.’’ Guillen quickly corrected himself and said, “he wasn’t sore, he was stiff.’’

Either way, the organization would like to see Buehrle become more proactive in limiting these concerns by increasing his workload in the offseason.

“When you go to spring and haven’t used these muscles in a while, hell, you’re going to be stiff,’’ Cooper said. “It was a bit more soreness than normal, but again, he had to go home for the baby. The overall thing is we’re looking to take care of Buehrle, starting last spring, monitoring things. I don’t need to add another 30 innings in spring and 50 in the bullpen to go along with 200-plus for the regular season.

“Buehrle knows he has to start doing more in the offseason to No. 1 get ready. He’s a veteran. He’s on with this. Every single spring, going back to 2005 easy, Buehrle always has a ‘Geez, my shoulder feels stiff.’ But he gets through it.

“During the season, he works as hard as anyone. It’s like he puts the full-court press on during the season, but we want to make it easier for him in the offseason.’’