With The Sox’ Season Over, A Lot Of Questions Remain

It seems that Ozzie Guilen’s job is safe for next season. Despite all the things we have heard out of the local media outlets, Kenny wants Ozzie back, and Ozzie wants to be back. As for Joey Cora? This may in fact be the season where Ozzie loses his good friend and bench coach. Kenny Williams also may lose his partner in crime, assistant GM Rick Hahn. Hahn is extremely qualified for any GM position that he interviews for.

The Minnesota Twins went to the playoffs for the second straight season, only to lose to the New York Yankees, again. They do pose the biggest threat to the Sox next year. It seems that they outmatched the White Sox in every facet of the game this year. It didn’t matter that they switched to an outdoor ballpark. They still had the Sox number. It was really frustrating for Sox fans to see the Twins as the superior team. Unfortunately, this trend is almost destined to continue. The Twins flat out play solid, fundamental baseball. And now, above all, they can mash with the White Sox. The Twins have some huge pop in their lineup. If Thome returns with a healthy Morneau, we can expect a repeat of this year.

In order to counter what the Twins are doing, the Sox need to revamp their roster. They need to have consistent starting pitching, and they can’t come out of the gate with a losing record again. Is Carlos Quentin the answer in right? Who is going to be the starting third baseman next year? Will Gordon Beckham be healthy at the beginning of the season? What about Jake’s Peavy’s recovery and rehab process? Who will be the Sox fifth starter? Ozzie got the team he wanted this year. He got his rotating DH. That clearly did not work out. The Sox have minimal money to spend this off season, and they need to get a left handed power bat. This may be bad news for Paul Konerko fans as he may be out the door. He was the Sox best offensive player this year, and he has been the backbone of this team for years. The Manny Ramirez experiment failed also. That’s 4 million less for next year’s budget.

Let’s not forget about the Detroit Tigers. They have a lot of money to spend with all their contracts coming off the books, and a talented young pitching staff anchored by Justin Verlander. It looks like the central may come down to a 3 team race next year, but let’s see where the chips fall this off season. It should be an interesting one.

The one bright spot Sox fans can remember is that miraculous run they put together mid season. That streak came a little too soon, and the pitching seemingly ran out of gas. They’ve got to put it together next year, and Kenny will be working on sorting out the pieces.