According to the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales, Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle could be leaning towards retirement when his contract expires after the 2011 season.

“But when next year gets here and knowing you’re going to walking away from the game, knowing if I have something left or not, I have to hope that first of all, I’m healthy,” Buehrle said Wednesday. “And second, someone wants to sign me. Obviously, it’s a plus if that is. And obviously it’s going to be harder to make a decision.

“As I sit here now, I’d love to just go home and be with the family and kids and go from there. But when next year gets here, at this time, it could be a tough decision, knowing this is all you’ve known for 15 years of your life and constantly having to be somewhere, to go somewhere. And all of a sudden you have nothing to do. It’s going to be a tough decision.”

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“You play for your teammates’ and your staff’s respect.  I definitely care about the guys inside this clubhouse, what they think. Not too much beyond that. It’s nice, I guess, if people have that, but at the same time I think I know who’s important to me and hopefully I gain those people. If not, you work to get that.” – Paul Konerko

It is the statements like the one above that have made Paul Konerko such a vastly respected player, teammate and individual throughout his 13-year career in Major League Baseball.  It seems that there cannot be enough great things said about the Chicago White Sox first baseman who, in an era rich with egotistical baseball players, has remained admirably humble.

To highlight Konerko’s influence on both his organization and the game itself, here are a collection of quotes from his coaches, teammates and other players around the league.

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What started off as a slow season for the Chicago White Sox shortstop, Alexei Ramirez, now seems destined to end on a much more encouraging note.  Last week, after writing an article on why the White Sox were still worth watching despite being eliminated from the postseason, I realized that I had made a crucial and regrettable omission.

Perhaps I’ve seen a few too many Troy Tulowitzki highlights over the past month, or maybe I’ve just come to expect Derek Jeter to annually churn out MVP-like seasons.  But I had no idea that the production among this year’s American League shortstops was so low.  Needless to say, it was an unexpected surprise to learn that Alexei Ramirez is having the best offensive season among A.L. shortstops and seems likely to win his first Silver Slugger Award.

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It is doubtful that Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Gavin Floyd will pitch again in 2010, following an unexpected early exit from his start against the Oakland A’s on Monday night.  Floyd threw just 7 pitches before leaving the game due to soreness behind his pitching shoulder, a discomfort that apparently might have affected his previous start against the Twins.  On Thursday, Floyd will travel to Los Angeles to have his shoulder examined by the Angels team physician, Dr. Lewis Yocum.

Now that the Minnesota Twins have clinched the American League Central, the White Sox are likely to shut down Floyd for the remainder of the season and allow him to properly heal and prepare for 2011.  Neither Floyd nor White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen have seemed particularly optimistic about the right-hander’s lingering shoulder discomfort.

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To say that the Chicago White Sox have hit a skid in September might be an understatement after their latest homestand.  Following their 9-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night, the White Sox(79-70) now trail the Minnesota Twins by 10 games, and their dwindling elimination number rests at 4 games entering Tuesday night’s game against the A’s.

After being swept at home by divisional rivals Minnesota and Detroit, the White Sox losing streak sits at a season high six games; it was also the first time that the South Siders had been swept in back to back home series since 1989.  The starting rotation, one of the key ingredients in the White Sox 28-8 midsummer surge, struggled mightily over the past 14 games, posting an 0-8 record and 7.09 ERA while allowing opposing hitters to hit a robust .345.

The offense, which had nicely complemented the excellent starting pitching around the All-Star break, turned in consistent lackluster performances during both the Twins and Tigers series.  In those six games, White Sox hitters slashed .240/.333/.373 with 6 HR and 21 RBI.  Those numbers would have been drastically different had the offense not repeatedly struggled with runners in scoring position.  Against the Twins, the Sox left a total of 62 runners on base; against the Tigers, they left 53 runners on base(including 41 in Monday night’s extra innings loss).

Barring an unprecedented and unimaginable Twins collapse down the final stretch of the season, the White Sox will fail to reach the postseason after finding themselves on the brink of contention for the second consecutive season.  Although the team’s quest for a postseason birth has come up short, there are still many reasons to watch the White Sox play out the remainder of their 2010 season.

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