Note to Ozzie: please, uncage Alex Rios in the season's final month

August 31, 12:35 AMChicago White Sox ExaminerJJ Stankevitz

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If the Sox truly are doomed down the stretch—and given that the team thinks they need to take two of three in Minnesota to stay alive, yeah, they're doomed—then what's stopping Ozzie Guillen from playing Alex Rios every day?

The answer should be nothing. Let Rios play every day and hope he can really get acclimated to where he's going to be spending the next five or six years of his career. Let him play and see if he can start hitting with any consistency—something that he hasn't done since joining the Sox. But maybe that's because he's always been looking over his shoulder for playing time.

I'm not necessarily saying the Sox should unceremoniously platoon Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome in their final months in a White Sox uniform. That would be unfair to the two players—one who has put in some exceptional work with the Sox and another a future first-ballot Hall of Famer—but maybe Ozzie can sacrifice some playing time for Scott Podsednik.

That is, unless the Sox want Podsednik back in the fold for 2010. I don't think that's the right move, though, because given his injury history and sure-to-regress BABIP the Sox probably shouldn't pencil him in as a starter for next year.

So let Rios play. Let him (and Carlos Quentin) play the outfield every day from here on out. Doing so could establish some sort of chemistry with Rios and the rest of the team that might end up being helpful in 2010.

Don't get me wrong—just because my expectations have hit rock bottom for the 2009 team doesn't mean they've been lowered for 2010. If Rios can return to his career norms (especially defensively) and Carlos Quentin stays healthy, with the pitching staff the Sox will have (Buehrle/Peavy/Floyd/Danks plus a fifth starter not named Jose Contreras), I fully expect the Sox to contend for the pennant.

Granted, 2010 is a long way off. But hey, why not get a head start on next year now?