There hasn't been much reporting on it lately, but Joe Cowley reported on it today: White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin has been some combination of bad and injured all season long.
There are many reasons why the Sox look unlikely to repeat as AL Central Champions this season, but Quentin's woes rank right at the top of the list. For five months of 2008, Quentin was the best player in the league. He had a league-leading 36 homers and 100 RBIs when he went down with a broken wrist Sept. 1 of last season.
We haven't seen that player at all this year. Quentin is hitting .231, down from .288 a year ago. He missed two months with plantar fasciitis, which has led to knee pain as the year has progressed. He has only 16 homers and 39 RBIs.
Since coming off the DL on July 20, he's tried to pull EVERYTHING. He looks like he's pressing, trying to make up for lost time, instead of just accepting his base hits. Quentin seems unable to accept the fact that his numbers won't be what he hoped due to the injury. Now, he's making it worse by trying to hit the damn ball 500 feet every time he steps to the plate.
Where is the Carlos Quentin who drove the ball to center and right-center last year? He's gone, and the Sox need to find that guy to win in 2010.
They've already got their starting rotation lined up for next season: Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, John Danks and Freddy Garcia. I'll roll the dice on that group. But you need an offense, too, and with Jermaine Dye likely following Jim Thome out the door this offseason, Quentin is going to have get back to being a middle-of-the-order force next year. The Sox are depending on him.
I think like Rios, he's trying to hard and over examining his swing, I think after the end of this frustrating year, and a whole off season to relax and work on their mechanics, him and Rios will put up stats we know they can