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CHICAGO – Ramon Castro is returning while Brent Lillibridge was on his way out.

Castro, who was believed to be lost for the season with a broken right hand, said there is an outside chance he could be ready to play during the last week of the season.

Castro said doctors have told him his injury, that required four pins to be inserted into the area of the knuckle at his right index finger, is healing faster than expected. He has already started a throwing program but is running out of time before the season ends in two weeks.

Lillibridge, who suffered a fracture in his right hand earlier in the homestand, was still with the team despite getting the clearance from manager Ozzie Guillen to return to his home in Seattle.

Lillibridge said he wanted to stay with the club as much as possible. He will go to Seattle when the White Sox go on their upcoming road trip, but will return again for the last six home games of the season.

Wearing a hard cast, Lillibridge said he will have his injury examined during the last week of the season in the hopes he can switch to a soft cast. He already has plans to start a hitting program in November and be at full strength for the start of spring training.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox have placed catcher Ramon Castro on the 15-day disabled list because of a broken right hand and index finger and recalled Tyler Flowers from Triple-A Charlotte to take his place.

The White Sox announced the moves before Sunday's game against Minnesota.

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Chicago White Sox catcher Ramon Castro suffered a broken right hand when he was hit by a pitch while catching in the top of the eighth inning Saturday.

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The White Sox began their offseason workouts Monday and will continue all week under the guidance of bench coach Joey Cora. The workout sessions, dubbed "Camp Cora," were attended today by Gordon Beckham, Ramon Castro, Brent Morel, Alexei Ramirez, Alex Rios and Dayan Viciedo.

Juan Pierre and A.J. Pierzynski are also working out. Cora is being assisted by hitting coach Greg Walker.

The workouts are taking place at Florida International University.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox have picked up the 2011 club options on catcher Ramon Castro and left-handed pitcher Matt Thornton.


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We have now reached the end of our look back and look ahead to the White Sox roster. All that remains after today is a breakdown of the coaching staff and the front office.

BENCH

Look back at 2010: It was a mixed bag for White Sox reserves as Omar Vizquel delivered much more than what was expected and Mark Kotsay, no matter how hard he hit the ball, couldn’t give the team the production it needed. Brent Lillibridge was productive as a utility man earlier in the year but tailed off considerably toward the end of the season when at-bats were harder to come by. Ramon Castro proved to be a capable backup at catcher with eight home runs, which was one less than starter A.J. Pierzynski in 359 fewer at-bats. Castro also had 21 RBI in 115 at-bats, compared to Pierzynski’s 47 in 474 at-bats. Andruw Jones batted just .230 in a backup outfield role (in 278 at-bats), but he did hit 19 home runs with 48 RBI and scored 41 runs. Vizquel clearly made the biggest impact of this group and if any one person could be considered the focal point of the White Sox’s march back into contention in 2010 it would be him. Taking over for Mark Teahen at third base, Vizquel led the charge to an improved defensive effort from the entire team and it sparked the pitchers to improved results. At 43 Vizquel even delivered with his bat, posting a .276 batting average and a .341 on-base percentage over 108 games, a number that was considered unthinkable when the season began.

Look ahead to 2011: Vizquel is a free agent and his chances of returning next season aren’t so certain. He made $1.375 million in 2010 and could end up getting a raise off that price after what he did this past season, even at his advanced age. Not only that, but he could be looking for a two-year deal that would likely take him to the end of his career. Vizquel’s money will essentially be going to Teahen, who could end up being a super utility man (infield and outfield) if he doesn’t handily win the starting third base job during spring training. The problem is that he doesn’t play middle infield like Vizquel does. Teahen will be making $4.75 million in 2011. Lillibridge remains under team control, so he is cost effective and the White Sox won’t judge his entire season on his final week when he struck out nearly every time he came to the plate. Castro has set foot in the major leagues every year since 1999, but has received more than 200 at-bats just once, in 2005 when he got 209 with the Mets, so becoming a starter (if Pierzynski doesn’t return) seems to be a stretch at age 35. Jones isn’t expected to return and retirement rumors surround Kotsay.

Key stat: Vizquel’s unexpected busy schedule in 2010 did help im to reach a significant milestone. The Venezuelan-born player appeared in his 2,832nd career game on Sept. 6 at Detroit, giving him the most major league games played by a foreign-born player.

Quote: “Some people say that defense wins ballgames and I think we have been playing some pretty good defense. The pitchers are doing a pretty good job of keeping the ball down. I think that is the most important thing. When they make the right pitch, we can do our job. Things are happening, we’re turning double plays, we’re making the routine play and I think that is really important.” – Vizquel on July 20, when the White Sox had a 3 1/2-game lead in the division, their largest of the season.

After looking back and ahead at the starting pitchers (Monday) and the bullpen (Tuesday), it’s now time to turn to the position players in our daily look at the White Sox position by position. We start with the White Sox’s catchers.

CATCHER
Look back at 2010: Looking at A.J. Pierzynski’s final numbers (.270 average, nine home runs, 56 RBIs, 43 runs scored) it was no more and no less than what might have been expected at the start of the season. It was Pierzynski’s lowest homer total since 2002 with the Minnesota Twins. But when the heat was on at the end of the year, the veteran delivered by batting .364 over his last 36 games. As always, Pierzynski’s ability to handle the pitching staff was solid. Ramon Castro continued to prove himself as a capable backup, although he wasn’t behind the plate for any perfect games this year. Castro drilled one less home run than Pierzynski in 359 fewer at-bats. Donny Lucy’s season was cut short in Triple-A Charlotte with a dislocated knee cap.

Look ahead to 2011: Pierzynski’s best chance to return to the White Sox might be a one-year deal for a discount on the $6.25 million he made in 2010. With Flowers and Lucy developing, the White Sox might try to avoid going multiple years with a veteran catcher. If Pierzynski does hit the open market, it will be interesting to see if his antagonistic style of play ruffled enough feathers around the league to affect his ability to get a contract for what he’s truly worth. If Pierzynski goes, a one-year deal with a veteran such as Bengie Molina might be the way to go. After batting .220 in 100 games at Triple-A Charlotte, Flowers still has more to prove to live up to his billing as Baseball America’s second-best White Sox prospect heading into the season.

Key stat: Pierzynski led the American League with 1,092 2/3 innings caught at age 33, and he and Jason Kendall are the only catchers with at least 1,000 innings caught in each of the last nine seasons.

Quote: “Obviously, it's a disappointing season. From where we were, we thought we'd be kind of playing out the string here, but I've had a great run here of six years. It's been fun, it's been awesome, from the team to the fans to the city, everything. If it's the end, it was a great time, and I'll look back on it fondly.” -- Pierzynski

Thursday: First base.

BOSTON -- Manager Ozzie Guillen had a number of changes for Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox.

Mark Teahen (third base), Carlos Quentin (right field) and Ramon Castro (catcher) all will play after sitting out Game 1.

Alexei Ramirez will move from the No. 8 spot in Game 1 to the No. 2 hole in the nightcap. Teahen will bat sixth behind Manny Ramirez, a spot occupied by A.J. Pierzynski in the opener.

Quentin will bat seventh, just the ninth time he has been in that lineup spot all season.

Ramon Castro will bat eighth.

The complete White Sox lineup for Game 2 against the Red Sox’s John Lackey:

1. Juan Pierre LF
2. Alexei Ramirez SS
3. Alex Rios CF
4. Paul Konerko 1B
5. Manny Ramirez DH
6. Mark Teahen 3B
7. Carlos Quentin RF
8. Ramon Castro C
9. Gordon Beckham 2B

(Gavin Floyd is the White Sox’s Game 2 starter)

CHICAGO – All this warm Midwest weather is perfect for those Ramon Castro lovers out there.

Castro will apparently get more playing time behind the plate over the final two months. And it isn’t completely because of his .344 batting average with six home runs and 13 RBIs in his last 20 games.

“Obviously the next couple weeks I think I’m going to use Castro more, just because of the heat, day game after night game,” Guillen said. “We will put Castro in the lineup.”

A.J. Pierzynski, who was batting .169 [12-for-71] in the second half before play Thursday, hasn’t fallen totally out of favor.

“In the past, A.J. takes care of himself pretty good, he’s durable, and if we’ve been lucky over the years,” Guillen said. “He can catch every day, and he doesn’t give me any problems. He never asked for a day off.”

Ramon Castro recorded the second two-homer game of his career and just the eighth three-hit game of his career, helping the White Sox beat the Mariners on Thursday. Castro homered once against a fastball and once against a changeup Thursday, his first hit against a changeup ALL SEASON! Since the start of 2007, Castro has handled fastballs well, but struggled with the change.

Inside Edge has scouted, by video, 52 of Castro's 60 career HR, and his first HR on Thursday was the ONLY one of those 52 to come against a changeup. Inside Edge has scouted almost half of his career AB (996 of 2117) and in those, Castro is hitting .172 and slugging .230 against changeups, while hitting .258 and slugging .483 against fastballs.

CHICAGO -- Now that the White Sox have been atop the American League Central for a while, they might want to try taking aim at a leader of a different kind.

As the hottest home team in baseball, the White Sox might be able to do some serious damage in the playoffs if they can somehow land the top record in the American League and have home-field advantage leading into the World Series.

Paul Konerko, who has hit home runs in four consecutive games -- all at home -- doesn’t want to touch that one with a 10-foot Louisville Slugger, especially since the calendar still reads July. But there is no denying what the White Sox have done at home by winning 11 consecutive and 18 of their last 19, the latest a 9-5 triumph over the Mariners on Thursday to complete a four-game sweep.

It doesn’t help, though, that both of the other division leaders -- the Yankees and the Rangers -- as well as two teams in the wild-card hunt -- the Rays and Red Sox -- all have better records than the White Sox. The Yankees, with the AL’s best record, are eight games in front of the White Sox.

“I don’t think any team right now, with the exception of the Yankees, is thinking about home-field advantage,” said Konerko, who hit a home run in all seven home games against the Mariners. “We have a ton of games here and we are by no means out of the woods in our own division so to start thinking about who is going to play where in the playoffs, and pitching rotations and all that is a little bit of the cart before the horse.”

So when is it time to think about things like that? Konerko didn’t want to talk about that either. There is no doubt, though, that other teams in the league are starting to take notice of the White Sox and their winning ways, especially in Chicago, since the start of June.

The road is where the White Sox do things like hit one home run in a four-game stretch last week at Seattle and Oakland. Home is where they do things like hit 11 home runs in a four-game series against the Mariners, two of which Thursday came from backup catcher Ramon Castro.

The White Sox swept their third consecutive home series, posted their first four-game home sweep of the Mariners since 1983 and saw Freddy Garcia improve to 5-1 with a 3.91 ERA in his last eight starts at U.S. Cellular Field.

Starting tonight with the Oakland A’s, though, the home schedule only gets harder. The A’s enter having won five of their last seven games and 10 of their last 13. On the following homestand, it’s a pair of series against the Twins and Tigers. The Yankees come to town at the end of August for three games.

If the White Sox can take care of those three against New York, then it’s a matter of picking up five more games against the World Series champs over the final two months. Plus leapfrogging everybody else and holding off the pesky Twins, who are now 1 ½ games back in the division.

Thursday’s most recent power display seems to suggest the White Sox don’t need to add a piece on offense before Saturday’s non-waiver trade deadline. But they aren’t going to be able to face the Mariners anymore either.

“We can make a lot of things happen,” manager Ozzie Guillen said of the offense. “I remember a lot of people worry about the home runs. We got people in the lineup who can hit home runs without hitting 70. We’ve experienced [high home-run totals] for a few years. [But] we strike out a lot, we got guys on base, we can’t get them in.

“Now, now we play a different ballgame. I think the guys are running the bases well. We take advantage with stolen bases here and there and we’ve been winning because we push the guys to run the bases and be aggressive there.”

But they have also been winning with the pitching. White Sox starters are 26-9 with a 2.73 ERA and 36 quality starts in their last 45 games. It hardly mattered that reliever J.J. Putz was scored upon for the first time in 27 appearances (27 innings). The White Sox won at home again and everything felt just fine.

“I think we come in believing we can win that game that night no matter who we’re playing, who we’re facing,” Konerko said. “We just got in a good groove a while back of just coming in and playing nine innings as hard as we can. Regardless of the result we come back and fight the next day. I thought we did that earlier as well, but we were probably carrying some baggage into each game because we were losing so much.”

BY THE NUMBERS

3: Left-handed starters the White Sox will face this weekend against the A’s in Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden and Gio Gonzalez. The White Sox are 13-11 when facing a left-handed starter this season, compared to 44-33 when facing a right-handed starter. Castro, who hit two home runs, could play in at least two of the games for the left-handed hitting A.J. Pierzynski.

QUOTE

“I think when you see me hit balls down the right-field line and then hit balls down the left-field line in the same game I think that's good. I think that means my swing is taking whatever pitch is there out. I'm not even trying to do that. That's the swing playing what I have, and when I'm doing that I'm in a good place. It's good to see, it's good to feel and it's good to win.” -- Gordon Beckham, who had two hits, one to right field and one to left and is now batting .417 (25-for-60) over his last 18 games with nine doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs.

LOOK AHEAD

Right-hander Daniel Hudson (1-1, 6.32 ERA) will get his fourth start of the season when he faces the Oakland A’s in the opener of a three-game series Friday. While facing the A’s in his last outing Sunday at Oakland, Hudson gave up five runs on six hits in five innings. He walked four batters for the second consecutive outing. In his only home start this season on July 11, he gave up five runs on six hits in four innings and got a no-decision despite being given a big early lead.

Hudson will be opposed by Oakland left-hander Brett Anderson (2-1, 2.35), who is coming off the disabled list for the second time, both because of a sore left elbow. In 23 starts since June 29, 2009, Anderson is 10-5 with a 2.82 ERA.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Chicago White Sox catcher Ramon Castro left the team's split-squad game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday in the top of the second inning with an apparent leg injury.

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