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CHICAGO -- At least one Chicago White Sox decision for 2014 already has been made.

Manager Robin Ventura said the Opening Day starter next year will be Chris Sale. Outside of that, Ventura acknowledged that any and all changes could be made from a club that nearly lost 100 games for the first time in 43 years.

“There's a fair chance of anything,” Ventura said.

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CHICAGO -- At the end of a lost season for his team, Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura seems pleased to be moving on from the second worst record in franchise history.

“As you move toward the end of the season you start making adjustments looking ahead,” Ventura said. “That all starts tomorrow.”

After losing 99 games, finding a silver lining is not an easy task for Ventura.

“Any time you go through a season like this it is not easy to keep pushing forward,” he said. “This is not fun, but you need the commitment of moving forward in order to get better. I am not sure I can point a finger as to what you really learn (from losing), you know for sure you don’t like going through anything like this.”

Ventura will return to his California home and wait to see what kind of moves the front office makes in response to this disappointing season.

“We have to make adjustments,” he said. “That will all depend on what happens personnel-wise. We have added some young players here at the end that we did not have last spring training. We hopefully will get some players in here to turn this thing around. We need the others who are still here to get better.”

Ventura, who now enters his last year under his original three-year contract, had a simple final message for his players.

“At first you should go home and enjoy your family,” he said. “When you do start to work out again, remember how this tastes. It isn’t a lot of fun, so you need to understand you don’t want to go through this again.”

CHICAGO -- The White Sox snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the next-to-last game of the season.


How it happened: The White Sox flexed their muscles Saturday to get the jump on the Royals. Marcus Semien and Jordan Danks hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning and Adam Dunn hit a two-run shot in the third. The Royals rallied for three runs off White Sox rookie pitcher Erik Johnson, but the power returned in the seventh inning when Conor Gillaspie hit a two-run shot. Addison Reed recorded his 40th save, tying Bobby Jenks for fourth place on the White Sox's single-season list.

What it means: The victory guarantees the White Sox won’t lose 100 games this season. Manager Robin Ventura at least sounded indifferent about avoiding the century mark. “Nobody wants that, 100 losses,” he said. “It doesn’t feel good. But it’s not going to make me feel any better to have 99 instead of 100 going into next year.”

Outside the box: The sample size is extremely small, but Johnson continues to show reasons to be optimistic about him heading into next season. He held the Royals hitless Saturday until Mike Moustakas hit a fifth-inning home run. He was eventually knocked from the game an inning later. Saturday’s outing comes on the heels of his start last weekend at Detroit, when he gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings. One outing before that he pitched a scoreless six innings against the Twins.

Off beat: Avoiding a 100-loss season might not have made Ventura feel good, but it certainly seemed to affect his decision-making Saturday. Ventura went to six different relievers to back up Johnson, managing like his team was in contention instead of just playing out the string.

Up next: The White Sox will send left-hander Jose Quintana (9-6, 3.45 ERA) to the mound in the final game of the season. The Royals will counter with left-hander Bruce Chen (8-4, 3.31) in the 1:10 p.m. start from U.S. Cellular Field.

CHICAGO -- For the second consecutive day, Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura said that if any changes to his coaching staff are to occur after the season, it won’t be because he wants them.

Speculation continued Saturday that at least one White Sox coach will be let go at the end of the season. Adding substance to the speculation was general manager Rick Hahn’s state-of-the-White-Sox address Friday, when he said Ventura would return in 2014 despite the team’s struggles but that the coaching staff still needed to be evaluated.

“We’re talking about [the coaching staff]; it’s going on today,” Ventura said Saturday. “I’m happy with the effort that was put in there. So I’m hoping there’s nothing done. But again, there are people above me.”

Hahn was asked Friday if everybody on the coaching staff will return next year.

“We still have three games left in the year, so we'll address all of that after the season's over,” Hahn responded. “I don't think it's fair for anyone in uniform for me to single out individual coaches or individual players at this time, while we're still playing, and say, 'This guy fits going forward,' or 'That guy doesn't fit going forward’ or 'We're looking to trade this guy.' I would never do that. I don't think that's professional.”

Most of the speculation has hitting coach Jeff Manto being replaced after this season. The White Sox are last in the American League in runs scored, are tied for last in slugging percentage and are second-to-last in on-base percentage and extra-base hits in a power-friendly ballpark.

Bench coach Mark Parent, pitching coach Don Cooper and third-base coach Joe McEwing all are expected to return next season.

There is no clear-cut replacement in the White Sox organization if Manto is relieved of his hitting-coach duties. Tim Laker is the organization’s minor league hitting instructor, while Brandon Moore is the hitting coach at Triple-A Charlotte. Former White Sox hitting coach Gary Ward now handles the same duties at Double-A Birmingham.

Ventura said that he hopes the coaching staff knows its fate before everybody leaves following Sunday's season finale. The White Sox, though, could wait until Monday before announcing any changes.

CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox’s staff ace finished the season with a losing record, not that anybody will hold that against him.

Chris Sale showed across-the-board improvement in 2013, and even if his final start of the season Friday was far from his best effort, manager Robin Ventura wasn’t going to change his opinion about his best pitcher.

“His starts put him up there with the elite pitchers in the game and we realize what we have and how young he is,” Ventura said. “We’re fortunate to have him and you want to make sure he stays healthy and continues to get better.”

Sale won’t make too much out of his final outing, in which he gave up four runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings against the Kansas City Royals. Likewise, he doesn’t want to make too much of some impressive numbers this year that included personal bests in innings (214 1/3) and strikeouts (226), while walking just 46.

“Those are all things to build off of, I guess you can say, and to strive for in the future,” Sale said. “Not only to reach that, but to surpass those [numbers] as well. You can strike out as many people as you want, but you have to win some games. That’s something else I’m waiting for next year.”

Sale closed the season with an 11-14 record, but his 3.07 ERA was more indicative of what kind of a season it was. His internal numbers are impressive enough for him to even get some Cy Young recognition among American League voters, although he isn’t expected to win the award.

With questions at the start of the season as to whether or not Sale could back up his impressive debut as a starter in 2012, his year solidified him as the player around whom the White Sox are comfortable remodeling the roster.

“Last year velocity was way down toward the end of the year and this year he has learned how to go through a season,” Ventura said. “He was better at that. He’s going to get better as a pitcher and mature and do all those things. But once you go through a full season and mature, this year I think he learned that.”

Sale said that indeed, he was more successful at maintaining his strength over 30 starts. He made 29 starts (30 appearances) last season.

“Yeah, I mean I felt strong throughout the whole year,” he said. “I don’t know how many starts I had. I don’t know if I made as many or more than last year but I was happy to be able to be out there and not have to be quite as on a leash as I was last year. Just go out there and be another pitcher.”

If there is an area where improvement is needed, it could be handling his frustration. In the heart of the season when the offense was unable to support Sale with runs, the slightest mistake would make the lefty visibly frustrated. His outings tended to suffer as a result.

“We weren’t scoring runs for him and he felt like if he gave up one run I think sometimes, his mannerisms, he felt like he had already lost the game,” Ventura said. “At times I don’t blame him for that either because that’s what happened. You have to guard against overthrowing and feeling like you have to strike everybody out to win the game.”

Perhaps the real frustration stemmed from the fact that Sale knew the true goal was slipping away at a very early stage.

“You play this game for one reason, and that’s to win a championship,” he said. “No matter what you do individually, you still strive for that championship and not being able to get there is tough. But you always have next year.”

CHICAGO –- There was no sugar-coating things Friday as Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn addressed the disappointing 2013 season in advance of Sunday’s final game.

The White Sox headed into play Friday still needing one more victory to avoid their first 100-loss season since 1970, and Hahn took the blame for the mess the season has become.

“At the end of the day, I feel personally responsible,” Hahn said. “There's no two ways about it. I'm not in uniform. I'm not hitting the ball or throwing the ball, but I'm the one heavily involved in deciding who's out there and in what role. And this is my responsibility to maximize the number of victories this club can have, albeit over an extended period of time and not just in one season. But the way I see it, it's been a very disappointing season in which we've underachieved.”

It’s hardly that simple, of course. Changes will be made from a roster that underachieved in a number of areas, making this season’s woes more of a player production. But in his first season, Hahn’s roster, which had little to no margin for error, actually failed in more ways than anybody could have imagined.

The White Sox failed to score runs, they struggled in the on-base-percentage department, they were one of the worst teams in baseball defensively and they had issues running the bases. The White Sox were 10-15 after the opening month, and things would only get worse.

Asked if there is a problem area the White Sox will look to address above all others, Hahn avoided getting specific.

“Obviously, the run scoring going from fourth in the league to the bottom, and the on-base percentage plummeting, and the extra-base hitting also going to the bottom, is a real issue and a big one and one that we intend to address here in the coming weeks and months,” Hahn said.

“The defense, we obviously slipped considerably defensively. I did see the other day we've committed the most errors since 2000. ... But the offensive performance, the defensive consistency, as well as our ability to run the bases smarter are all real issues of concern, and the caliber of play that we've gotten in each of those areas this year is unacceptable and it's a priority for all of us to improve upon.”

Hahn did say that he expects manager Robin Ventura to return next season, and Ventura said himself that he is up for the challenge of trying to improve the team in the final year of his three-year contract. Beyond that, there seem to be no guarantees, although building the roster around staff ace Chris Sale seems obvious.

“"We have to get better, and we have to get better quickly,” Hahn said. “I feel like we're in a very good position from a pitching standpoint. Given the starting pitching that we already have under control, whatever turnaround or restoration or whatever you want to call it that needs to take place here, we hope to minimize the amount of time that takes.”

If there is one benefit to the disappointing season, it is that the front office has already gotten started on revamping the roster. Avisail Garcia was added in late June to help on the offensive side. Possible upgrades at catcher and/or third base could be coming as well.

When balancing fixed costs with revenue, Hahn said it is “conceivable” the White Sox could target an impact free agent with all of the salary savings the team afforded itself with trades in July and August. If Paul Konerko doesn’t return, or is re-signed for significantly less, there is even more money to work with.

“Is it possible that there will be enough ... to be a player in free agency? Absolutely,” Hahn said. “But we're going to shy away from any short-term fix. It's going to be getting this thing right so that on an annual basis, we're in a position to contend for the postseason. If a free agent this year fits -- a big name, high-priced free agent -- it's going to be with a vision for the next several years thereafter as well.”

This year, though, it was a lost baseball summer in Chicago, with extreme struggles on both sides of town.

“It's really unfortunate,” Hahn said. “I can't speak to anything going on on the other side of town. I simply focus on our own performance. Look, part of the reason I wanted this job was because summertime in Chicago and baseball in summertime in Chicago is important.

“Perhaps I have too lofty of a view of its importance in this town, but I look back at this past summer and see it a bit as a wasted summer, because there was an opportunity, in our opinion, to perform better than we have and we failed to meet that.”

CHICAGO -- Coming into 2013, White Sox manager Robin Ventura was riding the wave of an 85-win season in 2012 and accolades from industry experts on his success as a rookie manager.

The reactions to the Sox's last-place finish in the AL Central have been a different learning curve for Ventura. Pitching coach Don Cooper told reporters Wednesday that he was embarrassed by the team's performance in 2013.

"Sure there have been times I have felt that way," said Ventura as the team prepared to play its last series of the season. "Any time you have a year like this, that is part of it. Frustration, anger, all of those things."

Ventura has found enough passion in a lost season to know he wants to stay on the job despite all of the losing.

"That is just the frustration of right now. After that, it will be behind us," he said. "At that point you move forward and make adjustments and find a way to get better."

The franchise will have its hands full moving up in a division that has been dominated by the Detroit Tigers, who have won the past three division titles. There also are two up-and-coming teams in the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals. Both have young talent that is being complemented by an influx of free agents and veterans acquired in trades.

Sox general manager Rick Hahn and Ventura are on the same page moving forward and have spent a good deal of time making plans for the 2013 offseason and 2014.

"The object is for us to go and win games," Ventura said. "We don't think what we have done is OK. We are going to try and make some moves. You are planning to be better and that is our focus. We are not going to the playoffs, so you must figure out a way to construct a team and build on that beginning in spring training."

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CHICAGO -- Hector Santiago will be skipped his next time through the rotation and there is an outside chance he is done for the season.

The left-hander isn't injured, but isn't looking like himself either.

"Yeah, the last few starts he's had, he just looks tired," manager Robin Ventura said. "Pitching as many innings as he has this year, just give him a rest and see what he does next time out."

That next time out could be next season. The White Sox's daily game notes list starters through Monday's makeup game at home against the Toronto Blue Jays and Santiago isn't on the list. If he pitches again, it would have to be on one of the last six games of the season.

Santiago has made 22 starts this season with a career-high 142 2/3 innings. His previous career best was the 132 2/3 innings he pitched over three different levels in 2011. He hasn't lasted more than five innings in any of his last three starts, while throwing at least 94 pitches in each of those outings.

Santiago's 4-9 record this season hardly is anything to brag about, but he has a solid 3.53 ERA, while his 136 strikeouts nearly give him one an inning.

The White Sox will now revert to a five-man rotation after using six starters since the start of September. The remaining members of the rotation are Jose Quintana, John Danks, Andre Rienzo, Chris Sale and Erik Johnson.

CHICAGO -- After committing five errors in Erik Johnson’s first two starts, both losses, this time out the Chicago White Sox scored a season high in runs. Johnson tossed six shutout innings, striking out eight in the 12-1 blowout of the Minnesota Twins.

Chicago snapped a six-game losing streak by hitting four home runs in support of the young starter’s first major league victory.

“He pitched well “ said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. “You are seeing him pitch for the third time; when you don’t give up any runs, you are kind of making your way through the lineup.

“That is real improvement. That is good stuff here, getting pitches when he needs them.”

Johnson was named to Baseball America’s 2013 Minor League All-Star Team late last week. With a youth movement gearing up for next season, Chicago is looking at youngsters like Johnson as possible rotation pitchers in 2014.

Due to a high pitch count (112), Ventura removed Johnson after six innings.

“He was getting up there,” Ventura explained. “You have to start attacking the zone. With a lead like that you have to be aggressive and not pick around the zone.”
Chicago scored seven times in the first inning, giving the pitcher wiggle room when he went out to pitch the second inning.

“This is where I want to be,” Johnson said. “It is another start to build off of. Each time I go out there I try to learn something new and build off of your last start.”

The White Sox had struggled to score as of late. Over the previous seven games on the homestand, they had scored a total of 12 runs in losing six of seven.


Alexei Ramirez tied his career high, chipping in with four hits, including his seventh home run of the season. The Sox scored more than six runs for the first time since an Aug. 26 loss to the Houston Astros.

CHICAGO -- The joke is that the Chicago White Sox are so bad that they make everybody else look like a playoff contender.

The reality is that they actually have made a contender out of the Cleveland Indians.

With an 8-1 victory Saturday, the Indians improved to 81-68 on the season and a whopping 14-2 against the White Sox. That means when you take out Cleveland’s games against the White Sox, the Indians are a pedestrian 67-66 against the rest of the league.

“We’ve single-handedly put them in the playoff race, basically,” White Sox rookie catcher Josh Phegley said. “I don’t know, they’ve got our number and it’s either a close game or a big game. But we’ve got more shots at them and we are going to try to get them.”

The victory means the Indians continue to breathe down the necks of the American League wild-card leaders Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers. And the Indians are five games behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central standings with two weeks left in the season.

More bad news for the wild-card leaders is that the Indians still have three more games remaining against the White Sox, one on Sunday and then Sept. 24-25 in Cleveland.

Despite not yet playing the full season series, the White Sox’s 14 defeats are their most against the Indians since 1952, when they were 8-14.

And by losing 14 of their last 16 games overall, the White Sox are 58-90, the first time they have been 32 games under .500 since they finished the 1976 season with a 64-97 record.

On Saturday they tried stopping the Indians with rookie pitcher Andre Rienzo, who was little more than a speed bump with shaky control.

“He’s pitching at 1-0, 2-0, all the time, and so it seems like every hitter is in a good hitter’s count pretty much the whole night,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He’s walking leadoff guys, and you can’t do that without getting punished for it. And that’s what that team does. They can whittle you down and make you throw strikes and make you pay for it when you put guys on.”

After pitching in the World Baseball Classic this spring for his native Brazil and then throwing 113 innings at Triple-A Charlotte before his 50 with the White Sox, the 25-year-old pitching prospect appears to have little left in the tank.

“It’s the first time I play ball in September; I never play September before,” Rienzo said. “But I don’t feel tired. I feel good. I need to figure out little things to help me. If I can figure them out, I know I’ll make the ballclub next year. It’s simple.”

What isn’t so simple is getting the White Sox out of their funk. And having the Indians in town sure isn’t doing anything for their self-esteem.

“It becomes difficult,” Ventura said. “It’s about winning games and right now we’re not going to the playoffs. That’s not the fun part. However, there are worse jobs you could be doing right now. There’s a lot worse things that could be going on.”

“I think in everything you have to have the ability to overcome that kind of stuff and realize you’re lucky and fortunate to be doing what you’re doing and find a way to enjoy it,” he said. “I think everybody has that in their own personality.”

CHICAGO -- It wasn't the 14-3 score, or the loss Thursday to the Cleveland Indians that stung the Chicago White Sox most. The game magnified the total collapse of 2013.

Bad pitching was the least of the Sox's worries this season. Despite a poor performance from John Danks, a total breakdown of the defense and baserunning helped augment the debacle on Thursday. Manager Robin Ventura was so distressed with the outcome, he cut his postgame press conference down to 9.8 seconds.

"We are still looking at a lot of the people that were here last year," Ventura said Friday. "You know what they are capable of and you know they could be better at it."

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CHICAGO -- After a humiliating 14-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians, an embarrassed Robin Ventura could manage only a brief statement in his postgame news conference before walking out on reporters: "All the way around, it wasn’t good," he said. "It was not a good game to sit through, watch, anything." In 9.8 seconds, Ventura had wrapped up a brutal game that took 3 hours and 33 minutes to play before one of the smallest crowds (14,375) of the season.

The loss seemed to have all the elements of a lost, forgettable season. Chicago White Sox starter John Danks surrendered seven runs in four agonizing innings of work. The Sox veteran left-hander had command issues from the beginning of the game. Danks gave up two home runs in the first inning. The big blow was Ryan Raburn’s three-run homer.

"Nothing worked for me," Danks said. "I threw the ball where I wasn’t supposed to throw it and got my [rear end] kicked."

Danks, coming back from shoulder surgery that ended his 2012 season in June of that year, was mortified by his performance.

"It was embarrassing; this is supposed to be the major leagues, and I went out and pitched like a guy that did not belong tonight," he said. "I need to get it turned around and make the most out of my last few starts."

The White Sox pitchers threw a combined 217 pitches. Rookie Charlie Leesman faced seven hitters without registering an out in relief of Danks. All seven hitters scored. Danks, who started the season rehabbing in the minor leagues, might have hit the proverbial wall with 16 games left in the 2013 season.

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CHICAGO -- Managing a major league team through a lost season was not what Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura signed up for.

Ventura, 47, finished third in manager of the year voting last season, coming off an 85-win season in his first year as manager. Ventura and the Sox front office expected a contending team, despite making very few changes in personnel coming into the new season.

But this year, saddled with the third-worst record in the game, Ventura has had to make adjustments to his original plan.

"I don't know if I would call it a learning curve," he said. "It is different. Last year we were in a different situation; this year playing the extra guys that we brought up for different reasons. In this situation you let some pitchers work through some things instead of taking them out. You take a longer look at your younger guys."

Ventura does not appear to have lost any desire or focus, despite the team's horrendous record.

"You still go about the job the same way," said Ventura, whose contract runs through the 2014 season. "It may be slightly different because you might be starting a guy for a different reason than last year. As far as the preparation and how you go about it, you make sure the guys are getting all of their work in and doing what they are supposed to be doing."

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CHICAGO -- Maybe the White Sox’s veteran players should expect the unexpected in a season during which seemingly little has gone right.

Manager Robin Ventura has made it clear that evaluation of the team’s young players will be of major importance throughout the rest of the 2013 campaign. Ventura on Wednesday started five position players who have less than a year’s experience in the major leagues.

Conventional wisdom this time of the year suggests that if you are out of the race, you must continue to use your veteran players against the contenders. Ventura adhered to that theory -- in part -- by keeping Alexei Ramirez, Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko in the middle of the order, sandwiched by younger talent.

“We need to watch them play,” Ventura said before the team’s 145th game of the year. “You are going to [assess] them by how they play. Hitting is part of it and so is defense. We need to see how they play at certain positions, how they do at those positions and how they carry themselves. You are basically watching everything they do.”

For decades baseball men have said that the worst times of the year to evaluate young players are spring training and September. The major reason for the data being skewed is that teams rarely use scouting data on how to pitch a player who has just been moved up from the minor leagues. It takes scouts a couple of weeks to get a firm handle on a hitting or pitching prospect. Once the scouts have the angle on a player, the adjustment period begins. For non-contending ball clubs the scouting of each young player promoted from the minors may go into the next season before computerized printouts are used in game situations.

Ventura believes it is more important for him and his coaches to get a feel for the recently promoted youngsters despite the trappings of September baseball.

“I am not sure it is difficult to [properly appraise], but it is not the same as in the middle of the year,” he said. “Teams like us are playing different people, so with our roster expanded we are playing guys who normally would not be playing. This for us is still the best way to judge them, so you let them play so you can see how they do.”

CHICAGO -- Bad defense has been one of the major reasons for the Chicago White Sox's tough season in 2013.

Four errors helped bring the team down in a 9-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night. The four miscues gave the Sox a major league-high 108 for the season. The continuous bad fielding has been perplexing for manager Robin Ventura and his staff. Third baseman Conor Gillaspie became the first Sox player in seven years to make three errors in one game.

The team has given up 70 unearned runs, including five Tuesday. Gillaspie said that immediately forgetting about this game will be a difficult task.

"It will be a little tough for me," he said. "Knowing my personality, it is a little tough to deal with right now. In a day or two, I won't even remember it happened. I can honestly say that is the worst I ever felt. I can really say that there haven't been too many days when I am hoping the ball doesn't get hit [to me]. Tonight was one of those nights."

Ventura had the best defensive team in the American League in 2012. Last year's club made a league-low 88 errors. As this year has progressed, the defense has gotten worse. Chicago has made 17 miscues in the past 10 games. Ventura, a five-time Gold Glove winner, understood how Gillaspie felt.

"I know how much he cares," Ventura said. "I had nights that were just like it. It is a rough one to take on, but I know he will come back and his effort and competitiveness will be there. It is one thing if he didn't care, but I know he cares a lot. He is just going to have to get over it. [I know] it will not be easy, but he will come back around. Everybody has a night like that."

The previous White Sox player to make three errors in a game was Andy Gonzalez on Aug. 30, 2007, against Texas. The 16 errors the team has made in September are the most in baseball.