Michell Barrett News Deck: Detention Lecture: Your 2011 Chicago White Sox

Detention Lecture: Your 2011 Chicago White Sox As the regular season winds down, 22 teams are facing an offseason filled with golf rounds and hot-stove strategery.

But we're not going to let them get off that easy. No sir. No way. In an attempt to bring some closure between franchise and follower, we're giving a blogger from each team the opportunity to detain their squads for the equivalent of a Saturday morning detention stay.

Up next in our series is the incomparable Jim Margalus of South Side Sox. He'd also like to purchase a 62-foot boat in south Florida someday. Who the @#$! wouldn't?

I get it, Chicago White Sox. You don't want to be here. You've shown it all year. I don't want to be here either, but we may as well get something out of it.

The word for today is?

(turns around chalkboard)

ACCOUNTABILITY.

Do you know what it means? Anybody? OK, I'll use it in the sentence:

"I don't get the sense that accountability is a high priority for the 2011 White Sox."

I see a half-smile out of Paul Konerko. He knows what I mean. Sometimes it seems like he's the only adult around.

Bad luck isn't why you're here. Sure, sometimes things don't go as planned. That happens. The problem here is what when bad luck struck, NOBODY REACTED.

You guys spent almost the entire year on the wrong side of .500, and yet nobody's comfort was threatened. Adam Dunn nearly qualified for the batting title eligibility with one of the worst batting seasons ever. Alex Rios, you were right there with him until the Sox were mathematically eliminated. Then you thought it was OK to start hitting.

I'll go down the list. Juan Pierre lost two steps and it showed in his defense and baserunning �? but when Kenny suggested replacing him, perish the thought! Gordon Beckham was even worse than the year before. Brent Morel, I get that you're a rookie, but I bet even you might see that a demotion to Charlotte could have helped everybody involved. If not you, then Omar Vizquel could have packed his ornate bags. Nobody doubts he's the best 44-year-old around, but he's a mentor at this point, not a player, and you guys needed to increase production wherever an upgrade presented itself.

Perhaps if the Sox had some semblance of authority from the management or front office, this could have been avoided. Instead, you guys waited months too long to promote Alejandro De Aza and Dayan Viciedo, well after they could have made a true impact.

Even sadder, you guys could only make room for De Aza with a trade-deadline salary dump. For Viciedo, it took a season-ending injury to Carlos Quentin.

You guys went the entire season without making a tough decision ? not even a token hitting-coach dismissal ? because nobody wanted to deal with whatever mild consequences they might bring. Well, you're dealing with some harsh realities now. Attendance is down, a bigger salary slash is on the way, and who knows who the new manager is going to be?

As far as the pitching goes, you did your jobs for the most part. But John Danks can't start another season 0-8, as unlucky as it might've been, and maybe Jake Peavy will finally learn how to control himself. Or maybe the new manager won't be afraid to make him skip a start. Is Gavin Floyd even listening to me? I can't tell anymore.

The pitching seemed to have some order to it. The rest of the franchise? I have my doubts. So we're going to sit down and figure out once who's running the show once and for all. Based on the copious amount of deferring and buck-passing, this is what the chain-of-command currently looks like: