We all know by now that 2009 is a disaster, and that’s all well and good, except everything that’s wrong with the Sox right now is everything that informed last spring’s wildly psychotic expectations. Carlos Quentin, for example, would not get hurt. Jim Thome would not continue his decline into old age and diminished skills. Last season was just a down year for Jermaine Dye in the outfield. And on and on it went.

But with this season almost in the books and two of the biggest question marks (Thome and Jose Contreras) out of town, who will carry us just short of what little the team needs from then next year?

Alex Rios. Not that Rios will be terrible, but expect a smattering of weird local projections insisting he’ll put up another 30-homer, 100-RBI season even though he’s never put up a 30-homer, 100-RBI season. People seem to forget this about Rios, that while he’s pretty good he’s not quite franchise good. And yet they will. And so will he.

Gordon Beckham. There is no such thing as “a book,” and the league would never assemble such a thing on young Bacon Spice, even if one did exist. Do you want to know the real reason he’s closing the season on a 17-for-76 slump? Because he’s awesome, that’s why.

Alexei Ramirez. It’s kind of funny how Ramirez’ sloppy defense was entirely overlooked heading into the season as the Sox moved him over to short, and it will be even funnier after his disastrous time in center next year spelling the DFA’d Alex Rios.

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Carlos Quentin, as the legend goes, is a thinker. Not just a thinking man’s ballplayer - he went to Stanford, so he’s probably smarter than you - but a real-life thinker, a sort of pine tar philosopher constantly examining and reexamining his swing not just as a means of hitting a baseball but as an implement to a larger goal of helping his team win.

The legend also goes that, because he is so driven and singularly focused, Quentin can give the wrong impression to observers and outsiders alike. Some may see a man who doesn’t have time to care, while those close to the misunderstood genius insist Quentin actually care more than we will ever understand. The bat-chewing, the wrist-smashing, the playing hurt: Carlos Quentin is not weird. Carlos Quentin is Advanced.

Did you read that in today’s Sun-Times? Maybe you did. Did you also read that on the team’s official site five months ago? That’s also possible.

From WhiteSox.com, April 16, 2009:

It’s not so much about the results for Quentin, as much as it is about finding the right feel at the plate. The study continues for the cerebral hitter, trying to perfect a discipline that’s almost impossible to perfect.

From the Sun-Times, September 11, 2009:

Back in 2005 and ’06, Podsednik was Quentin. Tough to interview. Always working. Chasing a perfection that just doesn’t exist in the game of baseball.

Perhaps it is foolish for us to expect to learn more about this mysterious man patrolling left field, his cosmic genius defying the prose of even the most fervent and devoted of scribes. We live in a world of endless information, genius batters, cool kids and team-building general managers, and perhaps this is a time for us to accept our own limitations and realize there are but some things, alas, that we mortals are simply not meant to know.

Carlos Quentin has been activated by the White Sox, and they’ve optioned Brian Anderson down to Triple-A Charlotte.

If Quentin stays healthy and hits like he did last year, this is obviously a huge boost to the lineup. I don’t need to tell you this. If he struggles like he did when he was healthy this season (save for his early home runs) and Paul Konerko regresses, well, that’s about worst-case scenario.

Looks like the Sox wanted DeWayne Wise in the backup outfielder’s role instead of Anderson. I don’t agree with it, but it’s clear they’ve preferred Wise all year.

Freddy Garcia on the mend, set to complete Sox’ 2005 reenactment.

Ozzie seems pleased with Garcia’s bullpen session yesterday. And with Bartolo Colon back in business now too, Bruce Levine is saying these two, along with Clayton Richard will get a “brief opportunity” at the No. 5 spot in the rotation. At least the Sox have options now for mediocrity, no?

Of course, there’s always the thought the Sox get a top-flight starter before the deadline, and all these guys are shoved out of the rotation. Time will tell on that one.

People often rip on the White Sox for having players of a certain age or a certain disposition towards getting days off over injury and health problems, and often with good reason. The former is really of no one’s concern, as many a player has battled the ravages of time to excel even in their later years, but what about the latter? At what point does a player turn from injured to perpetual injury risk? Let’s take the example of Carlos Quentin:

July 20, 2006: Major League debut
March 2007: Left labrum and rotator cuff; misses 13 regular-season games
August 2007: Right hamstring; 15-day DL
September 2007: Shut down for season; misses 27 games
October 2007: Surgery to repair labrum and rotator
June 2008: Thumb injury, day-to-day; misses 1 game
August 2008: Forearm injury, day-to-day; misses 2 games
September 2008: Shatters wrist, shut down for season; misses 30 games
May 2009: Heel injury, recurring; severity unknown, misses six games to date

In three partials and one full season, that’s 94 games wiped off the map due to injury, all segmented into seasons of of 55, 33 and six days’ worth of time off. Cut that however you like, that’s a lot of time. By way of comparison, Jim Thome, that elder statement of the pulled this or that, has missed 37 since first coming to the South Side in 2006; Jermaine Dye, 32 in the same period; Paul Konerko, 31.

What’s interesting is that any of Thome, Konerko or Dye missing a day or two is taken as a consequence of old age, yet when he smashed himself up so good last fall, most people took that as proof of Quentin being “intense,” “driven,” “competitive” or, eventually, even “cerebral.” But what if it’s something less desirable and - gasp! - not actually a sign of superhuman awesomeness at all?

Already anointed as the future CEO of the South Side Power & Lumber Company, what if he’s not actually the right man for the job? Not that he’s incapable of great things on the diamond, but that his body is going to continually render him incapable of playing?

What if these aren’t freak injuries but just The Way He Is?

What if Carlos Quentin is really just a powerful guy who gets hurt a lot? It would be nice to think these things are inevitable, that they happen all the time. . . except they aren’t. And they don’t.

Except to Carlos Quentin.