GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -Carlos Quentin is open to suggestions on how to control his temper.
A self-inflicted injury, born of frustration, ended Quentin’s brilliant 2008 season with the Chicago White Sox prematurely. The outfielder, angry with himself for fouling off a hittable pitch from Cleveland’s Cliff Lee on Sept. 1, slammed his right hand into his bat and broke his wrist. He ended up missing the rest of the season.
Quentin, who hit .288 with 36 homers and 100 RBIs, finished fifth in the American League’s MVP voting. Had it not been for the injury, he might have won it. And he cost his team a valuable bat in the postseason against Tampa Bay and the Rays won the series 3-1.
ou move on.”
Quentin said he knows he needs to learn to express himself in a way that doesn’t cause an injury.
“I’m still brainstorming. I’ll take any ideas. My teammates are giving me ideas, too,” he said. “I’ll figure something out.”
Quentin said he reflected on what happened but tried not to beat himself up for too long. And he said his surgically repaired wrist feels great.
He acknowledged expectations will be higher than last year, after the White Sox acquired him merely by trading a minor-leaguer to the Arizona Diamondbacks. But, as far as he was concerned, those expectations always were set high.
Manager Ozzie Guillen admitted that Quentin’s big year surprised him.
“He really proved me wrong. I never thought he would be playing every day for our ballclub. Thank God he did,” Guillen said.
Guillen also sounds confident that Quentin won’t repeat his error in judgment.
“Some people make mistakes. I think it was really a stupid mistake. But hopefully, he learned from that mistake and won’t do it again,” he said. “But I’m not going to change any of my players. They’ve got their own styles. I have to respect that.”
The prognosticators picking the White Sox to finish near the bottom of the AL Central doesn’t bother Guillen.
o me. I love to prove people wrong. We have a good enough ballclub to compete. I think we have a good enough ballclub to win the division again. We’ll see what happens. If we stay healthy, I think we have a great chance.”
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