Buyers or sellers?  Boy, am I sick to death of hearing about this topic.

It seems every newspaper story, every blog, every doofus caller to the post game show has some considered opinion on this topic as far as the White Sox are concerned?  Should the Sox continue to play for a 2009 division title or should they fold the tent, sell off the valuable parts, get back prospects and reload for 2010 and beyond?

What bothers me most about this whole topic is that it is loser talk.  It's not even halfway through a 162 marathon and people already want to pull out of the race.  Is this team really that bad?  Frustrating, yes.  Bad, not so much.  People seem to forget Carlos Quentin has been out for six weeks.  Paul Konerko, Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye have played banged up.  John Danks and Gavin Floyd got off to slow starts and Jose Contreras never got off the blocks. 

But look where the Sox are headed.  After a slow start, Alexi Ramirez is not only hitting the ball, he's playing a quality shortstop.  After two months of watching Josh Fields wave and miss, he was replaced by young Gordon Beckham who is just beginning to show people how good he is going to be.  Chris Getz has shown a propensity for clutch hitting during this, his first full season at the major league level.  And Scott Podsednik, who was cut by the Rockies, is having an all-star year having solved the nagging lead off man problem.

So, you really want to break these guys up?

What do you expect to get for Dye or Thome, both of whom will probably done with the Sox after this season?  What kind of prospects will you get?  One that turns out to be John Danks or Gavin Floyd or one that turns out to be Danny Richar?  Who could possibly replace Bobby Jenks as your closer?  Matt Thornton?  Aaron Poreda? 

Now, let the reality lesson begin.  If the Sox sell off their aging stars, they will send a clear message to fans that the Sox are packing it in.  No amount of Brooks Boyer spinning will change that. At that point, fans are not going to pay those wonderful ticket prices to watch the kids play, so they stay away. Attendance suffers, revenue drops and along with all of the marketing money that dried up during the recession, the Sox suddenly find themselves in a position where cash is tight.  No more free agents, no more long term deals and most important of all, welcome back to 1986. 

Some of you younger folks don't remember how putrid the White Sox were from 1986-1990.  They were Washington Nationals bad.  Tampa Bay before Joe Maddon bad.  They were bad because The Chairman threatened to leave town and the Sox fans stayed away in droves because they were angry and betrayed.  This led to the White Sox being a low budget team featuring such immortals as Dan "The Delivery Man" Pasqua, Sap Randall, Shawn Hillegus, some fourth outfielder named Williams, Darryl Boston, Fred Manrique, Russ Morman and my all time favorite target the late, great Ivan "Fat Ass" Calderon.

Lest you want to go back to another dark ages, the Sox need to be buyers.  Or, hold the line.

A couple of other thoughts.  The 1997 trade with the Giants (aka the famous "White Flag") trade brought the Sox six prospects.  Only three made it to the big leagues with the White Sox,  one got injured in the minors and one never saw the light of day in the bigs.  Of the three, two had decent careers and one went down in flames.  So, to review, three players who may have helped the Sox compete for a division title were sent away for five players, two of which had decent careers.  Sounds like Vegas, doesn't it?

Dumping salaries is for losers.  Winning your division for two straight years is for winners.  Kenny knows this.  Ozzie knows this.  Deep down somewhere even The Chairman knows this.   The question is will it make any difference?

As for me, I'm nowhere near ready to give up yet.  Not in this division.

Lightning Round

• In keeping with our theme, The Cheat has done a nice job of breaking down the current market for players on the Sox roster. (South Side Sox)
• On a personal note, thanks to Rickhouse for the love. (Tremendous Outside Potential)