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Rongey: White Sox' future looking bright

If you examine the 2014 White Sox season on the surface, it has not been a very good year.

Having already been officially eliminated from the playoff race, the Sox will finish the season under .500 and no better than fourth place in the AL Central. Not exactly the result we were all hoping for when the team was just 2½ games out of first place in early June.

However, there are positives to take away from an otherwise underwhelming year, and not just the fact that the Sox finish with, at minimum, a moderate improvement from a miserable 2013.

This year a handful of Sox players could end up with anywhere up to four postseason awards: Chris Sale for Cy Young, Alexei Ramirez for Gold Glove and Silver Slugger and Jose Abreu for Rookie of the Year.

The latter probably is a given. I just can't fathom that any other rookie is close to Abreu, especially with the extended injury to New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.

Ramirez is arguably the best candidate for both of his (he leads American League shortstops in home runs, slugging percentage and extra-base hits and has the league's best Out of Zone Rating, which means his range is superior.

Sale, despite an injury that cost him starts, still is having a dominant season.

Normally, you'd probably ask that those individual accolades be placed in File 13 because, after all, the only thing that really matters is a deep run in the playoffs.

In most years, I would agree with that. Unless you're the player or the organization, who cares about the MVP if that guy hasn't helped his team win the World Series, right?

On a team whose competitive window might be closing, I'd say that's right. But I don't believe the Sox are one of those teams. On the contrary, they appear to be a team that will enjoy an exciting run in the not-so-distance future, provided improvements are made.

What's different about these potential honors is that, in the most favorable scenarios, they are an indication of a strong core that set the White Sox up for success, as long as that core is properly supplemented during this off-season.

And it's not just those three who matter. Adam Eaton has emerged as a legitimate leadoff hitter, and Conor Gillaspie has proved to be a capable offensive player, especially against right-handed pitching.

A term like "promising talent" might make your skin crawl, but it's an excellent descriptor for Avi Garcia, and I think it's more meaningful in his case than it is for the typical unproven prospect.

You can call them what you want: part of a core, foundation or nucleus, but their presence isn't a guarantee of anything. Baseball is about the "horses," as they say, and you need a full stable of them before you have a chance of winning anything.

I expect the Sox will make improvements to a disappointing bullpen, even if they have to overpay to do it, and I think they'll acquire another starter in the off-season.

While such moves may not ensure a playoff spot in 2015, the Sox should continue to upgrade enough to at least make next year interesting. The idea is progress, and right now the Sox are off to a good start with more work to be done.

• Chris Rongey is the host of the White Sox pregame and postgame shows on WSCR 670-AM The Score. Follow him on Twitter@ChrisRongey and at chrisrongey.com.

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