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McKnight: Which path will Chiago White Sox take now?

Last Thursday, about two hours before Carlos Rodon threw his first 90-plus mile per hour slider past the bat of Brian Dozier, I watched Tyler Saladino sit on the dugout bench and address the end of his season with the gathered media.

"Sit," isn't a great verb for how Saladino was arranged himself. Perched, maybe. Propped could be another one.

Saladino had his season end 10 games shy of the finish line. A herniated disc in his back - something he'd fought a time or two earlier in the year - was the culprit. Saladino talked about the injury. About the epidural he got for the pain. About how he isn't worried about aggravating the injury because, pretty simply, he just can't move.

As painful as all that sounds, his face didn't twist into agony until he had to describe the feeling of not being able to be out there with his teammates one more time this season.

"It kind of stinks to …" Saladino trailed off but picked up again after a beat, "As long as I'm able to play, I mean, I could pinch run and I'd be stoked to be able to be out there with the guys. At this point, the back thing. I just can't control that."

He went on to credit those teammates he wants to rejoin so badly. "The whole kind of approach we've had all year of just, still grinding. Every game was its own. They're still doing it."

It's bit corny, I know. And it's not much solace to White Sox fans who were told about plans on competing for a division and snapping an eight-year playoff drought. Something I think I've learned, though, while covering my first full season of baseball has been that the stuff that feels corny from the outside can be as real as any game.

Around the organization, whether it be Saladino, pitching coach Don Cooper, or general manager Rick Hahn the White Sox will tell you they didn't execute this year. It wasn't a lack of effort, preparation or opportunity. They didn't execute.

Frankly, that's baseball-speak for "not good enough." That's what the 2016 season, with it's 23-10 start and 55-74 finish, really comes down to. The White Sox just didn't have enough.

That's not to say they don't have anything, however. Jose Quintana turned in the best season of his career. Chris Sale should finish in the top-five of AL Cy Young voting. Tim Anderson showed he belongs. Adam Eaton put himself in the conversation for "best right fielder in baseball."

Still, keeping all that talent may not be the best route to the next White Sox division winner. The free agent class is woefully, painfully bereft of talent. The White Sox 2016 draft may turn out to be fantastic, but it needs time.

The question facing Rick Renteria's team is massive. Decade-defining, even. Can this core of talent be surrounded and buoyed before it ages out of its prime or is the only way to build a winner by selling of the biggest names?

• Connor McKnight is the pregame and postgame host for Chicago White Sox games on WLS 890-AM and the White Sox Radio Network. Follow him on Twitter @C1McKnight.

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