White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was quick to clear his coaching staff of any blame for the club’s shortcomings this season.
But Guillen wasn’t so eager to declare whether his entire staff will return for 2008.
“We have a few guys not under contract [for 2008],” Guillen said Tuesday. “I’m not going to say they’re going to get fired, but I’d rather wait and not all of a sudden offer them a contract and change my mind later.
“I’d rather wait and make sure I do the right thing.”
The staff members in question are third base coach Razor Shines and bullpen catcher Mark Salas. In addition, bullpen coach Art Kusnyer has missed the last two trips because of two eye surgeries.
Kusnyer is signed through 2008, with hitting coach Greg Walker, pitching coach Don Cooper, bench coach Joey Cora and first base coach Harold Baines under contract through 2009.
“I’m not going to bring a coach because he’s my friend,” Guillen said. “I want to bring a coach who can help me to win. If Cave (Kusnyer) is healthy and can help me, I have no problem bringing him back. I think Razor is doing a good job at third base, but we’re going to talk to [general manager Ken Williams] about what we want done.”
Extra innings
Rookie left-hander John Danks threw an extended bullpen session before Monday’s game. Danks hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 11 as the Sox have elected to take a longer look at Gavin Floyd. Guillen said he would like to see Danks pitch one more time this season but doubted it would happen because Danks didn’t pitch well on 11 days’ rest in his last outing. Guillen was scheduled to meet with Cooper to make a final decision on Danks, who has thrown 139 innings in his first major league season. … Duane Shaffer, the Sox’s former senior director of amateur scouting, recently was hired by Seattle as a scout.
