Carlos Quentin Wishes He'd Signed That Contract Extension

When Carlos Quentin joined the White Sox last season he was a revelation. Quentin came to Chicago in a minor move by Kenny Williams via a trade with the Diamondbacks, a move that I openly mocked on this site, and ended up taking the city by storm.

He wouldn't have even been playing if it hadn't been for an injury to Jerry Owens -- the best thing Jerry Owens ever did in a White Sox uniform -- that opened a spot in left field. Quentin then went on to have an MVP-type season before his season ended prematurely with a broken bone in his wrist.

The Sox tried to lock up Quentin with a contract extension this spring, but Carlos turned it down. Now Quentin is hurting again with a nasty case of plantar fasciitis, and it's possible that he might now play again this season.

So I bet he's kicking himself with his good foot that he didn't sign that extension.

"I mean, security and contracts, it's a real thing," Quentin said. "It's a real thing for all players and our everyday lives. You look back at it and think should you have done it then. It's a weird thing. It's hard to predict. All you can do is trust the people around you that make decisions, that analyze stuff.

"Ultimately, it's my decision at the end, but who's to say that if I would have signed the contract and this would have happened, and then I feel even worse that I signed a contract and can't show anything on the field for it.

There are two different ways to look at it. I'm choosing to look at it as just moving forward and having all of that work itself out in the future."

At this point I think it's rather obvious that Carlos will not be getting any similar offers from the Sox in the near future. The reason the Diamondbacks were willing to give up on their former first round pick in the first place was the injury problems he suffered while there. Now that he's been in Chicago it's been more of the same.

He'll have to prove he can stay healthy for an entire season before the Sox consider making another offer, and he won't have that chance until after next year.