Chicago ? When the Chicago White Sox said their farewells at the end of September, they controlled pitchers who had combined for 91 victories in 2003. Look at them now.

Having failed to replace Bartolo Colon, Tom Gordon and Scott Sullivan with proven options, the Sox are down to 62 victories among the pitchers scheduled to begin spring training in a month.

Unless Ken Williams stops spinning his tires and finds a way to pull off a trade or significant signing — and Greg Maddux, Sidney Ponson and Kenny Rogers are about the only reliable winners still unsigned — the Sox are going to have to count on a comeback from Dan Wright while giving guys like Jon Rauch, Enemencio Pacheco and Francisco Campos a chance to win spots in the rotation.

It’s telling how badly the Sox’s talent drain has been — and how little they have done to address it compared to other teams.

With pitchers who won only 62 games in 2003 under their control, the Sox rank below all but four American League teams — Detroit (51), Texas (49), Cleveland (46) and Baltimore (30). Even Tampa Bay has built a staff with more victories (65).

Kansas City outscored both the Sox and Minnesota last season but fell from first place in the AL Central because of a thin pitching staff. The Royals now appear deeper than the White Sox and Twins.

The current Kansas City staff has pitchers coming off years in which they won 80 games; the Minnesota staff (minus Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, Eric Milton and Kenny Rogers) is at 68.

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The other side: Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley go into the Hall of Fame in large part because they conquered their personal demons, which were cocaine and alcohol, respectively. Molitor wasn’t amused to read Pete Rose’s insinuation that he would have been in the Hall long ago if Major League Baseball was as forgiving about betting as those other vices.

“I understand what he’s trying to say, if you want to call it a double standard,” Molitor told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“But the point is, the one rule that everyone is read specifically every spring training is the rule regarding gambling on baseball and how it specifically talks about lifetime bans. That’s very clear.”