Aaron

Rowand

Manager Jerry Manuel said that Rowand is in no danger of losing his job.

Of course, he has time to go back and forth on the issue on a couple of more occasions before the season starts. At least Guillen will do it for the right reason if he makes the switch. Rowand is the better center fielder, but probably is less likely to get hurt if he plays left. ''When you play center and you play like Aaron, you have a good chance of getting hurt,’' Guillen said. ''Every time you dive for the ball or go to the wall, I don’t want him missing any playing time.’'

Rowand was hitting .133 when he was sent down, and is hitting .227 with Charlotte. Working in his favor is the fact that Willie Harris has been awful since his promotion, and Armando Rios is not a long-term solution. Joe Borchard, however, is.

Rowand is still on track to make his debut in center field March 14.

Rowand will play center field for the first time next Friday.

Rowand hurt both wrists during a fall while running the bases on Sunday.

We don’t see him hitting 30 homers, but if he wants to go for that many stolen bases, it will help his fantasy value. He finished with 17 steals last year.

Rowand was exceptional last year, but the White Sox are going to want to see him do it again before giving him a big contract. A one-year deal probably would be for the best.

Rowand had been limited to work as a designated hitter because of a November dirt bike accident in which he broke his left shoulder blade and two ribs.

He has hit .455 (25-for-55) since May 23rd in a part-time capacity. Perhaps manager Ozzie Guillen should consider playing Rowand a little more frequently than three times a week.