"Are the White Sox going back to the future in 2011?

Will they try one of the moves that worked out so well in 2005 — that is, the two-Cuban formation?

When the Sox were searching for a third baseman last season, they took a long look at Dayan Viciedo. He worked alongside fellow Cuban Alexei Ramirez in almost all of the 38 games he played in a season in which he spent extensive time in Chicago but did not lose his rookie status.

The results weren't as dramatic as in '05, when Cuban pitchers Jose Contreras and the great Orlando "El Duque'' Hernandez did a ton of the heavy lifting en route to the World Series parade. And while Brent Morel, a product of Cal Poly, seems more likely to claim the third base job that Mark Teahen fumbled away, budget considerations — along with the loud ring of balls off Viciedo's bat — could prompt general manager Ken Williams to pencil in the 21-year-old Viciedo in the first-base spot that Paul Konerko has filled since 1999.

This would be a huge risk, given Viciedo's absence of plate discipline. But the possibility intrigues Ramirez, who arrived in Chicago in 2008, when he was 26. Viciedo, signed as a teenager, is part of a recent trend in which Cuban players are defecting at an earlier age.

"I'm thrilled,'' Ramirez said recently, using White Sox media man Lou Hernandez to translate. "I'm thrilled to see (so many younger guys) playing, Cuban players. Baseball is the only true professional sports that is played in Cuba. It really makes me happy, really gives me joy, to see young players come and have success in the United States. That's our dream in Cuba — to come here and have success in the big leagues.''

Whereas the defection stories of men like Hernandez, Contreras and Ramirez have been well documented, the trend in recent years has found more top teenagers slip out the side door while playing with Cuban national junior teams at tournaments around the world."