New Trib Article

[DBAHO]

Finally sum more news,

White Sox general manager Ken Williams did something novel over the holidays: He went on vacation.

 

He said it was his first one in six years. But Williams was so restless on his Caribbean cruise, he checked the Internet every day to keep up on e-mail, baseball news and trade rumors.

 

"That was the most fun part of the trip," he said. "I also returned some calls at about $10 a minute."

 

But those calls are unlikely to lead to a deal, certainly not a major one. Rumors surfaced over the weekend that the Sox were close to sending Paul Konerko to the Dodgers, but both sides disputed that and doubt it will happen.

 

The major issue is money. The Dodgers won't take Konerko unless the Sox pick up a sizable amount of the $16.75 million he's due over the next two seasons. And the Dodgers have no desire to give up lefty Odalis Perez, 26, a clubhouse nuisance who nonetheless is young, left-handed and 27-22 over the last two seasons.

 

Sources say the Dodgers would part with right-hander Jeff Weaver. But Weaver is due $15.5 million over the next two years, and the Sox would insist that the Dodgers pick up enough salary to allow them to acquire a replacement for Konerko, namely Rafael Palmeiro.

 

Palmeiro, 39, hit just .260 for Texas last season but still cranked 38 homers and drove in 112 runs.

 

But at this point, Williams is content to hold his cards.

 

"I'll stand pat before we do something to weaken ourselves," he said.

 

Williams said he plans to talk with Konerko at spring training in case the 27-year-old first baseman is upset that his name surfaced in trade rumors all winter.

 

"I'd prefer that none of these things get out [in public]," Williams said. "But he's a pro and he understands the nature of the game. I apologize in advance to the players, but they know I will explore every avenue to make the team better."

 

Williams is confident that Konerko will rebound from a miserable 2003 season.

 

A year after making the All-Star team and driving in 104 runs, Konerko slumped to a .197 average in the season's first half.

 

Despite performing well in July (.342, seven homers) and August (.301), Konerko finished with career lows in all three major categories (.234, 18, 65).

 

Konerko is famously hard on himself, so Williams was pleased to hear that the Arizona native will get married this month.

 

"When you're in the middle of planning a wedding," he said, "there's not too much time to worry about what transpired [a year ago]. This is a guy who will hit. You look at his whole career since Little League, and that was the first time he struggled. He's going to have a good year."

 

Alomar update: Roberto Alomar is said to be close to signing a one-year deal with Arizona. The second baseman and the Sox parted ways last month after the Sox lowered their one-year offer to $1 million plus $1 million deferred without interest.

[JoshPR]

I hell wouldn't mind Palmeiro Here. If that Happens then I want Maggs Traded for more arms. Palmeiro even at his age can hit what Maggs Did and the Sox could let Jeremy Reed Play Right. or maybe even take a look at Raul Mondesi as a stop Gap for a year

[DBAHO]

There ain't much betta than Palmeiro on the 1B market at the moment. I'm suprised the Dodgers haven't gone more heavily afta him. Spiezio would hav been nice but he signed with the Mariners.

[YASNY]

Palmeiro fits our needs, if we trade PK. I just hope he can still turn on a fastball, without the help of a little blue pill.

[SoxFan562004]

I know this may be the slimest silver lining, and can easily be explained away as posturing for future deals, but at least KW is still saying things along the line of not making moves to make the team worse for purely financial reasons. If the plan truly is to hold tight this year and go in with a good deal of money into next off-season I can live with that, and they way contracts are coming down, actually look forward to it.

 

I think the Rafy move would be OK, especially since he's left handed. I would almost rather trade PK to the Dodgers, pay some of the salary and get Palmero. He can balance the line-up a little

 

Dodgers probably aren't going after him heavily because of the McGriff fiasco, the last thing they need is another old first basemen to come in and do nothing. Also, the Dodgers need more than one big bat, even if they get Konerko or Rafy I imagine they'll still be heavily in the bidding for Vlad or I-Rod, that may be why they want the Sox to pay some of Konerko's contract, so they have money left for one of those two. Trust me, as a Dodgers fan they need multiple hitters, Ted Williams in his prime couldn't salvage that offense, I know it's a pitchers park, but that hitting was a joke last year.

[JoshPR]

I know this may be the slimest silver lining, and can easily be explained away as posturing for future deals, but at least KW is still saying things along the line of not making  moves to make the team worse for purely financial reasons.  If the plan truly is to hold tight this year and go in with a good deal of money into next off-season I can live with that, and they way contracts are coming down, actually look forward to it. 

 

I think the Rafy move would be OK, especially since he's left handed.  I would almost rather trade PK to the Dodgers, pay some of the salary and get Palmero.  He can balance the line-up a little

 

Dodgers probably aren't going after him heavily because of the McGriff fiasco, the last thing they need is another old first basemen to come in and do nothing.  Also, the Dodgers need more than one big bat, even if they get Konerko or Rafy I imagine they'll still be heavily in the bidding for Vlad or I-Rod, that may be why they want the Sox to pay some of Konerko's contract, so they have money left for one of those two.  Trust me, as a Dodgers fan they need multiple hitters, Ted Williams in his prime couldn't salvage that offense, I know it's a pitchers park, but that hitting was a joke last year.

I don't belive that. That's BS. The point is Reinsdork will never spend the cash

[SoxFan562004]

My line of thought is that he would basically be spending the same amount of cash he did the last 2 seasons, but he would be spending it in the lower contract economy, and with more than half of the payroll freed up after this year

[YASNY]

My line of thought is that he would basically be spending the same amount of cash he did the last 2 seasons, but he would be spending it in the lower contract economy, and with more than half of the payroll freed up after this year

Vlad or I-Rod is "lower contract economy"??????

[SoxFan562004]

I'm sorry, I am a little sleepy when writing these tonight, what I meant was Vlad or I-Rod would be for the Dodgers to pursue, not the Sox. What I meant by lower contract economy is just a general observation of some of the signings this year. There will always be highly paid players, but with the players crying colusion it's fair to say they are not getting paid the contracts they once were.

[JoshPR]

I'm sorry, I am a little sleepy when writing these tonight, what I meant was Vlad or I-Rod would be for the Dodgers to pursue, not the Sox.  What I meant by lower contract economy is just a general observation of some of the signings this year.  There will always be highly paid players, but with the players crying colusion it's fair to say they are not getting paid the contracts they once were.

Have you seen next years Free Agent Market? A couplle of names..

 

Carlos Beltran

Mike Piazza

Pedro

Maggs

Nomah

Millwood

Freddy Garcia

Derrek Lee

Kerry Wood

 

And a bunch more

 

Next Years FA Will be one of the best in years

[elrockinMT]

I don't believe that Jerry Reinsdorf will spend big money ever on big ticket free agents. Forget the list that may be there for next season and it isn't healthy or wise for us to think that Reinsdorf has a big paying plan for the future. He doesn't and that's the bottom line. Plus you really don't know what that final list of FA's will look like at the end of '04. My bet is that the teams that have the more desirable ones will make every attempt to resign them. It is my opinion that we may still make some signings before Spring Training, but it will be on the cheap and limited to whatever and whoever is left come February 20th or so. I believe that the Kenny Williams strategic plan for the '04 season failed to develop because Reinsdorf locked the doors to the bank vault. Although I am happy Kenny didn't make trades just for the sake of making it look like the Sox were on the way up. I think he has been honest with us, but I wish we would hear from old Jerry once in awhile about where he wants this team to go and that he is willing to help bring a championship to COMISKEY Park.

[Wong & Owens]

I don't believe that Jerry Reinsdorf will spend big money ever on big ticket free agents.

Were Albert Belle, David Wells and Bartolo Colon playing pro bono over the last 6-7 years?

 

I'm not supporting JR's ass-backwards business philosophy concerning the Sox, but he HAS shown a willingness to spend big $$$ at times.

 

My theory? The Sox are letting the Yankees and Red Sox duke it out this season, and will be playing out this year with what they've got, looking ahead to 2005. After this season, they'll have a bunch of cash freed up, The Yankees will be another year older(I'm looking in your direction, Bernie Williams, Kevin Brown and Mariano Rivera), and so will Boston(Hello Curt Schilling, Pedro). Both teams will also have numerous free agent quandries to solve, and chances are that whichever team doesn't at least go to the WS in '04 gets torn apart in '05. If the Sox keep a nucleus together, and develop a couple young guys this year, they'll be in a great position to win in '05. Not a very popular plan, for sure, and nothing the Sox would ever own up to doing in public, but it kinda makes some sense, doesn't it?

[israel4ever]

I don't belive that. That's BS. The point is Reinsdork will never spend the cash

Right on, Josh!

[aboz56]

Were Albert Belle, David Wells and Bartolo Colon playing pro bono over the last 6-7 years?

 

I'm not supporting JR's ass-backwards business philosophy concerning the Sox, but he HAS shown a willingness to spend big $$$ at times. 

 

My theory?  The Sox are letting the Yankees and Red Sox duke it out this season, and will be playing out this year with what they've got, looking ahead to 2005.  After this season, they'll have a bunch of cash freed up, The Yankees will be another year older(I'm looking in your direction, Bernie Williams, Kevin Brown and Mariano Rivera), and so will Boston(Hello Curt Schilling, Pedro).  Both teams will also have numerous free agent quandries to solve, and chances are that whichever team doesn't at least go to the WS in '04 gets torn apart in '05.  If the Sox keep a nucleus together, and develop a couple young guys this year, they'll be in a great position to win in '05.  Not a very popular plan, for sure, and nothing the Sox would ever own up to doing in public, but it kinda makes some sense, doesn't it?

I agree with you totally.

 

I want to see the Sox win as bad as anyone, but realisitically, the AL is going to come down to the Red Sox and Yankees next season. I'd still like to see the Sox go after the division, but there's no reason to panic and make stupid moves for this season when the chance is very slim that the Sox would even have a chance to make the WS.

 

All I want to see next season is a team that is fun to watch, plays hard every game and is competitive. That, in my opinion, would be a huge difference from last season. While it's easy to sit here and rip the Sox for not making any huge moves, we've gotta go with what we've got at this point.

[israel4ever]

Were Albert Belle, David Wells and Bartolo Colon playing pro bono over the last 6-7 years?

 

I'm not supporting JR's ass-backwards business philosophy concerning the Sox, but he HAS shown a willingness to spend big $$$ at times. 

 

My theory?  The Sox are letting the Yankees and Red Sox duke it out this season, and will be playing out this year with what they've got, looking ahead to 2005.  After this season, they'll have a bunch of cash freed up, The Yankees will be another year older(I'm looking in your direction, Bernie Williams, Kevin Brown and Mariano Rivera), and so will Boston(Hello Curt Schilling, Pedro).  Both teams will also have numerous free agent quandries to solve, and chances are that whichever team doesn't at least go to the WS in '04 gets torn apart in '05.  If the Sox keep a nucleus together, and develop a couple young guys this year, they'll be in a great position to win in '05.  Not a very popular plan, for sure, and nothing the Sox would ever own up to doing in public, but it kinda makes some sense, doesn't it?

What choice do we (the Sox) have?

 

As long as JR is the owner, we have to lay low on the FAs, and hope to "catch lightning in a bottle"!

 

JR sucks!

[elrockinMT]

Were Albert Belle, David Wells and Bartolo Colon playing pro bono over the last 6-7 years?

 

I'm not supporting JR's ass-backwards business philosophy concerning the Sox, but he HAS shown a willingness to spend big $$$ at times. 

 

My theory?  The Sox are letting the Yankees and Red Sox duke it out this season, and will be playing out this year with what they've got, looking ahead to 2005.  After this season, they'll have a bunch of cash freed up, The Yankees will be another year older(I'm looking in your direction, Bernie Williams, Kevin Brown and Mariano Rivera), and so will Boston(Hello Curt Schilling, Pedro).  Both teams will also have numerous free agent quandries to solve, and chances are that whichever team doesn't at least go to the WS in '04 gets torn apart in '05.  If the Sox keep a nucleus together, and develop a couple young guys this year, they'll be in a great position to win in '05.  Not a very popular plan, for sure, and nothing the Sox would ever own up to doing in public, but it kinda makes some sense, doesn't it?

I believe that part of Bart's salary was paid partly by Montreal or through funds received from the Yankees. Bart was acquired in a trade not free agency. Albert Belle was a free agent some years ago so if you want to be technical about it then once upon a time Jerry did spend some money. David Wells was acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays not free agency.

 

I can understand your reasoning, but I am not very optimistic it will happen, but if it does I will extend my olive branch to you and simply revel in the fact I was wrong. I do think we can be competitive this year with the present team and really that's the main think to worry about in my opinion. You just want to go through the season knowing you are in the hunt. At some point this spending on older players must come back to roost for the Yankees, Red Sox, etc.

[YASNY]

I believe that part of Bart's salary was paid partly by Montreal or through funds received from the Yankees. Bart was acquired in a trade not free agency. Albert Belle was  a free agent some years ago so if you want to be technical about it then once upon a time Jerry did spend some money. David Wells was acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays not free agency.

 

I can understand your reasoning, but I am not very optimistic it will happen, but if it does I will extend my olive branch to you and simply revel in the fact I was wrong. I do think we can be competitive this year with the present team and really that's the main think to worry about in my opinion. You just want to go through the season knowing you are in the hunt. At some point this spending on older players must come back to roost for the Yankees, Red Sox, etc.

If I recall, any cash that changed hands in the Colon deal went to the Expos, not the Sox. Though, I could be mistaken on that. Regardless of whether Colon and Wells were acquired via trade or FA, JR still had to pay their slaary, and neither one was what you'd call low end on the salary scale.