Tribune on the Press Confrence

[southsider2k5]

When he wasn't disputing characterizations that his sub-.500 team is lifeless or downplaying the apparent way his manager had called out White Sox fans and hitters at the end of a 2-4 road trip, general manager Ken Williams left the perception Tuesday that the negative spotlight on two of his sons might prompt him to consider quitting.

 

Dedrick Quinn Williams, 21, and Kenny Royal Williams, 16, who were in Durham for sister Temeka's graduation from Duke University, were arrested at 3:02 a.m. Saturday in North Carolina on two counts each of breaking and entering a motor vehicle and larceny, and one count of possessing stolen goods.

 

"I guess the chink in my armor is my family," Williams said during a lengthy media interrogation in the home dugout at U.S. Cellular Field before a 1-0 victory over Baltimore.

 

"I really have to at this point in time weigh the positives of the job versus the negatives of it and whether or not I want to continue to subject them to it.

 

"I still have two younger ones—in addition to the 16-year-old, I have a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old at home—and I'd hate to think that my job and the scrutiny of it and the microscope that is obviously on them takes away from their innocence and their childhood. So there are some conversations that need to be held in the Williams household."

 

When asked if he was considering stepping down, Williams said: "I didn't say that. I didn't say that. My wife and I have to do some talking at home.

 

"My kids are embarrassed. We are suffering a little bit, to be honest with you.

 

"It's compounded by the fact that they wanted to come out and communicate themselves that they didn't do this. The advice from my lawyer is to say as little as possible. You don't want to put the [district attorney's] office in North Carolina on the defensive, so I'll leave it at that. It really makes you think about some things."

 

Williams declared himself prepared to handle the scrutiny that goes with his position but admitted being caught off-guard by the way he believes his profile bled over into the coverage of his sons' arrests.

 

Williams said Kenny Royal was suspended indefinitely from his Plainfield High School baseball team, an action that could carry into football season. Williams indicated he would move his son out of that school and might consider moving the family out of the state altogether.

 

Again, however, Williams wrestled aloud about issues involving shielding his family from the spillover of his public prominence.

 

Again, however, Williams said it was "definitely a little premature" to believe he would quit as GM at the end of the year and that he would do nothing drastic in the short term.

 

"No, no, no, no, no, no," he said. "No, we're not going down that road. We've got a job to do.

 

"I'm here to try to hand a World Series trophy to Jerry—both Jerrys [Reinsdorf, the chairman, and Manuel, the manager]. That's the focus."

 

Williams said he met Tuesday with Manuel and Frank Thomas about comments they made after Sunday's loss in Seattle.

 

When questioned Sunday about the reception the Sox could expect at home, Manuel had asked with a smile, "Have we ever had a good welcoming?" and said he expected "55,000" fans in the stadium that holds 47,098.

 

The manager also said it was time for his offensively struggling regulars to shoulder some responsibility and "look in the mirror."

 

Thomas was quoted as saying he didn't have to look in the mirror "because I know what I'm getting day in and day out [at the plate]—and it's garbage."

 

"A lot of what Jerry said with regards to the fans and the attendance, as well as the Frank issue, is a little bit overblown," Williams said.

 

Williams took issue with the way Manuel's and Thomas' comments came out.

 

"It came as though it was a confrontational kind of message, and it wasn't," Williams said. "It was a direct message.

 

"We don't need to be confrontational to anyone around here because the messages have been communicated and we're all on the same side and all have the same goals."

 

Williams, who said he has a date in mind—but declined to cite it—for when it will be time to make a major move, denied his 18-20 team was lifeless.

 

"In the dugout here, they're fighting, believe me," he said. "In the clubhouse, after games, they're fighting, believe me."

 

Then Manuel's job isn't in the kind of jeopardy everybody thinks he is?

 

"I never said he was," Williams said.