FireKennyWilliams.com

[Texsox]

btw, just saying, firegregwalker.com IS available.

[southsideirish71]

btw, just saying, firegregwalker.com IS available.

 

 

The website is already being built.

[Pants Rowland]

I dunno, I think Red Sox fans have gone from being Cub fans to being Yankee fans.

 

Sox v. Cubs...

 

We b**** about our team and what it did, didn't do, what the other team across town did, why we hate their fans, why our job sucks, Van Halen breaking up, etc.

 

They lament their teams futility due to curses and karma. It has gotten a lot more anxious and tense since 2003 and 2005, though.

 

 

 

[Balta1701]

I dunno, I think Red Sox fans have gone from being Cub fans to being Yankee fans.

 

Couldn't resist.

[Linnwood]

You are all a bunch of ingrates. etc., etc., etc.

 

 

Hey, I didn't say say KW should be fired. I just thought it was interesting that MLB was preemptively buying this domain.

[chiguy79]

I dunno, I think Red Sox fans have gone from being Cub fans to being Yankee fans.

 

Agree 110% Red Sox fans are terrible now...rank as most annoying fans in the country. And most of my college friends are Red Sox fans but enough is a enough. Will be pleasing to see Damon/Varitek were juicing during their WS titles.

[chiguy79]

So what would perception of KW be if he trades Konerko to fill some holes and acquire ML-ready talent?

 

The key to the season again is Contreras in my mind he went from being an Ace to the losingest pitcher in baseball that takes us from a 90-win team to a 75-win team by itself. Counting on the old man isn't what i want to count on. Oh and Uribe becoming a contact hitter.

[DABearSoX]

I agree with your basic thought plan, but you're confused about one thing. White Sox fans ARE constant complainers. Fans of that other team don't complain much. They have that everything is fine wait til next year attitude. Either that or the we suck who cares attitude. Or of course the who are the Cubs playing today pass me another beer attitude. In short, we complain because we don't like to lose and last year and from the looks of things probably this year there has been a lot of losing.

Sure we won a championship just a couple of years ago. What's wrong with being greedy and wanting another one?

 

 

This is one of my favorite quotes, it was written the WS season I believe in the trib....I think it pretty much sums up the difference between cubs and sox fans:

 

"When you have disappointment, it's harder to deal with as a Sox fan. It hurts you harder. On the North Side with the Cubs, their fans don't care. Win or lose, the beers are always cold and the women are always there. Here, on the South Side, this is reality-land, not fantasy-land. We don't accept disappointment the same. We need to win."

[lostfan]

Agree 110% Red Sox fans are terrible now...rank as most annoying fans in the country.

They are also Patriots fans, and the same rule applies.

[daa84]

They are also Patriots fans, and the same rule applies.

i moved to boston back in august and the red sox are a pretty big deal out here...not sure if the red sox hysteria lived up to the hype, but i will admit they are a pretty big deal....that said i absolutely and utterly cannot believe how little of a deal the patriots are...they are having arguably the best season ever for a team and have won 3 of the past 5 super bowls...and i still feel like the 5-8 bears have captured the heart of chicago more than the patriots have the new england fans

[Jeremy]

So if you're the GM of a championship team, you should have your job for life? Sorry, I can't get on board with that one.

[iamshack]

So if you're the GM of a championship team, you should have your job for life? Sorry, I can't get on board with that one.

 

Where do you see that position advocated?

[GreatScott82]

Yeah, he should have seen that coming. He should have known that the team that was 58-30 heading into the 06' ASB would suddenly collapse....

In 2005 you have to give credit to KW and Ozzie. KW had the guts to trade Carlos Lee for a leadoff hitter who was coming off a bad plate average the year before.. but he realized he had 70 SBs and was worth taking a crack at. He also took a chance at "Mr. Cancer" AJ Pierzynski. And out of all the big name free agent pitchers out there, KW went with the crafty El-duque... To help solidify the team he went and brought in Iguchi from Japan. I think we all knew after the team was assembled that this team may be special... ESPECIALLY with Brandon McCarthy as our 6th starter.

 

In 2006 I STILL give credit to KW and give blame to Ozzie. KW made a HUGE risk, trading fan favorite Rowand for Thome. He also traded El-Duque and Chris Young (OUCH I KNOW!) for Vazquez. KW added to a team that just won the world series, and the way the season began, we all thought this team could actually win 2 in a row. But after that ASB the team just starting sucking and for that i blaim Ozzie. Even after the bullpen struggles KW went out and brought in MacDougal for some help but that wasn't enough because this team had no heart or fire.. that was suppose to come from Guillen... never happaned. Oh yea and we all blaimed the season on Brian Anderson.. .

 

In 2007 it was purely KWs fault. He went into last offseason basing his 2006 season winning 90 games. Well KW your team won 60% of the 90 games in the first half of the season. He didn't add anybody and was content in thinking the team would just simply rebound... He added "Power Arms" to the bullpen with limited to no experience at all. He re-signed Pods to play LF because of the way the "market was out of whack". He signed Erstad to be the everyday CF.. wow those 2 moves worked out well. Because of the market going up, KW's agression went waaaaaaaaay down. He wouldn't go after big name free agents anymore, he would simply just rely on trades. He traded away big game Freddy for Gio and Floyd. (This was the one good move he had last offseason as Freddy went down in the beginning of the 2007 season). But he shocked us all by trading McCarthy for Danks and Massett. Well this trade is pretty much McCarthy for Danks straight up because Massett will likely be non-tendered.. I was a BIG McCarthy fan and saw this deal as why?? Danks could be something special but so can McCarthy.... KW failed last offseason its that simple.

 

2008: KW did the expected and traded Jon Garland but we didn't expect to be for ageing shortstop Orlando Cabrera. This trade helps the infield and top of the order but the rotation takes a big hit... He signed Linebrink which was a decent signing, i just hope he doesn't get lit up in the AL. He also brought in Quentin. By the way things have gone, this just very well be all the moves he makes this offseason. And if that is the case, look for the Sox to finish 4th once again in a tough tough division... RIght now if the season started today, KW would recieve a D+. Not and F because he did make a strong push for Hunter, but was outbid by LAAngels last minute. He also put together a respectable package for Cabrera, but was simply outbid by Detroit. Those 2 moves weren't his fault. But not signing one of Fukudome or Rowand was his fault... Why not give Rowand a 5th year? Or why not outbid the Cubs? I know I know, the White Sox are a small market team and can't win bidding wars.... You have a couple of months KW to try to earn our support back... because the last 2 years have been a huge dissappointment.

[greg775]

I still don't want him fired. He did bring us the title.

I just would like to see him do better now, in the present.

I'd prefer kickkenwilliamsinthebutt.com

[southsideirish]

I agree with your basic thought plan, but you're confused about one thing. White Sox fans ARE constant complainers. Fans of that other team don't complain much. They have that everything is fine wait til next year attitude. Either that or the we suck who cares attitude. Or of course the who are the Cubs playing today pass me another beer attitude. In short, we complain because we don't like to lose and last year and from the looks of things probably this year there has been a lot of losing.

Sure we won a championship just a couple of years ago. What's wrong with being greedy and wanting another one?

 

There is nothing wrong with complaining and not accepting failure. It is another thing altogether to think that you (not you in particular) smarter than the general manager and assuming that there are other trades out there that can or should be made that he is not making. It is also quite different to criticize and start complaining about an unfinished product. There are other options out there for KW to get for CF. Lets see what he does about it. He has a while to get it done. I like his moves so far this off season. Orlando Cabrera is much needed. Scott Linebrink is much needed. Carlos Quentin was a hell of a pickup. He has addressed 3 big needs in LF, SS, and bullpen. He has pieces that don't fit with 2 SSs and 2 3Bs. He needs a CFer and leadoff hitter. Lets wait and see what he does to address these issues before we start complaining and criticizing about an incomplete product.

 

I don't like his talk. I could do without that. But lets just be a little smarter about all of this and not just jump on board with what the talk radio hosts are saying. Take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize that it is December 14 - very early in the offseason.

[Gene Honda Civic]

I wonder how much they spend in parked domains?

Enough

[southsideirish]

In 2005 you have to give credit to KW and Ozzie. KW had the guts to trade Carlos Lee for a leadoff hitter who was coming off a bad plate average the year before.. but he realized he had 70 SBs and was worth taking a crack at. He also took a chance at "Mr. Cancer" AJ Pierzynski. And out of all the big name free agent pitchers out there, KW went with the crafty El-duque... To help solidify the team he went and brought in Iguchi from Japan. I think we all knew after the team was assembled that this team may be special... ESPECIALLY with Brandon McCarthy as our 6th starter.

 

In 2006 I STILL give credit to KW and give blame to Ozzie. KW made a HUGE risk, trading fan favorite Rowand for Thome. He also traded El-Duque and Chris Young (OUCH I KNOW!) for Vazquez. KW added to a team that just won the world series, and the way the season began, we all thought this team could actually win 2 in a row. But after that ASB the team just starting sucking and for that i blaim Ozzie. Even after the bullpen struggles KW went out and brought in MacDougal for some help but that wasn't enough because this team had no heart or fire.. that was suppose to come from Guillen... never happaned. Oh yea and we all blaimed the season on Brian Anderson.. .

 

In 2007 it was purely KWs fault. He went into last offseason basing his 2006 season winning 90 games. Well KW your team won 60% of the 90 games in the first half of the season. He didn't add anybody and was content in thinking the team would just simply rebound... He added "Power Arms" to the bullpen with limited to no experience at all. He re-signed Pods to play LF because of the way the "market was out of whack". He signed Erstad to be the everyday CF.. wow those 2 moves worked out well. Because of the market going up, KW's agression went waaaaaaaaay down. He wouldn't go after big name free agents anymore, he would simply just rely on trades. He traded away big game Freddy for Gio and Floyd. (This was the one good move he had last offseason as Freddy went down in the beginning of the 2007 season). But he shocked us all by trading McCarthy for Danks and Massett. Well this trade is pretty much McCarthy for Danks straight up because Massett will likely be non-tendered.. I was a BIG McCarthy fan and saw this deal as why?? Danks could be something special but so can McCarthy.... KW failed last offseason its that simple.

 

2008: KW did the expected and traded Jon Garland but we didn't expect to be for ageing shortstop Orlando Cabrera. This trade helps the infield and top of the order but the rotation takes a big hit... He signed Linebrink which was a decent signing, i just hope he doesn't get lit up in the AL. He also brought in Quentin. By the way things have gone, this just very well be all the moves he makes this offseason. And if that is the case, look for the Sox to finish 4th once again in a tough tough division... RIght now if the season started today, KW would recieve a D+. Not and F because he did make a strong push for Hunter, but was outbid by LAAngels last minute. He also put together a respectable package for Cabrera, but was simply outbid by Detroit. Those 2 moves weren't his fault. But not signing one of Fukudome or Rowand was his fault... Why not give Rowand a 5th year? Or why not outbid the Cubs? I know I know, the White Sox are a small market team and can't win bidding wars.... You have a couple of months KW to try to earn our support back... because the last 2 years have been a huge dissappointment.

 

2008 - losing Garland is not a big hit to the rotation. Rowand doesn't help address the needs this team needs and what KW and Ozzie are looking for. I think Fukudome is going to be looked at as a terrible signing and the White Sox already have a RFer named Jermain Dye. Fukudome is not a good CFer and doesn't want to play CF. I am glad they didn't get either one of them. I would much rather have Josh Hamilton who is a lefthanded hitter and plays a very good CF. Just my opinion.

[BearSox]

I wonder if MLB only buys the names of the crappy GM's...

[2nd_city_saint787]

I'm pro kenny williams, the way i look it hes done one hell of a job aside from building a bad bullpen of unproven pitchers and trade away chris young (though not fully disappointed we did get back javy who was our best pitcher last year).. The man got us a championship, then the following year he kept basically the same team and adds a future HoF in jim thome and trades an old el duque for a stud in javy vazquez. The team he put out there in 06 won 90 games just so happens were in a tough division, boston finished 3rd in there division that year, does that mean theo espstien should get fired?? then the next season he goes out and keeps the almost the same team that won a combined 189 wins over the past 2 seasons (which might i add is a white sox record for a 2 year span) and he upgrades the CF position from brian anderson to darin erstad, plus brings in toby hall to spell AJ from time to time so AJ wouldnt be so worn out toward the end of the season. You also talk about him tearing up the farm well in 07 didnt he brings in john danks who at the time was the 31st ranked prospect in the league (per milb.com) and nick masset for brandon mcarthy a guy who the 2 previous years didnt get the job done. he also brought back gio gonzalez who per baseball america has the 73 ranked prospect and gavin floyd for freddie garcia who went 1-5 with an era close to 6, gavin floyd also went 1-5 with a lower era in more innings pitched....is it really kennys fault that PK batted .258 or JD hitting .254 or counts struggles...i think not, and now that the sox players had bad years no one really has any value for kenny to make trades, and its not his fault that he gets out bid by other teams. i hear you guys say id sign hunter if the price isnt to high and then when he gets signed to a crazy deal you guys get mad cause kenny got out bid??? you yourself said you wouldnt sign him if the price was too high. I like what hes done this year so far too, we upgrade at SS bring in OC who could be the leader of this team, the bullpen was atrocious last year so we bring in a proven stud like linebrink, and then we bring in another young stud in Carlos Quentin.

[SadChiSoxFanOptimist]

He is totally responsible for the fact that we have one of MLB's worst scouting, slection & development systems. Period.

Fans can't look just at the moment, it's year by year.

[bigruss]

I'm pro kenny williams, the way i look it hes done one hell of a job aside from building a bad bullpen of unproven pitchers and trade away chris young (though not fully disappointed we did get back javy who was our best pitcher last year).. The man got us a championship, then the following year he kept basically the same team and adds a future HoF in jim thome and trades an old el duque for a stud in javy vazquez. The team he put out there in 06 won 90 games just so happens were in a tough division, boston finished 3rd in there division that year, does that mean theo espstien should get fired?? then the next season he goes out and keeps the almost the same team that won a combined 189 wins over the past 2 seasons (which might i add is a white sox record for a 2 year span) and he upgrades the CF position from brian anderson to darin erstad, plus brings in toby hall to spell AJ from time to time so AJ wouldnt be so worn out toward the end of the season. You also talk about him tearing up the farm well in 07 didnt he brings in john danks who at the time was the 31st ranked prospect in the league (per milb.com) and nick masset for brandon mcarthy a guy who the 2 previous years didnt get the job done. he also brought back gio gonzalez who per baseball america has the 73 ranked prospect and gavin floyd for freddie garcia who went 1-5 with an era close to 6, gavin floyd also went 1-5 with a lower era in more innings pitched....is it really kennys fault that PK batted .258 or JD hitting .254 or counts struggles...i think not, and now that the sox players had bad years no one really has any value for kenny to make trades, and its not his fault that he gets out bid by other teams. i hear you guys say id sign hunter if the price isnt to high and then when he gets signed to a crazy deal you guys get mad cause kenny got out bid??? you yourself said you wouldnt sign him if the price was too high. I like what hes done this year so far too, we upgrade at SS bring in OC who could be the leader of this team, the bullpen was atrocious last year so we bring in a proven stud like linebrink, and then we bring in another young stud in Carlos Quentin.

Where do I begin???

 

The Thome trade was delicious, I wont disagree with that.

The Javy trade you gave up El Duque AND (and this is the big part ) Chris Young, plus Vizcaino, a dependable bullpen arm that really couldve helped us later on. I like what Javy did for us last year, and pitching is hard to get, but Kenny's fatal mistake was not knowing or just believing that Anderson's character issues would go away once he came to the big league.

Darin Erstad is almost never an upgrade when you taken into account his poor bat, average to below average defense, and health issues, he can probably punt the ball farther than he can hit it.

I wouldnt say McCarthy didnt get the job done, he was thrown into a situation that he wasnt comfortable in, the bullpen. I think we all wish that he took a more active and positive stance on it and would just go out and do his job there, training and focusing on the team winning.. but yes Danks has a good future to me, but Masset was definitely a waste, as he is incredibly gifted but cant throw strikes.

Gio has really come on strong last year, and I dont think people mind having him back, but many thought that KW should have gotten more, maybe that was the best offer, but considering the market for pitchers many think that KW should have gotten atleast one more player in that deal, if not just higher ranked players than those two.

It is KW's fault to have those guys on the team when they are underperforming. They are old, and a decline should be expected, esp. out of JD. Contreras was showing major signs that he was falling apart.

It is Kenny's fault that he has one of the worst systems in baseball, if he had frontline talent waiting to replace guys like Konerko, JD, Contreras then we wouldnt have to worry about this, and we would have cheaper replacements ready for when they really break down. But instead we ahve to rely on them with a sorry ass farm system, jsut because we are to stubborn to negotiate with Boras clients (who are some of the best prospects) so we cant draft well, and the guys we do draft dont develop like they should.

People are just mad that KW's "plans" fell through and he is running out of options. I see no problem being pissed off that we have Owens penciled in as the CF. Although the contracts being given out are rediculous, if KW wants to compete this year Owens most likely wont cut it. SO people are wondering why go for it if we dont ahve the pieces to do so??? WHy not break it all down and start from scrap so we can compete sooner than later????

Linebreak is not a stud, he has been pretty reliable the past few years, but take into account that he was in the NL West, and at Petco, you just cant justify that he is a stud, plus the no trade clause is very iffy.

Looks like our leader in OC doesnt want to resign with us becuase of the lack of talent on the team and will most likely walk after this year (atleast from what I have seen so far) and we will pick up the draft picks from arb.

[StrangeSox]

2008 - losing Garland is not a big hit to the rotation. Rowand doesn't help address the needs this team needs and what KW and Ozzie are looking for. I think Fukudome is going to be looked at as a terrible signing and the White Sox already have a RFer named Jermain Dye. Fukudome is not a good CFer and doesn't want to play CF. I am glad they didn't get either one of them. I would much rather have Josh Hamilton who is a lefthanded hitter and plays a very good CF. Just my opinion.

 

Aside from a rough one-month stretch last year, Garland has been good for the last 3 years. You know he's good for eating up about 200 innings, too. Now we have to rely on both Danks and Floyd. How is that not a big hit to the rotation?

Edited December 15, 2007 by StrangeSox

[southsideirish]

Aside from a rough one-month stretch last year, Garland has been good for the last 3 years. You know he's good for eating up about 200 innings, too. Now we have to rely on both Danks and Floyd. How is that not a big hit to the rotation?

He is a decent pitcher - an innings eater. He is a 3 or 4. Danks should definitely be able to fill his shoes. The White Sox received a huge upgrade at shortstop by trading away an overpaid pitcher. That is not a big hit to the rotation and I have no idea what the Angels needed him for.

[Vance Law]

In 2007 it was purely KWs fault. He went into last offseason basing his 2006 season winning 90 games. Well KW your team won 60% of the 90 games in the first half of the season. He didn't add anybody and was content in thinking the team would just simply rebound... He added "Power Arms" to the bullpen with limited to no experience at all. He re-signed Pods to play LF because of the way the "market was out of whack". He signed Erstad to be the everyday CF.. wow those 2 moves worked out well. Because of the market going up, KW's agression went waaaaaaaaay down. He wouldn't go after big name free agents anymore, he would simply just rely on trades. He traded away big game Freddy for Gio and Floyd. (This was the one good move he had last offseason as Freddy went down in the beginning of the 2007 season). But he shocked us all by trading McCarthy for Danks and Massett. Well this trade is pretty much McCarthy for Danks straight up because Massett will likely be non-tendered.. I was a BIG McCarthy fan and saw this deal as why?? Danks could be something special but so can McCarthy.... KW failed last offseason its that simple.

 

I would say the opposite of that. Kenny didn't fail last offseason, and it's not that simple. The players failed on the field during the year. The hitting was historically bad all at the same time for a couple of months. The bullpen gave away 8 or 9 games in the span of a month or so. Williams was not a genius because the bullpen was so good in 2005. He is not an idiot because it tanked so bad in 2007. It's a bullpen. It's a crapshoot. Everyone was certainly happy with Thorton in 2006 and happy about the MacDougal trade at the time and were very happy about the affordable extension he signed. Then they sucked on the field. I suppose Williams should have told them to not suck. A failure last offseason would have been signing Juan Pierre, Gary Matthews, or Dave Roberts to the expensive long term contracts they got. The maxim that the GM should get "all of the credit if they win and all of the blame if they lose" is retarded, illogical, simplistic, juvenile, and nonsensical. It exists only as a product of the overly emotional fan's need to place blame and or to parrot what they heard from a meathead radio sports jock whose goal is to be "provocative" by saying outlandish things.

 

 

 

[Dick Allen]

He is a decent pitcher - an innings eater. He is a 3 or 4. Danks should definitely be able to fill his shoes. The White Sox received a huge upgrade at shortstop by trading away an overpaid pitcher. That is not a big hit to the rotation and I have no idea what the Angels needed him for.

 

Cabrera is a .321 OBP guy for his career. If he hits like last season, he's a huge upgrade, if he doesn't, while he may be an upgrade, its really not that big. How can you say Danks should definitely be able to eat Garland's innings? He was so awful the second half, they sat him down. Its really going to tax the bullpen if KW keeps the rotation as its currently configured.