Paul Konerko Re-Signs with White Sox

[Harry Chappas]

This is where it starts though. Do you think teams mean to get themselves in trouble when they defer money? Then all the sudden you wake up and you're cutting checks to Luis Castillo in 2024.

 

Julio Cruz was paid until 2000. Somehow the Sox were able to get past that to sign Albert Belle.

[Rowand44]

Is that a lock or does he have to earn it in spring training?

It's his.

[Steve9347]

30 doubles, 30 homers, .350 OBP, Definitive Team Captain...thats reason enough for the pricetag. I mean, Dunn and Konerko both for under $30 mill a year and people are still complaining?

People will ALWAYS complain.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Because before you know it, you're paying out a bunch of money to players that are no longer on your baseball team.

This is kind of a different situation though. It's a great deal for the Sox and also a nice message sent around the game that the Sox take care of their own.

[justBLAZE]

So where does it put the payroll for next year?

[Capn12]

So where does it put the payroll for next year?

 

Cue Kalapse...

[Jordan4life_2007]

People will ALWAYS complain.

 

It's not complaining. It's showing legitimate concern for the possible long-term ramifications of the deal.

[Rowand44]

So where does it put the payroll for next year?

A lot.

[Princess Dye]

Because before you know it, you're paying out a bunch of money to players that are no longer on your baseball team.

 

As long as Jerry is willing to pay for a winner each year, we can't really complain about payroll restraints. He's shown he's willing to consistently pay like winning teams do (KW's streaky decision-making fully aside from this).

 

We have no idea what JR's thought process is. It may be that they've calculated Konerko makes so much money for the organization based on ticket sales/merchandise that perhaps having him here the next two years pays for that deferred money ahead of time (and then some). Point being, without inside information like this, we can't know how to judge how much it does/doesn't restrain us.

 

Maybe they figured PK's popularity will pay for our bullpen arms moreso than D-Lee's supposed discounted price would have.

[Rowand44]

It's not complaining. It's showing legitimate concern for the possible long-term ramifications of the deal.

Over 1 million freakin dollars a year? We'll be ok.

[Chicago White Sox]

Because before you know it, you're paying out a bunch of money to players that are no longer on your baseball team.

Maybe if this wasn't a one-time event. Who else do we owe defer money to? Other than possibly Manny, I don't think there is a single player we owe deferred money to who won't be on our roster next season.

 

At the end of the day, all this does is bring the present value of that third year down a bit. I think PK was willing to help out the Sox financially a little bit in exchange for a third guaranteed year. The deferred money is only a positive for the Sox.

[BigSqwert]

Over 1 million freakin dollars a year? We'll be ok.

Yeah I'm not sure I'd call that a legitimate concern.

[SoxFan562004]

Because before you know it, you're paying out a bunch of money to players that are no longer on your baseball team.

it's a million a year for 7 years if I'm reading correctly, that is not bad at all, and AJ and Dunn's deferred money will be when they're still playing.

 

It's actually a very fair, very good contract

[NorthSideSox72]

Official release from Sox to season ticket holders confirms numbers...

 

$12M in 2011

$12M in 2012

$13.5M* for 2013, of which he gets only $6.5M that year

Remaining $7M paid at $1M/yr from 2014-2020

 

[TheChrisSamsa]

Because before you know it, you're paying out a bunch of money to players that are no longer on your baseball team.

 

To my knowledge Paul Konerko is the only player on the White Sox with deferred money in his contract, and Scott Linebrink is the only other player being paid by the White Sox while he plays for someone else.

[Princess Dye]

It's not complaining. It's showing legitimate concern for the possible long-term ramifications of the deal.

 

I was on the fence about all this Lee/PK stuff, but basically it comes down to how much cheaper DLee was going to be.

 

I dont know if we can knowingly complain until we see what Lee gets, from who, and what the 1B market was like.

 

One thing I won't listen to is people pretending that LaRoche's career .339 OBP in the NL was something for me to drool over.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Princess Dye

[BigSqwert]

$1M in 2014 through 2020 might be the minimum salary in MLB.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Over 1 million freakin dollars a year? We'll be ok.

 

For me it's the third guaranteed year. Not the million dollars. But I don't really care. I'm so stoked we got Dunn that we could extend Juan Pierre 5 years and I wouldn't complain (I'm lying my f***ing ass off. But you get the point).

[Rowand44]

For me it's the third guaranteed year.

Ok, that I understand.

[Capn12]

For me it's the third guaranteed year. Not the million dollars. But I don't really care. I'm so stoked we got Dunn that we could extend Juan Pierre 5 years and I wouldn't complain (I'm lying my f***ing ass off. But you get the point).

 

You heard it here!! Lets start campaigning to get Juan Pierre extended to 2016, with $20 mil deferred to 2017-2036!

[caulfield12]

Not to mention that $1 million might only be worth 1/4th or 1/5th that in just 3 years, thanks deficit busters in Congress.

 

But I digress.

[bschmaranz]

You heard it here!! Lets start campaigning to get Juan Pierre extended to 2016, with $20 mil deferred to 2017-2036!

 

Isn't Griffey getting something ridiculous like a million a year for 25 years from the Reds?

[iamshack]

What angers me is that these ballplayers who are already incredibly wealthy, and claim that their number 1 priority is to win, seem to forget about that come contract negotiation time. Couldn't the guy survive on $10 million a year so we could have signed Putz? Or some other bullpen arms? PK's demands have the potential to hamstring us a bit here, and it frustrates me to no end that the guy doesn't care about that.

 

I'm happy the guy is back. His bat is definitely going to be needed.

 

But I'm also going to look at him in a much different light now then I did just a week ago.

[jenksycat]

Less pressure on Beckham and Quentin....my god if they are just average and Alexei decides to hit in April-May, this may be good.

[Princess Dye]

What angers me is that these ballplayers who are already incredibly wealthy, and claim that their number 1 priority is to win, seem to forget about that come contract negotiation time. Couldn't the guy survive on $10 million a year so we could have signed Putz? Or some other bullpen arms? PK's demands have the potential to hamstring us a bit here, and it frustrates me to no end that the guy doesn't care about that.

 

I'm happy the guy is back. His bat is definitely going to be needed.

 

But I'm also going to look at him in a much different light now then I did just a week ago.

 

Players have seen other players get killed on investments. Lose all their millions b/c of some jerk they trusted. Then think about what he's paying agents etc. and how this deal is supposed to set up his grandkids and his extended family, in-laws...it's actually not as black and white as "he's greedy." We have no idea how many cousins he has that just got laid off or have gigantic debts. I'm sure a big part of it is he wants the Sox to respect him with the final $ amount, but another part can be family related stuff that of course we'd all relate to, albeit in a distant, non-millionaire way.

 

We don't know for sure that PK's deal affected Putz. Putz was signed cheaply, but PK or no, I have a feeling we're going to be spreading the rest of that remaining $ over several arms.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Princess Dye