southsider2k5 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 http://www.csnchicago.com/06/22/11/Sox-Dra...216314379160164 Sox Drawer: What's Kenny Williams to do? The White Sox are three games under .500 and 4.5 teams out of first place and that's not what GM Kenny Williams had in mind for this season. By Chuck Garfien CSNChicago.com The White Sox came into this season with sky-high expectations, hovering somewhere near the top of the John Hancock Building. It was Kenny Williams who signed his own John Hancock for Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, Paul Konerko, and Jake Peavy, four multi-million dollar players who are supposed to lead the White Sox back to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. So far, Williams is arguably 1 for 4. That’s a .250 batting average, which Dunn (.175) and Rios (.212) would gladly take right about now. The two players have been lightning rods for punishment on the South Side, taking physical beatings at the plate, followed by verbal ones from the fans as they take that long walk back to the dugout. Like Dunn and Rios, Williams hears the boos. He feels them too. And while he recognizes that fans have the right to voice their opinions at a game, he says the thousands of jeers being directed at his struggling hitters isn’t exactly helping the situation. “I encourage the fans to be as supportive as possible because you’ll get them back quicker to the guys that you’ve seen in the past than trying to tear them down,” Williams said in an interview with Comcast SportsNet. “All we need are the guys to rally around each other, lighten up a little bit. I think at home, for whatever reason, we get a little bit tighter because we do want to impress the home crowd. If we can just take a back seat. Not tighten up, lighten up. In particular with the case of Dunn, (Gordon) Beckham, and Rios, we cannot go out and find better ballplayers than this.” While the Sox have played better recently (25-17 since May 7), their 11-22 start still has them three games under .500, and 4.5 games out of first place. It’s not what Williams had in mind for June 22nd. Has he started to lose patience? “I think there are those around me who would say that I’ve already lost patience. Then there are others who would say that I’ve been tremendously patient in some areas,” Williams said. “What I am certainly cognizant of is, whether I have or haven’t, there’s not a whole lot I can do about it. The only people who have control of the situation are the guys who are on the field and they are fighting that battle everyday. The focus on whether I have or haven’t (lost patience) is not relevant right now. Come the end of July, then maybe it becomes a little more relevant.” Fans and media have expressed a multitude of ideas lately to improve the team: start Brent Lillibridge, trade/release Juan Pierre, bring up Dayan Viciedo, trade for John Q. All-Star, etc. Williams says that making deals might seem easy on a computer. But in real life, it’s a whole different situation. “I don’t think I can articulate it strongly enough that no matter what I may identify at this stage of the game to improve upon, we cannot go out and get any better players than we currently have. They’re not available. It’s not that easy. I know when you are playing fantasy baseball you can go ahead and substitute guys in and out. This is Major League Baseball and good players aren’t easy to find.” The best player available to Williams right now is Viciedo, who is batting .330 in Triple-A. Williams is letting his coaching staff dictate if or when Viciedo gets called up. For now. “I think the issue is if I do bring him here it will be to play everyday, and it isn’t until I get that feeling from the coaching staff that he is in fact needed, and they believe that the mix that they are currently sending out there isn’t going to get the job done,” Williams said. “As long as they believe that it’s going to get the job done, then I’ll stick with them and defer to their opinions. If there ever comes a time where I feel strongly enough about making a move of that ilk, then I’ll call them aside and we’ll have a little stronger dialogue, and I’ll see if I can influence some one way or another.” Beating the best teams in baseball hasn’t been a problem for the White Sox. They’re 23-18 against teams with above .500 records. It’s the lesser teams that seem to have the White Sox number. They’re 13-21 against clubs with .500 records or below. Williams usually has the answers for everything. But not this one. “I don’t know,“ said the Sox GM. “I don’t know why we always seem to compete against the very best and at a high level. Whether it be focus or some unidentifiable thing. If you got any answers I’d love to have them and pass them along to the guys.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2007 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Say what you will about KW and I've said plenty (mostly negative), but the guy is a great interview. He's 100% right when he says there's no player(s) out there they can realistically get that would be better than Rios, Dunn, Beckham, Thornton and I guess Pierre performing at a reasonably high level. They don't have the farm or the resources to go out and trade for a Jose Reyes or a Heath Bell. They need the current bums on this team to step up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I agree with KW that acquiring talent outside of the organization at this point would be tough in terms of talent you would have to give up and who you are replacing (and salary). He also just put Ozzie on the spotlight in terms of Viciedo again, he has no faith that Viciedo will get sufficient playing time and we all know Ozzie won't admit defeat with JP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 This paragraph is why I love Kenny. If he or Ozzie has to go, I hope to god it is Ozzie. “I don’t think I can articulate it strongly enough that no matter what I may identify at this stage of the game to improve upon, we cannot go out and get any better players than we currently have. They’re not available. It’s not that easy. I know when you are playing fantasy baseball you can go ahead and substitute guys in and out. This is Major League Baseball and good players aren’t easy to find.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:22 PM) I agree with KW that acquiring talent outside of the organization at this point would be tough in terms of talent you would have to give up and who you are replacing (and salary). He also just put Ozzie on the spotlight in terms of Viciedo again, he has no faith that Viciedo will get sufficient playing time and we all know Ozzie won't admit defeat with JP. Its become pretty clear that KW wants Dayan up with the club and Ozzie is resisting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klaus kinski Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:37 PM) Its become pretty clear that KW wants Dayan up with the club and Ozzie is resisting. Who's running the team? Let Guillen be GM then and get him out of dugout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 06:33 PM) This paragraph is why I love Kenny. If he or Ozzie has to go, I hope to god it is Ozzie. I could point to quote after quote in past articles why I love Ozzie. KW should be fired. This team he put together is dogs***. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2007 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:46 PM) Who's running the team? Let Guillen be GM then and get him out of dugout The only thing worse than Ozzie the manager would be Ozzie the GM. Oh my goodness. Our starting OF would be Pierre, Erstad and Wise. Starting infield from third to first would be Cantu, Jeter, Young and Kotsay. Catcher would probably still be AJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 02:53 PM) The only thing worse than Ozzie the manager would be Ozzie the GM. Oh my goodness. Our starting OF would be Pierre, Erstad and Wise. Starting infield from third to first would be Cantu, Jeter, Young and Kotsay. Catcher would probably still be AJ. How the **** are the White Sox getting their hands on Jeter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2007 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:53 PM) How the **** are the White Sox getting their hands on Jeter? Tongue in cheek? You get the point. Bad players all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) I could point to quote after quote in past articles why I love Ozzie. KW should be fired. This team he put together is dogs***. I wish you were a billionaire so that you could start a new MLB franchise called the greg775 Super All Stars. You could have Ozzie manage for you and feature all of your favorite players like Bobby Jenks, Dewayne Wise, Juan Pierre, and Mark Kotsay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:57 PM) I wish you were a billionaire so that you could start a new MLB franchise called the greg775 Super All Stars. You could have Ozzie manage for you and feature all of your favorite players like Bobby Jenks, Dewayne Wise, Juan Pierre, and Mark Kotsay. AKA last place year in and year out. But Ozzie would be there and well, Ozzie can interview great and says funny things, totally worth it and why we love him, not winning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 The best way to answer greg, is with greg. QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) I could point to quote after quote in past articles why I love Ozzie. KW should be fired. This team he put together is dogs***. QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:44 PM) As far as Rosner, who cares? Like you said, they were goofing around and filling airtime. I heard it. I thought it was OK. And as far as the Dunn argument, uh, he's right. You don't pinch hit for Dunn ever. It's his opinion and it happens to be right. His Pierre discussion with Gonzales was great. He brought up all the Sox talk points and they both threw out the pros and cons. The bottom line is he's a good host and just because he doesn't agree with you guys on Pierre doesn't mean s***. I really truly don't think Rongey cares what you all think of him. He shouldn't. Fans are fanatics and lunatics and hear what they want to hear. Whether you guys want to believe it or not, Pierre's been hitting about .260 and a lot of guys on the team suck balls worse than Pierre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamtheHBOMB Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 22, 2011 -> 01:57 PM) I wish you were a billionaire so that you could start a new MLB franchise called the greg775 Super All Stars. You could have Ozzie manage for you and feature all of your favorite players like Bobby Jenks, Dewayne Wise, Juan Pierre, and Mark Kotsay. Haha. I seem to remember a few articles from last year that mentioned Ozzie not liking Viciedo and saying he had a bad attitude. I wonder if that has something to do with Ozzie not wanting him on the roster in 2011? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2007 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 lol@SS2K5. Everybody knows greg is bipolar. He's like a box of chocolates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.