Perhaps the most stunning news to emerge from the White Sox’ press conference introducing Robin Ventura as manager was general manager’s Ken Williams’ revelation that he considered Paul Konerko as a player-manager candidate.
It never got to a point where Williams asked Konerko about the possibility.
“Well, it was considered long enough for me to realize that Paul is a very cerebral person and he would probably drive himself nuts right now playing and managing at the same time,” Williams said Tuesday. “But that’s the kind of respect I have for him that yeah, I did consider it. Then I thought I think I would rather him be focused more on hitting third or fourth in the lineup and driving in 100 runs rather than trying to worry about 25 other guys in addition to it. We are trying to win.”
Konerko, the No. 2 White Sox all time in home runs and RBI, has two years left on what could be his last contract.
“I believe Paul Konerko, if he wants to, can ultimately run a Major League club and would be able to do so as soon as he steps off the field,” Williams said. “Why do I believe that? Because I spent the last 11 years talking to him about baseball. And when you talk about that in that fashion and does it fit in our equation, we have a situation here where it’s a unique situation where there is scrutiny, there is the microscope and a person has to be able to deal with some of the peripheral things so that he can also maintain himself as a strong individual to lead 25 guys.”
