White Sox general manager Ken Williams talked on AM-1000 on Saturday morning. He said he won’t be in a “shopping mode” this offseason but suggested he could become a power shopper if he can get a return on his movable pieces. Williams didn’t name names, but outfielder Carlos Quentin and pitchers Gavin Floyd, John Danks and Matt Thornton have contracts that allow the Sox GM to shop them around.
Here’s what Williams had to say on the subject:
“Everyone I’ve heard speak on it is right. we have talented people, and we did not achieve what we wanted to based on some of those talented people not performing. But we’re in a position where we have to look at the future. So I will not be in shopping mode — I’ll be listening to see what the interest is in some of our players. Quite frankly, I don’t expect people to try to blow our doors down for some of our guys who had down years. Their value is going to be down a little bit.
“So what we have to do is weigh whatever they’re offering up against our chances are for the next season.
Because if we’re going to move our valuable pieces it’s going to be for major league ready talent so they can grow with this nice nucleus in place with [Dayan] Viciedo, [Tyler] Flowers, [Alejandro] De Aza, [Brent] Morel. And have to get [Gordon] Beckham back. We have a nice young, kind of youthful movement. Those players [coming in trades] would have to fit into that. Not A-ball players, AA type. They would have to be major-league ready and potential impact players. Will that happen? I don’t know, that’s why you go to the winter meetings [in early December] and you see what other teams would like to offer you. But I think shopping our guys is something we’re not going to be doing.”
“As long as I am in the chair we will be as aggressive as we can possibly be. If it turns out that we don’t believe that we can reasonably expect the talent we have to compete for a championship, we might have to dial it back and… move today’s talent for tomorrow’s talent to extend a longer run for us in the future. But none of that has been determined yet until we get a gauge on what other teams feel about our players.”
Williams also said he will talk to Adam Dunn after his $56 million free-agent disappointment has more time away from baseball.
“I’ve got a great idea or two, and that is going to be for Adam and I to discuss privately,” Williams said. “And I haven’t got to that point yet. He needed a break.
“If I had answers, we would have taken care of that in May, June or July. I don’t have the answers for it. I have talked to other general managers, psychologists, a lot of different people. Nobody has the answers. The guy is one of the most prolific power hitters in the game for the last decade.”
