White Sox going after Manny Ramirez? Sox GM can't comment

White Sox general manager Kenny Williams greatly dislikes talking about players named in trade rumors.

And that's when the player is actually available.

So imagine Williams' reaction to the FoxSports.com story Tuesday claiming the Sox want to acquire Manny Ramirez from the Los Angeles Dodgers - assuming he is placed on waivers.

"I think the assumption is for everyone out there that just because something moves across the scroll of your television that that is the truth," Williams said before the White Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 at U.S. Cellular Field.

"I'm not going to confirm or deny it, but I will say a lot of times names are being put out there that have gone through waivers or are going through waivers, and they have not in fact been put on waivers.

"I guess it's just the nature of the beast."

Williams did "kick the tires" on Ramirez before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline, but nothing came of it.

Should Ramirez be placed on waivers, would the White Sox even want him? After all, Ramirez is 38, he still has $4.25 million on his 2010 contract, and he has been on the disabled list three times this season.

Ramirez just came back from the DL on Saturday after missing five weeks with a calf injury. He batted third in the Dodgers' lineup Tuesday night at Milwaukee.

"I don't know," manager Ozzie Guillen said when asked if he'd want Ramirez on the Sox' roster. "Manny hasn't played in the big leagues in a little while. If Kenny asked me if you need Manny or do you want Manny here, I'm going to say yes because you know why? He's going to bring him anyway."

Ramirez has a no-trade clause in his contract, and he could veto a potential deal to the White Sox. The Detroit Tigers' Johnny Damon did just that Tuesday, turning down a trade to the Boston Red Sox.

Williams declined to get into any specifics about Ramirez.

"If I spoke on that, it's a violation of tampering rules," Williams said, "and it's very clear and prohibited for me to speak on another player on another team."

Could the Sox use another big bat in the lineup?

"I think more than anything, the thing we've needed the last couple of weeks is consistency out of our bullpen," Williams said. "The guys have fought, they've fought to get ahead, fought to get back into games and take the lead, only to lose it.

"More than anything, that's been obvious, more than scoring runs. But we can never have too much offense, just like we can never have too much pitching."

Coincidentally, Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was in Milwaukee on Tuesday night for the unveiling of a statue of Commissioner Bud Selig. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt also was there.

Maybe Reinsdorf and McCourt can broker their own deal.

And don't forget about one potential snag - Ramirez has dreadlocks, and Reinsdorf does not allow White Sox players to wear their hair long.

"There's one thing I guarantee you, he'll be out there for the national anthem," Guillen said of possibly managing Ramirez. "That's my rule. The other rules - hair, facial, earrings - that's God's (Reinsdorf's) rules."

Manny-mania was all the rage in the White Sox' pregame clubhouse.

"Just looking at our lineup the last week, we've had some good games; we've swung the bats well," Paul Konerko said.

"I don't think anybody in the lineup is looking around for an answer or anything like that. If the people upstairs think (getting Ramirez) is the right thing to do and they make the move, that's what they get paid for.

"I'm proud of the way the guys have played the last week, the whole year, but especially the last week, which was probably the toughest week of the year, with the results and how they happened. We swung the bats great."