Despite another Sox loss, everyone breathes easier
DETROIT -- No one feels worse about the White Sox' nightmarish season than the man who assembled the team, general manager Kenny Williams.
As the final days slowly come off the calendar, Williams said Sox fans don't even have to ask about his plans for the off-season.
"It doesn't matter what I say, because I've been consistent in our stance that we're going to be aggressive each year to win a championship,'' Williams said before the White Sox lost to the Tigers 3-2 at Comerica Park on Thursday afternoon. "I'm here to win, man. That hasn't changed. People made fun, there were some people who made fun of the first time I sat down with the media when I was hired for the job that I started speaking of winning championships, and that was with a plural.
"I'm just as serious about that now as I was that day, but the only way you can convince people is to bring it to the table.''
After winning the World Series in 2005, Williams added designated hitter Jim Thome and starting pitcher Javier Vazquez, but he subtracted center fielder Aaron Rowand and big-game pitcher Orlando "El Duque'' Hernandez.
The Sox pulled into the all-star break last year at 57-31, but they've been in a freefall ever since.
Heading into the off-season, Williams needs to do another rebuilding job on the bullpen, and it looks like he'll be shopping for a new center fielder and shortstop.
"If there's an opportunity out there to add an impact player, I think creatively we can get it done with our present resources and maybe a small buck here or there,'' Williams said. "I don't know what's going to present itself on the trade front, so that may lessen the need on the free-agent front, depending on what you get back.''
As usual, Williams will ask Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and the coaching staff for input before he revamps the roster. But the GM first wants Guillen and Co. to take a break from a difficult season.
"I got a read on every one of my coaches and their thoughts as we head into the last month here,'' Williams said. "And what I'm going to do now is step away from it after the season is over, and they'll get to step back for a couple weeks. I don't want anyone reacting, based on the emotion, to what has been a disappointing season. I want everything well thought out before we start to plan.''
According to Guillen, that is a good plan.
"Right now, if you ask the coaching staff to judge the players, we might give the wrong answers because of the way we play this year,'' Guillen said. "There's so much stuff you have to look at. All of the sudden you ask Coop (pitching coach Don Cooper) who to bring back and he might say: 'I don't want anybody.' That's everybody's reaction.
"But we have to sit down, think what we're going to do, what we can spend and be realistic about what players we can bring back.''
If it were up to Guillen, he'd have 25 proven all-stars on his roster.
"I always dream,'' Guillen said. "I ask for the moon, hopefully they can bring me a little something. I think we've done a pretty good job over the years to bring the people we have because people have to understand we're not the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, we're not. I think with the amount of money we can spend, Kenny has done a tremendous job trying to put a team together.''
Tigers 3, White Sox 2
On the mound: Bobby Jenks allowed 2 runs on 3 hits in the ninth inning, blowing his first save try since July 17. Jenks' string of 18 scoreless innings was also snapped.
At the plate: Paul Konerko drove in both Sox runs with a bases-loaded double in the eighth inning. A.J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4.
-- Scot Gregor