Not everyone got away from Sox GM Williams
TUCSON, Ariz. -- There is still plenty of talk about the players White Sox general manager Kenny Williams failed to acquire during the off-season.
It's an impressive list of talent and includes Edgar Renteria, Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera, Kosuke Fukudome and Aaron Rowand.
Williams and the Sox were in on all five, but the players landed elsewhere. The sting intensified when Renteria and Cabrera wound up with the division rival Detroit Tigers and Fukudome took less money to sign with the cross-town Cubs.
That doesn't mean the off-season was a total disaster.
Williams is confident the additions of Orlando Cabrera, Nick Swisher, Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez will give the offense a needed boost, and the GM probably did his best work getting needed help for the bullpen.
A year after White Sox relief pitchers posted the 12th highest ERA (5.47) in the American League, Williams has added two veteran arms.
They didn't come cheap, but the additions of 31-year-old Scott Linebrink (four years, $19 million) and 34-year-old Octavio Dotel (two years, $11 million) should pay off in the standings.
"Having Linebrink and Dotel will help us,'' said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "To me, the bullpen is the most important part of the game, especially in the American League. We all know the American League has a lot of great hitting ballclubs.''
All-star closer Bobby Jenks is back, and Linebrink and Dotel are both being counted on to get the burly right-hander the ball. Last season, Matt Thornton (4-4, 4.79 ERA) and Mike MacDougal (2-5, 6.80) were ineffective as setup men.
"It's amazing how many runs we gave up in the seventh and eighth (innings),'' Guillen said.
Linebrink has been one of the better setup relievers in baseball since 2003, and Dotel is a power pitcher who has averaged 11.7 strikeouts per 9 innings over his nine-year career.
Williams stacked the White Sox' bullpen with untested talent last year, and the unit collapsed after a promising April. Late in the season, he personally scouted Linebrink after the right-hander was traded to Milwaukee.
When the season ended, Williams continued his pursuit, traveling to Linebrink's off-season home in Taylor, Texas. With a dozen other teams vying for his services, Williams' personal touch paid off.
"I told him that really had a lot to do with my decision,'' Linebrink said. "He told me how long he's been trying to trade for me, but it's another thing when he actually backs it up and comes down and sits down with your family.''
Linebrink picked up Williams at the Austin airport and drove the Sox' GM to his home in rural Texas.
"He was a target,'' Williams said. "He was a target for a while and we went after him aggressively early. We paid him early to what the market was going to yield anyway. So to that end, maybe driving two hours was worth it.''
The New York Yankees and Houston Astros were the other main contenders, but Williams pushed hard to fill a gaping hole.
"It was so early, so I didn't want to nail myself down,'' Linebrink said. "Kenny was so active in trying to get this going, I felt I was kind of putting him off, not because I didn't want to come here but because I wanted to look around. This was my first time in free agency.
"It got down to a matter of who was serious about making a commitment, and Kenny was the only one who was vocal about saying he was willing to do whatever it took, three or four years, and that really caught our ear.''
Now, it's up to Linebrink and Dotel to earn their pay and bolster the White Sox' bullpen.
"I think we have the right pieces here,'' Linebrink said. "Certainly, we have a long way to go getting ready during spring training, but you just look at track records. There are some guys here that can do it and they have been doing it for a long time.''