GM, Guillen field questions from fans

For the most part, general manager Kenny Williams kept his cool on Saturday while taking questions from SoxFest fans at the Palmer House Hilton.

But Williams' temper did slip out for a moment or two when he was sarcastically commended for cutting ties with Joe Crede and his "backache."

Limited to just 144 games over the past two seasons with back ailments, Crede departed as a free agent and is still shopping for a new team.

His frequent absences particularly hurt the White Sox last year, but Williams tore into the fan for giving Crede the bum's rush.

"I've got a (2005) World Series ring somewhere in my house," Williams said. "If Joe Crede's not playing third base ... I understand he's had some back issues, but don't be so fickle. This guy drug his (butt) out there on a lot of nights when he was very sore."

Along with manager Ozzie Guillen, Williams took questions from fans Friday and Saturday. Here is a sampling:

Q: Why are the Sox cutting their payroll so much this year?

A: "The payroll was $55 million when I took over (prior to the 2001 season) and last year it was close to $111 million, which was fifth (highest) in major-league baseball," Williams said. "I don't know where this perception of Jerry (Reinsdorf) being cheap came from. We bring in our fair share of stars. We were fifth last year and we've been higher. This year, we're lower, but a lot of clubs are lower. That's the sign of the times."

Q: Why do the White Sox have such a hard time throwing out opposing base stealers? (Note: Last year, A.J. Pierzynski threw out just 10.3 percent - 11 of 107 - the worst rate in the league.)

A: "That's the biggest headache I've had since I started managing here," Guillen said. "We work on it. We can't hold guys on first base; that's the pitcher's responsibility. That's not our fault."

Q: How good are youngsters like Chris Getz, Brent Lillibridge, Jayson Nix and Jeff Marquez going to be this season?

A: "I can expound on the virtues of these players, but it doesn't matter," Williams said. "The only thing that sells is what they do when they get on the field."

Q: Does Viciedo have any chance of beating out Josh Fields at third base?

A: "As a hitter, he's going to be outstanding," Guillen said. "He's got a lot of talent. He said he did not come here to go to Triple-A. His mind is prepared to play at the big-league level from the beginning."

Q: My bleacher tickets went up 15 percent this year. Why are you cutting the payroll and raising ticket prices?

A: Whatever we have on the revenue side - sponsors, advertisers, television, the fans, whatever comes in - you try to project where you're going to be and that's how you set your budget," Williams said. "I've never had one conversation with Jerry Reinsdorf where he said he wants to make money. He wants to win and break even. Your money, whatever you spend, is going directly into player payroll and operation. I promise you that."

Q: Why did you sign Bartolo Colon instead of Freddy Garcia? (Note: Garcia signed with the Mets on Jan. 22?)

A: "If I'm not mistaken, Freddy's (contract) upside is $5 (million)-$6 million more," Williams said. "We talked about Freddy and Jon Garland. We decided on Bartolo because we've been monitoring him and we wanted to sign him again."