Konerko knows Sox must still get it done on the field

Last Friday, the White Sox signed two free agents, feared slugger Adam Dunn and longtime catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

On Wednesday, the Sox fortified their lineup even more by bringing Paul Konerko back for three more years.

Is it time to get ready for another World Series run on the South Side?

“Obviously, I think Detroit has gotten better with what they already did this season,” Konerko said. “I think Minnesota was already really good and they're going to be getting back (Justin) Morneau for the whole year, and I'm sure they have some other moves up their sleeve.

“It's going to be execution. We definitely have made our team better, there's no doubt about that, just with the signing of Adam and what he provides. At the same time, you know how it is. I don't think any team in baseball can just walk in and say, ‘If we just play our game we're going to win our division by 10 games.'”

Bullpen issues:

With a payroll approaching $120 million after the Paul Konerko signing, general manager Kenny Williams told reporters at the winter meetings Wednesday that the White Sox are “tapped out.”

Having already lost Bobby Jenks, J.J. Putz and Scott Linebrink from last season's bullpen, can the Sox find some extra money to go after a premier free-agent reliever like Rafael Soriano, Matt Guerrier or Jesse Crain?

“We certainly ramped it up here recently and have been very aggressive,” Williams said. “I think at this point I feel comfortable, confident in the every-day lineup and the defense that we are going to put out there, as well as the starting rotation and the back four guys in the bullpen. But I think we've got to augment that just a bit to make ourselves as strong as possible and contend for the division.”

Trading a player like Mark Teahen, who is owed $10.25 million over the next two years, would be huge for the White Sox, even if they had to eat a sizeable portion of the contract.

“We start at a great place because we have two of the best left-handers in the game (Matt Thornton, Chris Sale), we think,” Williams said. “We have one of the more emerging guys in Sergio Santos and you saw that last year. Tony Pena is behind him and should slide more into a role suited for him, not the long role. That leaves another two spots, with potentially a long guy, although when you have our rotation, I don't know if that's necessary.”

Peavy update:

It's looking more and more like starting pitcher Jake Peavy is not going to be ready when the 2011 season opens at Cleveland on April 1.

Peavy detached his latissimus muscle during a July 6 game against the Angels.

“I don't have an update on him,” GM Kenny Williams said. “He was ahead of schedule the last couple of times I checked, which has been at least a month to six weeks ago. I'm committed to taking it as conservatively as possible. He's too valuable.

“We don't want a Jake Peavy that's not the Jake Peavy we are used to seeing. We want the guy we traded for. We will allow him to completely heal and completely be ready to go.”