GM Williams always tries to stay ahead of the game

On the last day of March, Ken Williams stood on the top step of the visitors' dugout in Cleveland and made a bold prediction.

Not only would the White Sox make the playoffs, but the two teams supposedly fighting for the chance to reach the World Series would crumble under the weight of the very heavy expectations.

It was especially daring considering that so many so-called experts had forecast the Tigers and the Indians to battle for the American League pennant, while picking the Sox to finish last in the Central.

And to cap it off, some believed the White Sox GM had lost his mind if he thought the 2008 roster would be competitive.

"It just reinforces what I always knew, and that's that I'm not the most popular guy in town,'' Williams says now. "And I honestly don't care about that.

"If I was worried about how people perceive me and put together my team the way others wanted me to, we wouldn't have a (World Series) ring and I'd already be fired and working on ESPN as an expert analyst.''

Turns out Williams was right about all of it, though he expects no apologies from those who buried him last winter.

And though down two games in this series obviously is not where the Sox wanted to be, Williams did manage to smile this week for the first time in a long time.

"I was (ticked) off from July of 2007 until Tuesday night when we beat Minnesota,'' Williams laughed. "It's the first time I wasn't (ticked).

"Last year, it was a lost year. This could have been another lost year. It could have been lost easily very early when (Scott) Linebrink went down and (Bobby) Jenks went down, and we lost then (Jose) Contreras and (Joe) Crede and (Carlos) Quentin and (Paul) Konerko.

"We could have folded the tent, but we had enough depth and versatility - and character - to survive, to keep fighting.

"We had too many guys who would not allow our team to quit. You need those desperate guys who want a ring and won't let the others stop.''

In the meantime, Williams furthered his reputation and that of his scouts by finding more diamonds in the rough, something he has had a habit of doing.

This year it was Quentin and Ramirez, to name two, even though neither was expected to contribute in 2008.

"We try to prepare for things that might happen, and at the same time to look a few years down the road,'' Williams said. "I told you we have a three-year board we're constantly looking at, and some acquisitions we make might have more to do with a year or two from now than this year.

"But then you get injuries or things happen.

"I believe in sports you have to guard against allowing your team to get old too fast or failing to bring in players who are desperate to win.

"I wish there was a manual to work off or a science to it. There isn't. We're just trying to stay ahead of it.''

The Sox stayed ahead this year by relying on Gavin Floyd and John Danks, two young pitchers many critics said would fail this year and make Williams look bad in the process.

Once again, Williams was correct.

"Nothing those two did surprised me even the slightest bit. I expected this from them,'' Williams said. "Look, if we weren't doing it the right way, I'd tell you we weren't.

"I'd be the first one to say it. I think you know me and you know that's true from the past.''

Williams also has hinted in the past, as recently as Opening Day, that there are parts of his job that so tire him that he would consider leaving if the Sox won it all again.

All he will say right now is that he'll be back next year no matter what happens now.

"I love the job. I love dealing with the players and the coaches and all the minor- league kids and all that,'' Williams said. "I love the competition. But the media aspect of it has really gone off the deep end, with the blogs and all the (stuff) that's out there and the radio and everything else.

"It takes so much time out of my day, and it doesn't allow me to do what I need to do.

"So I've stopped participating in a lot of that, especially a lot of the broadcast (stuff), and some perceive it as me being sensitive, but that just proves they don't know me.

"It just serves no purpose for me to give my time to something where I'm participating in my own execution. That doesn't make sense, does it?''

As usual, Williams is simply saying what he thinks, which at times gets him in trouble with those looking for an excuse to trash him.

But as of today, he's still the only general manager in more than 190 years of combined Chicago baseball to bring home a World Series, and this year he gave Sox fans a pleasant surprise with a division title, and a thrilling one at that.

The fact that so many were shocked just goes to show that they haven't yet come to expect the unexpected from Ken Williams.

When will they learn?

brozner@dailyherald.com