Is this season it for Kenny Williams?

It’s time for the White Sox to tell Kenny Williams to hand over the reins to someone else and ride off into the sunset. Williams will always be in my memory as the architect of the 2005 team that brought a World Series title back to the South Side for the first time in 88 years.

Even though I was very young during the early years of his tenure as White Sox general manager, I was still aware of the moves he made and saw the impact of them via the team’s on-the-field product. Williams is best known for his unwavering will to make the big and sometimes risky trade in order to help the team win.

Early on during his tenure Williams hit home runs with his signings of Tadahito Iguchi, Jermaine Dye, AJ Pierzynski and Orlando Hernandez. Williams also had success in the trade market as well in bringing in players like Jose Contreras and Scott Podsednik that helped the team to its 2005 title.

However, in recent years, it appears Kenny has lost his golden touch in the trade and free agent market with the trades for players such as Jim Thome, Nick Swisher, Alex Rios, Jake Peavy and Edwin Jackson, and in doing so, has depleted the minor league system of talent so much that it was rated worst in the league recently by ESPN baseball insider Keith Law.

Williams has not been nearly as aggressive as he used to in the free agent market due to the Sox high payroll, but his biggest signing, Adam Dunn, has so far been his biggest bust and continues to lead Sox fans to think, is Kenny Williams still the right man to be calling the shots for this organization?

This upcoming season may be make or break for Kenny Williams and the White Sox organization as a whole.

Nick Matysek

Algonquin

Jacobs High School