White Sox To Meet With Torii Hunter

According to Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times, White Sox GM Kenny Williams plans to meet with Torii Hunter next week.  They can't talk contract terms, but Williams will work to convince Torii that the South Side is the place to be.  Apparently Hunter told a friend he was receptive to the Sox.

It seems that five years and $75MM is the minimum Hunter will accept, and the Sox seem prepared to do that.  It's a huge commitment for a guy coming off a career year.  Plus, Hunter doesn't contribute an above-average OBP, something the White Sox need.  Aaron Rowand is the alternative if the Sox can't sign Hunter.  Though both are Type A free agents, Chicago's #8 overall pick is protected.

Cowley adds that the possibility of signing David Eckstein has caused the White Sox to hold off on Juan Uribe's $5MM option.  However Cowley's source says the Sox will pick it up and use Uribe at second or third base if necessary.  November 7th is the deadline for Uribe's option.

Comments

[chris heer]

Wow. David Eckstein. If only they had retained Darin Erstad, they could have assembled the greatest collection of crappy, overrated players ever.

[Teetz]

Man, why would they ever pick up Uribe's option? For White Sox fan's, he is easily the most hated White Sock.

[trober81]

the only reason why they pick up uribe's option is because they have absolutely ZERO minor league SS who can even hit .230 on the major league level and is it really worth paying eckstein 5+ mil a year, the guy cant throw from SS to first. the only way the white sox can get a better SS is through some type of trade. if the angels dont pursue Arod, i suggest a Konerko to Anaheim type deal with Aybar coming back along with some other pieces, perhaps Kotchman.

[bjsguess]

The Sox should have moved Konerko last year to the Angels. Blown opportunity that I don't think will come back around.

[chicagobubbleblog]

You mean they're going to pass up on bringing the fire and the passion back to go after right handed Jacque Jones?

Am I the only one who thinkls Eckstein looks like a high school kid competing in the shot put when he throws the ball to first base?

[astralpanda]

As a Sox fan I'm automatically pre-conditioned to despise Torii Hunter, I also think his production will fall considerably after he gets his big pay day. Plus he's full of crap.

...and Trober's correct, we have absolutely nothing at SS in the minors unless we were to move Chris Getz or Jason Bourgeois over. Neither of which are ready though imo.

After looking over Eck's stats, I'd even take Vizquel over him at this point. Trust me, Guillen would LOVE to have that guy on his team.

[Tim Dierkes]

I like Vizquel for the Sox. He ranked pretty well in the Fielding Bible awards.

[buehrlebro]

Do you know any more on Alexei Ramierez Tim?

[scribbletone]

I think adding Hunter for 75 mil wont help them enough. I still think this team would look great with Carl Crawford in that outfield. And this team doesnt need another older SS, they've already had Valentin and Uribe, and they both sucked at hitting if you ignored HR. This team needs a pillar at SS, someone who can play there for a while. They havent produced a good shortstop in forever. and no matter how good Vazquez has been, Kenny Williams must cringe at what Chris Young might become for the D-Backs. Man, what if the Sox gave Arizona Brian Anderson or Ryan Sweeney instead? Seems odd that the Sox need a leadoff hitting center fielder, and they gave up an exceptional young one two years ago