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Williams: White Sox Not In "Shopping Mode"
The White Sox are a coming off a disappointing season in which they finished 79-83 and 16 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central. A number of high-profile players had poor showings in 2011, but GM Kenny Williams said in a radio interview today that he will not be shopping players this offseason. Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun Times provides a recap of the interview...
"Everyone I've heard speak on it is right," said Williams. "We have talented people, and we did not achieve what we wanted to based on some of those talented people not performing. But we're in a position where we have to look at the future. So I will not be in shopping mode; I'll be listening to see what the interest is in some of our players. Quite frankly, I don't expect people to try to blow our doors down for some of our guys who had down years. Their value is going to be down a little bit."
Williams added that if he does move any of what he called the team's "valuable pieces," that it would be for Major League ready talent, not minor leaguers. He cited Dayan Viciedo, Tyler Flowers, Alejandro de Aza, Brent Morel, and Gordon Beckham as the team's young core.
"We have a nice young, kind of youthful movement," said Williams. "[Players acquired in trades] would have to fit into that. Not A-ball players, Double-A type. They would have to be Major League ready and potential impact players."
In our Offseason Outlook, Ben Nicholson-Smith noted that the White Sox could choose to trade players like Carlos Quentin, John Danks, and/or Gavin Floyd to infuse the roster with some young talent. Quentin and Danks are the team two arbitration cases.
Adam Dunn and Alex Rios, two players that had extremely disappointing seasons, figure to be unmovable given their contracts. Both guys are under contract for another three seasons, with Dunn owed $44MM and Rios owed $39.5MM. Williams said he's "got a great idea or two" about how to help Dunn improve going forward, but said he would speak to the slugger about that privately.
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