Kenny Williams Speaks On Plans After Adam Dunn

Just hours after pulling the trigger on signing free agent Adam Dunn to a 4 year, $56 million deal, White Sox general manager Kenny Williams gave some insight on the plans going into the Winter Meetings.

Williams officially said that resigning free agent Paul Konerko is now the team’s #1 priority,

"“Not only is there still room for [Konerko], it would be the perfect fit from our perspective,” Williams said Thursday. “But we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. The one thing Paul and I talked about at the end of the season was to be respectful of each others’ positions and be mindful that there is a process.”"

Essentially Williams said that both sides would along things to go slow and give Konerko a chance to explore all possible options. That means letting him talk with however many teams are interested in acquiring his services, and letting him decide what’s best for him. As of right now, the White Sox are waiting for Konerko’s agent, Craig Landis, to give them a call and say it’s okay to start discussing things. Things may not even get that far as there are reports that the Baltimore Orioles offered Konerko a significant offer, but nothing else has been said to this point.

The hope is that the signing of Adam Dunn will making returning to Chicago a lot more enticing to Konerko. With Adam Dunn in the 5th spot, Konerko would have a field day hitting clean-up as most pitchers would prefer pitching to him, rather than Dunn.  It’s been compared to the Konerko/Thome combination, and that could do wonders for the White Sox offense.

Williams also spoke about the plans for the team heading into the Winter Meetings. It’s believed that Williams went to chairman Jerry Reinsdorf with two plans, one to go young and take some hits here and there or to add to what already exists now,

"“Ultimately [with the Dunn deal], you see the obvious decision,” Williams said. “We just didn’t want to be in the middle. The decision was that if we were going all in, we were going all in. It’s been difficult to find the revenue to support the payroll, but we’re out there on a limb. We think it’s important to make a significant addition.”"

On a personal note, I never liked the idea of getting Adam Dunn because it either required losing out on other players in free agency or losing key pieces of the team we have now. With the fact that we signed Dunn, we still have a shot at retaining Konerko, and we could possibly see a few more players come to the South Side because it looks like Reinsdorf and Williams are willing to spend money, I am definitely giving the staff an A+ so far this offseason.