Three years ago, Ken Williams built a team that brought a World Series tiltle to Chicago and it’s long suffering fans. Since then he has allowed his cartoon sized ego and his propensity for “fixing what isn’t broke” to turn a championship team into a 90-loss also ran. It seems the only person who doesn’t think this is a problem is Williams himself and he is dead wrong.
Ken Williams helped to bring an end to the dark era of White Sox baseball in 2005 by putting together a team that excelled in three areas (Producing Runs,Pitching and Defense). Williams built a team which executed manager Ozzie Guillen’s style of “Smallball” to perfection. Long gone were the days of the Sox relying on their lumbering sluggers to make up for hit or miss starting pitching and defensive liabilities with big blasts that were timely but few and far between. This team had speed and smarts, got runners on and moved them over and built early leads which they protected with solid pitching, a strong bullpen and a renewed commitment to defense. This team had finally succeeded in bringing hope back to it’s city and it’s fans and was poised to make a run for more than just one title. Ken Williams was on top of the baseball world and for some reason it just wasn’t enough.
That offseason, The Sox re-signed Paul Konerko to a long term deal that meant the team’s star would be back on the south side. Other than a few small moves, most figured the sox would stand pat and return the next season to challenge for another championship, they were wrong. Williams began to tell the media that he felt that the team could not win again because they “won too many close games that could have went either way” the prior year and needed more power. He was falling into the same trap as the Sox GM’s before him. He had just won with a team bereft of big name swing for the fence types but he didn’t care. It shocked just about everyone when he traded starting CF, clubhouse and fan favorite and defensive stalwart Aaron Rowand along with two minor leaguers to Philadelphia for veteran slugger and strikeout machine Jim Thome. He replaced Rowand in center field with prospect Brian Anderson, who was known for his power and not his on base percentage. Williams then did the unthinkable to most Sox fans and decided to not bring back the best player in the team’s history, Frank Thomas citing that Thomas was a distraction in the clubhouse and that with Thome now in the DH spot, there was no need for the “Big Hurt” in Chicago. A long drawn out war of words between Williams and Thomas would ensue (which is nothing new for Williams who also took that approach when discussing perennial all-star and fan favorite Magglio Ordonez a season earlier and with Rowand a few months later) with both men blaming the other for the decision to part ways.
Williams had his new lineup and looked to return to the top of the standings but something happened along the way. While Thome put up big numbers (.288/42/109) the team still found itself struggling to score runs as it had done with relative ease a year earlier and the Brian Anderson experiment in CF was a total failure (.225/8/33). Everything that had worked for the Sox one year earlier was no longer working and by August it was clear this team had no shot of repeating. What made things worse was castoffs Thomas (.270/39/114 4th in MVP voting) and Rowand were having strong seasons for teams who were actually outplaying the Sox. Williams chalked this up to an “off-year” and counted on his World Series good will from the fans to hope they would overlook this dissapointing season but if they didn’t he wouldn’t care anyway. Williams constantly reminded fans and media that he works for the White Sox and not for them and he only has to answer to himself and his owner.
The next offseason Williams did it again, trading pitcher Freddy Garcia (who was 40-21 in his 2+ seasons in Chicago) to the Phillies for former touted prospect turned bust Gavin Floyd and minor leaguer Gio Gonzalez, whom the Sox sent to Philly in the Thome trade a year earlier. Williams told reporters after the trade that the most important piece was getting Gonzalez back. Why was he traded in the first place if he was so valuable? Williams would never answer that question because he doesn’t need to explain himself to the fans who pay his salary by coming to watch the team.
The White Sox, now a shell of the team which had won it all only two seasons earlier struggled from the get go in 2007. The team went with rookie John Danks as their fifth starter and was plagued by inconsistency which was a staple of their earlier staffs throughout the late 90’s. Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and A.J.Pierzynski battled nagging injuries that lead to subpar offensive seasons. Joe Crede missed most of the season due to back surgery and Brian Anderson lost his grip on the CF job to upstart Jerry Owens. The bullpen which had been a team strength turned into a revolving door of power pitchers who couldn’t get the big outs (with the exception of closer Jenks, who had arguably his best season). Tadahito Iguchi was traded and replaced with light hitting Danny Richar. By season’s end, The White Sox were fighting to stay out of last place in the AL Central and watching as Magglio Ordonez led the Tigers to the playoffs with an MVP type performance. Once again, Williams blamed the players and told fans to ignore the glaring weaknesses that this team now had at many positions.
Williams went into this offseason with almost no good will remaining in the eyes of fans from his triumph in 2005. He promised a big offseason of change and has simply not delivered. His first attempt at changing the atmosphere in Chicago was met with mixed reviews as he traded Jon Garland (who won 48 games over the last 3 seasons) to the Angels for SS Orlando Cabrera only weeks after giving SS Juan Uribe a one year extension. Williams’ next move was targeting All-Star CF Torii Hunter but lost out when Hunter chose to follow Garland to L.A.. Next, instead of going after free agent former Sox CF Aaron Rowand who was coming off a career season, Williams turned his attention to Japanese OF Kosuke Fukudome (who would later sign with the Cubs) upsetting many fans who had hoped for a return of Rowand to U.S. Cellular Field. The offseason got truly ugly when the most talented team in the Sox division, the Tigers added to their riches and pulled off a blockbuster deal to acquire superstar 3B Miguel Cabrera (whom the Sox also targeted) and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins that almost ensured them another division title. Williams in his delusional tone offered only this response “That trade only allows the Tigers to better compete with US”…Go ahead read it again. Is this man out of his mind? The Tigers don’t even know the Sox are in their division right now.
“Hmmm…Konerko and Jenks for Guillermo Mota?”
Ken Williams left the Winter Meetings in Nashville without a CF or any significant upgrade to a lineup of a 90 loss team and then called a press conference to tell the media that the reason he was unable to make deals was “other teams executives had loose lips”….WHAT????. Ken Williams blames everyone but himself for the failures of this team but wants all the credit when things go right. Maybe if he didn’t rip every player that leaves the team months later, free agents would want to play for him. Maybe if he didn’t insist on making the “big move” when none are necessary just to prove to everyone that he is willing to pull the trigger this team wouldn’t be in the shambles it is right now. For some unknown reason, Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has allowed Williams to turn his franchise back into the laughingstock it was prior to 2005 and in doing so, alienate his fan base which so proudly supported his team throughout the darkest years. If Williams continues on this path, Reinsdorf will have no team left to salvage once he finally realizes what is going on here. Each time Williams criticizes a player or media member or fellow executive, he reeks of failed baseball player still trying to make up for his unrealized dreams and with each passing day he becomes less and less of the man who brought this organization glory and more and more of an unfunny cartoon. The time is now for Reinsdorf to end this debacle and begin to restore his team’s place in the upper echelon of franchises in this league before it is gone forever.
