White Sox: Kenny Williams; His Moves and My Bold Predictions

After a disappointing season in which Kenny Williams kept insisting the Southsiders had all the right tools to win the Central Division, he’s been fairly busy all ready this off season trying to piece together a World Series caliber team. In recent years, Kenny has been pretty quiet at the Winter Meetings and often waited until Spring Training time to make his moves, but I believe he’s realized the time is now. The opportunities have presented themselves and he’s been taking advantage. His first two moves were minor, but smart. He signed a struggling Andruw Jones to a minor league deal which has tremendous upside. Jones is typically a fly ball hitter and with the short dimensions of Comiskey (yes, Comiskey, not U.S. Cellular Field or The Cell) he quite possibly could hit fifteen homers should a situation arise where he joins the Sox and gets regular playing time. What a bargain and stroke of genius this pick up could possibly turn into! Secondly, he signed veteran Omar Vizquel. He’s way past his prime, but the man’s been wearing an infielder’s glove since he was in the womb, though I think he left his bat in there. He’ll be the mentor to rising star middle infielders Alexi Ramirez and Gordon Beckham. They both have good range and strong arms all ready, but when a man who has 12 gold gloves on his mantle speaks, you listen. Ramirez has a knack to make the spectacular play, yet he also has a knack for taking the routine plays off and often boots the easy grounders or sails his throws over to first by being too lackadaisical. Beckham filled in nicely at third last year. He was a little rough around the edges at first, but with those soft hands and a few adjustments he really started to come into his own. With the decision coming early from Kenny to move Beckham to the other side of the diamond at second, he’ll have the rest of the off-season and all of Spring Training to get comfortable with both himself and to create chemistry with Alexi. Vizquel of course will be there to help both young players find themselves at their respective four and six positions. He’ll also be a nice platoon player to give guys in the infield a day off and should see a good amount of playing time as well as be a good replacement should one of those guys land on the disabled list. The most significant move to mark this off-season is the acquisition of speedster Juan Pierre. Kenny finally got his hands on the quintessential leadoff hitter he’s been after since the days of…um…that one leadoff hitter guy. Yeah, him. Pierre hits for good average and is disciplined at the plate. He’ll set the table nicely for whoever hits behind him and he’s capable of stealing 40 plus bases this year. He’s also a smart base-runner unlike that Pods character. The only downside of having Pierre at the top of the order is that he has to play the field too. He’s slightly better in the outfield than Pods is in my opinion. He has decent range and is always aware of the situation on the field, but to say he has a poor throwing arm is an understatement. He’ll be a good guy to have in the clubhouse as a veteran with a leadership role and I’ll take that any day. Ozzie Guillen said he’ll be happy to give guys a day off from the field and rotate them in the DH spot with the current roster that he has, but I have a feeling Kenny isn’t done just yet this offseason. There are still some free agents out there who could potentially fill the everyday DH spot…Thome, who was recently spotted at a nearby Detroit hotel, Xavier Nady aka “The Untie-er” , he’s not ja boy he’s Jermaine Dye, or, and keeping in mind that this is just wishful thinking, Johnny Daman or even better, Matt Holliday! Kenny made another nice pick up adding J.J. Putz to the back of the bullpen. If all pitch well and stay healthy the entire season, the games could be shortened to six innings with Putz taking the seventh, Thornton in the eighth, and Big Bobby Jenks slamming the door shut in the ninth. That or Ozzie can play his favorite game of matchups using Putz against righties and Thornton against lefties. Putz may even be the closer by season’s end should Jenks falter or get injured. The only signing I’m truly skeptical about is that of Mark Teahen. He’s relatively consistent on the field as a utility player, though this season he’ll be the everyday third baseman, as well as in the batters box; however, he still hasn’t put up numbers as good as his breakout season in ’06. With this group of guys and our staff he just may have an All-Star performance this season. Still, my favorite move of 2009 was trading for Jake Peavy. He gave us a little taste of what we’ll see next year and I definitely like what I saw. I’m sure the rest of the White Sox Pride liked it too. All in all, Kenny is doing a damn good job piecing together a team that could rekindle the magic of ’05. If everyone performs as expected, and I’m looking at you, RIOS, and so long as everyone stays healthy especially with the best starting rotation on paper, the White Sox WILL be the Central Division Champs! You can take that to the bank. It’s up to them to take it to the next levels. I’ll have a post on the Loveable or in my case, the Hate-able Losers soon. Remember to get your fix here and I’ll see you in 2010 Chicago!