A Lesson In "Stroke"

I meant to get to my thoughts on this article written a couple of days ago by the best White Sox Insider in the business Joe Cowley. It's been long reported that Kenny and Ozzie have had a pretty substantial fallout over the past couple years, but it's been especially ramping up in the past five months with everything from Kenny throwing Ozzie under the bus at Soxfest for not retaining Jim Thome, to the attempted Twitter Page shutdown, the firing of Oney Guillien, and most recently the reports of Ozzie and Kenny nearly coming to blows over the White Sox selecting Ozney Guillen in the 22nd round of this years draft. In case you were wondering why Ozzie would be upset about his kid being drafted, there are two things you should know. First, Ozzie had been assured that Ozney would be picked by the 10th round, not the 22nd. Second, Kenny drafted his son Kenneth Williams Jr in the 6th round in the 2008 Draft and gave his son a $150,000 bonus. Williams Jr went on to reward his father's belief in him by becoming an injury case while hitting .227 at Single A Winston-Salem at post time.

Add all of the above mentioned drama on top of a reality show that is filming this season called "The Club", and you have the makings of a classic case of Push coming to Shove. From what Cowley writes, that's exactly what nearly happened as Kenny approached The Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and brought up the idea of firing Ozzie. Reinsdorf told Kenny to "go get his shine box" and made it very clear to Kenny that he will not be able to fire Ozzie. The next thing we see, is Kenny on the team flight (for the first time this season) to Pittsburgh where he sat next to, and played nice with, Ozzie. Both Ozzie and Kenny confirmed that they are on better terms and tried to downplay the friction between the two after the flight. It also bears mentioning that independent of all this, the White Sox have managed to win some games against the underbelly of the National League.

Well I am simply amazed that Reinsdorf said what he said to Kenny, and I'm convinced that when this season is over, Rick Hahn will be the new White Sox General Manager no matter what. First of all as an owner, when you hire a General Manager you have to give him complete autonomy to do what he feels is in the best interest of the Organization. It completely defeats the purpose of having a GM if you tell him who he can and can't fire. That type of behavior is called "Steinbrenner-ism" because even if it has the best of intentions, it is nothing more than meddling and undermining. Reinsdorf knows this. So for him to tell Kenny he can't fire Ozzie indicates to me that he's had enough of Williams and he's either trying to force Williams to quit, or he really meant it when he said Ozzie will be the White Sox manager until he doesn't want to be anymore, no matter what.

Whatever Reinsdorf's intentions may be, the lesson here is crystal clear. Ozzie has more power than Kenny even though Kenny is his boss. Say what you want about Ozzie being "crazy", or a "loose cannon", but he has proven himself to be a very good manager who is obviously capable of winning a championship and most importantly he curry's favor with the Owner. On the other hand according to multiple sources, Kenny is not the same guy he was when he built the 2005 team. The word is that Kenny's ego has gotten out of control to the point where some within the organization have been referring to him as "Hollywood Kenny Williams" due to the constant presence of cameras in the White Sox clubhouse this season.

All of it has lead to a situation that is untenable, something has to give and if I had to guess who it will be it's Williams. Rick Hahn has been named by many publications as the number 1 candidate to become a General Manager next season (even though Danny Evans had similar accolades ten years earlier). He's a Harvard Law and Kellogg Business School of Management graduate as well, and obviously is very familiar with the White Sox organization. Williams contract is one that rolls over annually, and Reinsdorf would only be on the hook to pay him a years salary if he decides to fire Kenny.

It would make complete and total sense to make this move especially with the rise of MBA Cerebral Types being hired as General Managers more and more every season. Don't believe me? Just answer this question. Besides Kenny Williams, name the ONLY other current General Manager that was a former MLB player? Hint : He's received a whole lot of fanfare, but his team has won 1 playoff series during his lengthy administration...

You answer that, and other answers start to materialize.