White Sox Season Roundup

The 2010 White Sox season will not be forgotten anytime soon. Despite my postseason prediction being garbage, it was a roller coaster in every sense of the term from their horrific start, to their 25-5 run to get to first place by the All-Star Break, to their strange and bizarre acquisition of Manny Ramirez, to their eventual elimination by the Minnesota Twins. Alex Rios had a bounce-back season. Paul Konerko had a freakish MVP Caliber season (more on him in a minute). Jake Peavy showed what an expensive gamble he was, by having an awful injury which he may never fully recover from. Andruw Jones and Mark Kotsay were not nearly enough to replace Jim Thome numbers wise. Bobby Jenks, Matt Thornton, and J.J. Putz had their ups and downs. This club battled hard, and put forth a great effort overall even though they fell short of the postseason. All the accomplishments on the field however, do not tell the full story of this season.

Despite all the White Sox on the field success, there were all kinds of unneccesary unprofessional pissing contests between Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams this season which to be perfectly honest would be good enough to get them BOTH fired. I'm honestly so tired of both of them and their childish, boorish, little standoffs in which both Ozzie and Kenny displayed the maturity of 7th graders. Not only did I get tired of it, but evidently Uncle Jerry got tired of it too, as he assured Ozzie that he would return next season, but did not give him an extension which essentially means that both Williams and Guillen have one more chance to get this team back to the post season in 2011.

The biggest challenge for the White Sox will be what to do with Paul Konerko. Paulie had his best season ever at the plate, and consequently put himself in position to have one more big payday. The problem is, the White Sox might not be able to afford him! The Sox have $75 million committed for 2011, and have Arbitration cases for Carlos Quentin, John Danks, Bobby Jenks, and Tony Pena which could put that number between $85-$90 million. They also have to make decisions on A.J. Pierzynski, J.J. Putz, Andruw Jones, and Freddy Garcia. That would put the Sox over the $100 million mark, and since Konerko is looking for around a 3 year/$45 million, the problem becomes even more magnified. If they sign Konerko, they will have to find cheaper alternatives for the other previously mentioned free agents. If they pass on Konerko, they will have to be counting on Dayan Viciedo to be their first baseman in 2011. It's not a coincidence that they've been playing Viciedo at first base the past week.

My prediction : The Sox will pass on Paul Konerko, and while it will sting, it's the right thing to do. Spending money on Konerko would be bad money. We cannot realistically expect him to put up those numbers for three more seasons. This isn't a matter of liking Konerko, it's simple economics. Kenny spent a lot of money...too much money....to make this economically feasible. Unless Uncle Jerry feels like opening up the checkbook even further, I just don't see it happening.

As for the rest of the team, well who knows if they can compete without Konerko. I know it's not in the White Sox DNA to strictly rebuild, but this team with or without Konerko, just isn't good enough.

So while it won't be as significant an offseason as I originally anticipated, it's still going to be fun to watch...