GM Ken Williams faces the music at SoxFest
By DARYL VAN SCHOUWEN dvanschouwen@suntimes.com January 27, 2012 11:34PM
General manager Ken Williams was the only White Sox personality to hear it from boo-birds on Friday night. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times
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Updated: February 29, 2012 8:08AM
A year ago, Ken Williams received an ovation when he walked into a restaurant.
“Do you get that a lot?” his girlfriend asked.
Lately, yes, Williams said, but see what happens if things go south.
We all know how that story ended. High-priced players tanked, making Williams look like a reckless spender, and the Sox finished four games below .500.
Williams took his punishment for it at SoxFest on Friday night. He got booed.
“It kind of comes with the territory,’’ Williams told a small group of reporters afterward.
The majority of Sox loyalists who paid good money to attend the opening ceremonies applauded Williams, but the boo-birds were heard loud and clear. They had their say and were done. When introduced later, there were only cheers.
The general manager was the only one among players (Adam Dunn and Alex Rios were not present, but Dunn will attend Saturday), coaches and 2005 members to hear a single boo.
“When the team plays well, the players and the coaching staff get the accolades,’’ Williams said. “That’s great. It’s what it should be. When the team plays poorly, it’s the GM and owner’s fault. It is what it is. It’s part of the deal.”
Other than the Williams intro, the first-day crowd was extremely easy on the GM and new manager Robin Ventura. With the exception of one fan’s question about why closer Sergio Santos was traded, questions were light. Fireworks were nonexistent.
The message from Williams to media and fans: This team as comprised — minus Mark Buehrle, Carlos Quentin and Santos from last year’s unit — can win.
“If we hit, we will compete in our division,’’ Williams promised fans, in closing the town-hall-style meeting.
“It’s not like we have no shot,’’ pitcher Jake Peavy said. “We have some very talented players on this team and are very capable of making a run. When expectations are down, you can sneak up on people.
“Robin’s professionalism and stability at the top will steady the ship. We’re going to play good, hard baseball. No reason with our talent we can’t contend.’’
The buzz around town this off-season has not been as optimistic.
“I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to some of the offseason grumbling up until the past few days,’’ Williams told reporters. “I like our team evidently a lot better than some others. We got a starting pitching staff that I’m confident in. We’ll play good defense. We got a lot of bullpen options and a lot of young guys filtering in the starting rotation and the bullpen. We’re going to need some bounce-back from our veteran guys if we’re going to compete.
“We don’t get it, we’re not going to compete. These are just the facts at hand.’’
Williams’ message to Sox players was “play to win and have fun. Be intense about it but play for the scoreboard and not the stats and do something on that given day to help win a game and let that be the focus.’’
They will have to win as is because Williams said there’s no money in the budget for even a utility infield free agent.
Williams said he explored an even bigger selloff beyond Quentin, Jason Frasor and Santos but didn’t deal more because top prospects weren’t available for the right price.
“So you try to give yourself the best chance of winning with the current roster,’’ he said. “At the same time, hedge your bet and add a piece or two for the future as well. That’s why you saw us get all the pitching with the [offseason] moves. “
The biggest pitching piece to be replaced is Santos as closer. A day after Ventura said Matt Thornton was the top candidate to replace him, pitching coach Don Cooper told WSCR-AM (670), “That’s news to me.’’ Cooper included setup man Jesse Crain and rookie flamethrower Addison Reed (in time) in the mix.
“Coaches have an idea of who they want going in but this year I actually told Coop I feel like I can do it and would like an opportunity [to close],’’ Crain said.
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