What are the White Sox doing?

What are the White Sox doing? 

Kenny Williams can tell me he’s “rebuilding,” but I see through that and know he’s just trying to lower expectations and make things easier on first year skipper Robin Ventura. 

9 months after I have “All In” thrown at me, I’m seeing the White Sox turn into something I hate watching as a sports fan and that’s an organization that’s not moving towards winning a championship. 

His World Series Championship still holds water, Williams won a title in this new era of Boston/New York spending $160-$200 million on their teams.  However, in the years since, I’ve watched him develop an identity crisis.  Is he a shrewd general manager that sells a fifty cent pieces for three quarters?  Or is he the GM that overpays people to play for him? 

What is Kenny Williams doing?

I don’t mind dealing players you don’t intend to sign for younger players in order to replenish your farm system.  But there should be a plan in place to keep players that work out the way you wanted them to when you originally traded for them. 

Let’s take John Danks for example. 

When the Sox traded Brandon McCarthy for him back in December of 2006, they were getting back a left-handed starter that scouts said had ace potential.  After a rough rookie campaign in 2007 (as a 22 year old), Sox fans have watched him develop into, although not an ace, a legitimate number 2.  He’s going to be a pitcher that will throw 200 innings every season, give you a chance to win 18-22 of the games he starts, and can win a big game or two (see game 163 against the Twins in 2008).  Now granted, he didn’t turn into the ace some thought he might be, he’s still a valuable piece to a team that’s going to contend for a championship.  I don’t understand why the White Sox wouldn’t give him a 5 year deal at market value (see what CJ Wilson signs for this year).  I completely understand why teams like the Brewers, Royals, or Rays need to let guys like Danks go, or deal them for players that can contribute on the cheap, but I don’t understand why the White Sox have to.  Chicago isn’t a small market and the White Sox spend more than 80% of the teams in baseball.  I digress.

Using the logic that seems to be in place with John Danks (trade him because you aren’t willing to sign him when he hits the open market), what’s the goal in dealing him?  Getting back a player that will develop into a player you will have to trade when he becomes too good?  Is this just a cycle of trading good players that become expensive for players you hope to be good when they are cheap?   

That’s what leaves me asking the question, what are the White Sox doing?  Are the Sox a big market team that competes for the best in free agency and fills holes by trading prospects for productive pros?  Or are they a moneyball team that is always dealing overpaid players for prospects that will overperform and give them 3-4 years of solid service at a discount? 

As the general manager, Kenny Williams needs to pick a philosophy and, pardon the pun, go “all in” with it. 

I’m ok with the White Sox wanting to go young, shed some bad contracts, and deal players that they have no intention of resigning when they hit the open market for prospects that make their farm system better.  But if that’s the direction we are going, I would hope to see some more money invested in the draft and player development.  And I hope our 2^nd best prospect isn’t Nestor Molina, a guy the Sox traded for a day ago.

I’m also ok with the Sox spending money on the right free agents and dealing prospects for proven major league talent in an attempt to win every year.  The AL Central won’t be bad forever, so while the Twins, Indians, and Royals are horrible, I’m all for trying to take advantage of that.  I’m all in for going “all in.” 

So now we are back to where we started, what are the White Sox doing? 

The trade of Sergio Santos (for more information on that, and anything else White Sox, check out my boy Jim Margalus on South Side Sox) started something that inevitably points to Kenny Williams trying to lower fan expectations of the 2012 White Sox.  John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and Carlos Quentin are all being rumored to being moved and we are left to trust that Kenny Williams is doing what’s best for the Chicago White Sox. 

My hope is that KW’s plan of moving the White Sox towards winning another World Series title starts to make some more sense to me so I can stop asking, “what are the White Sox doing?”