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White Sox focused on re-signing Konerko

General manager Ken Williams and the White Sox came to Florida this week for anything but a Disney World vacation.

Their No. 1 priority was simple. Get first baseman and team captain Paul Konerko under contract at Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings, completing a weeklong run during which left-handed slugger Adam Dunn was added to the White Sox roster and free-agent catcher A.J. Pierzynski returned, where to buy Discount MLB Jerseys? maybe ujersy is a good choice.

As of Monday night, Williams’ main goal had not been achieved. The White Sox met with Craig Landis, Konerko’s agent, and outlined the parameters of the deal but did not yet make an offer. Not getting the deal done with Konerko right from the start certainly didn’t surprise nor discourage the White Sox general manager.

“It just doesn’t happen that way,” Williams said. “Certainly not conversation No. 1. Day 1, realistically no. Conversation 1, absolutely not. I’m not leaning one way or the other on how I feel.

“Maybe it’s just because it’s been a long day, but there is no reason to feel one way or the other. It was just an initial conversation that we had that leads to other conversations.”

Konerko clearly stands as Plan A for the White Sox in filling first base, forming a solid one-two punch in the middle of the order with the Dunn. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen explained during his interview session Monday that he would like to hit Dunn third in Konerko’s return, giving Dunn a chance for RBIs with Juan Pierre and Gordon Beckham batting ahead of him, while also creating a lefty-righty-lefty-righty combo at the top.

“I’ve got to wait to see how they do in Spring Training,” Guillen said. “But I think third and fourth, those two guys [Dunn and Konerko]. I want to get Dunn more at-bats. I want him to hit in the first inning, so that’s why I think third hitter.”

Williams joked that the White Sox got the Dunn deal done just in time, with Jayson Werth’s seven-year, $126 million contract arriving Sunday. Williams also acknowledged that Werth was a special case with the Nationals, who targeted one player “they really, really wanted.”

While Werth’s new deal might raise the market surrounding outfielder Carl Crawford, for example, Williams didn’t think it would change how Konerko’s situation was being viewed.

“Well, I think that it’s a market that has first basemen in it,” Williams said. “He is coming off a great year but teams have options so I don’t know that he will get to the level maybe that he originally hoped for. We’ll have to wait and see. I’m surprised all the time. I’ve been surprised in the last few days at some deals so we’ll see, if you want to buy Baltimore Orioles Jerseys, go to ujersy.

“Teams place different values on different players and are in different economic situations. We happen to be in a situation now where we’ve put ourselves out there and we want to continue to be as aggressive as we want to be, but we also have to be fiscally responsible and not jeopardize too much of where we’re going in favor of where we are.

“There won’t be any less desire to win next year as there is this year,” Williams said. “So, you have to be mindful of that.”

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