Inside the White Sox

Chris Getz and Josh Fields are now Royals, Mark Teahen is now the White Sox starting third baseman, Jermaine Dye is all but gone, talks with free agent-to-be Scott Podsednik have disintegrated, and Gordon Beckham is now the new starting second baseman.
Just another day of the Ken Williams experience.
Less than 36 hours after the New York Yankees were crowned World Series Champions, the South Side was a flurry of activity with Williams wasting very little time in showing his hand on how the general manager wants the 2010 team to look.
The first order of business on Friday morning was announcing that they bought out the 2010 mutual option on Dye, paying him $950,000 rather than picking up the $12 million for the upcoming season and making the outfielder a free agent.
Within an hour of that announcement, the Sox finalized the deal with the Royals, sending Getz and Fields to Kansas City and getting back Teahen and cash.
"We've kept our eye on [Teahen] the last few years, asked about him last year and nothing materialized,'' Williams said of the trade. "He's a tough-nosed ballplayer. He was hurt last year and dragged his ass out there. He's a winner.''
It didn't hurt that current minor league director Buddy Bell had Teahen under him when Bell was the Royals manager.
"It's about projection sometimes guys,'' Williams said in response to those that might criticize the move. "The defensive fit, Buddy Bell's experience with Mark in the clubhouse and having him on the field made him a pretty attractive player for us.''
The versatile Teahen will also have a permanent home with the Sox, as the everyday third baseman. Williams already spoke to Beckham about the change and the rookie was all for it. Manager Ozzie Guillen was also all for it, as the Sox have instantly become a better defensive team in the infield.
"The past three years I haven't known where I'm going to play,'' Teahen said. "The last 24 hours I didn't know what city I would play in. Knowing both now, playing third base is my comfort position.
"I've always produced better when I've been left alone, playing just third base. I'm excited about that.''
As far as what the Sox gave up, it ended a 24-hour chaos for Getz and Fields who had heard they had been traded, but couldn't get confirmation from the club because the money in the deal was the holdup.
"We didn't really go in depth on why,'' Getz said of his talk with Williams Friday morning. "His reason was they were just looking for some reasons to shuffle things up and I was involved. No further than that. This is the nature of this business. I don't look at it as a negative. I can speculate why they would want to get rid of me, but that could be endless thinking. It's a new opportunity.''
Teahen, 28, hit .271 with a career-high 34 doubles, 12 home runs and 50 RBI in 144 games with the Royals in 2009, playing third, second and right field.
Getz, 26, hit .261 with 18 doubles, four triples, two home runs, 31 RBI and 25 stolen bases in 107 games, while Fields, 27, appeared in 79 games with the Sox last season, hitting .222 with seven home runs and 30 RBI.
"It's tough leaving Kansas City, but as far as the baseball side of it I'm excited to get to a team that competes and contends every year,'' Teahen added. "It's exciting to play in meaningful games.''
The other news to come out of Friday was that talks with Podsednik on staying atop the lineup for 2010 have broken down, meaning that Jordan Danks could be tabbed as the third outfielder/leadoff hitter. Williams said there was very little money for a free agent, making Chone Figgins a pipedream once again.
"Money is tight,'' Williams said. "Money is tight all over the world, certainly on the South Side. We'll spend whatever we have available, but there's not much.''
"As far as Podsednik is concerned, we already had talks and a little bit of dialogue back and forth with him. It's not likely based on what he wants so we'll have to look elsewhere.''

One word summed up Thursday for Chris Getz - "Bizarre.''
The second baseman woke up a member of the White Sox, but by the time breakfast came to an end he was headed to Kansas City.
At least that's what a New York Daily News story was reporting.
The paper had Getz and disgruntled third baseman Josh Fields fitted for royal blue uniforms with the Sox getting 28-year-old Jack of all trades, master of none, Mark Teahen coming to the South Side.
A source close to the situation then confirmed to the Sun-Times that the deal was all but done, but there were still talks about the possibility of minor-league prospects being involved. There was the hold up.
Meanwhile, the Sox and Royals each told different media outlets that they had nothing to report on the matter, and that included letting Getz in on what was going on.
"I have no idea what's going on,'' Getz responded in a text.
That stance didn't change for the infielder as the day went on, still not hearing anything on the matter from the Sox - either confirming or denying the trade.
Yet, no one in the organization, including general manager Ken Williams, returned texts on the matter. Not even a "Stay out of White Sox business'' from the GM - a line he likes to use concerning rumored trades.
But while the rumored deal initially raised some eyebrows, it did make sense considering the trail of breadcrumbs left by the club the last few months of the season.
The two free agents on their radar going into the 2009-10 offseason were Bobby Abreu and Chone Figgins, but those close to Abreu in the Sox organization already knew that Abreu and the Angels were in discussions to keep him in Los Angeles, which came to fruition on Thursday afternoon with the news of his two-year deal. That left Figgins still with a bull's eye on his back, but an expensive one at that.
The Sox have also all but indicated that free agent-to-be Jermaine Dye will not have his $12 million option picked up for 2010, allowing him to test the market after the 15-day window from Thursday closes.
There were initial talks with Scott Podsednik to re-sign with the club, but that might have been nothing more than a PR move by the club, allowing them to stall and find out the asking price for Figgins in just over two weeks.
If Teahen, who hit .271 with 12 homers and 50 RBI last season, is in fact South Side bound, his versatility to play the outfield or third base gives the club options as they move forward in building the 2010 team. Teahen could allow the Sox to move Gordon Beckam to second base. Two weeks ago, manager Ozzie Guillen said that he saw Beckham as a future second baseman when asked if Beckham could ever return to his natural position of shortstop.
The other option is that the Sox will play Teahen in the outfield, moving Beckham to second and clearing the way for Figgins to be the third baseman.
Jayson Nix could also be in the mix, but Guillen was not happy with the at-bats the free-swinging Nix gave away and said he would need to be more selective if he wanted to make the team next season.
What the Sox did announce on Thursday morning was that they agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract for free agent-to-be Mark Kotsay. The versatile Kotsay gives Guillen a backup first baseman, as well as an outfielder to rotate around. More importantly, Kotsay emerged as a team leader from Day 1 and was an instant favorite of Guillen's.
As far as where the Field, Getz, Teahen deal is, stay tuned.
Bizarre indeed.

Greg Walker knows the reality of it.
Hal McRae, Carney Lansford, Von Joshua - just the latest casualties of a career that has the life expectancy slightly better than that of an adult mayfly.
No, make no mistake about it, hitting coach and job security will rarely be found in the same sentence.
"Look, I know if I was in a normal situation I probably would have been fired after this year,'' the White Sox hitting coach admitted in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "But I also know that we have accomplished a lot. I know that if you watch this game on a daily basis there are things to point fingers at because this is a game of failure.
"I think over the years we built up a enough good will and accomplished things that people don't realize. But we have underachieved the last few years. I think [general manager] Kenny [Williams], [manager] Ozzie [Guillen] and [board chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] know the reasons, and they know I'm the right man for the job. Last year happened and it would have cost a lot of hitting coaches their jobs, but there is a lot of trust there. I don't take that lightly.
"I've done this for seven years and I think for those seven years we've underachieved two of them. Even those years we did underachieve we went about our business the right way. When they decide it's someone else's turn then it will be someone else's job.''
The decision made at the end of the 2009 season was it was still Walker's turn.
As reported by the Sun-Times in late September, Walker, as well as coaches Joey Cora, Don Cooper and Harold Baines, were each given two-year extensions to take them through the 2011 season.
Walker, a self-admitted "organizational guy because the White Sox are my family,'' once again came under fire by the fans this season, especially in the second half when Carlos Quentin came back from injury looking lost at the plate, Jermaine Dye went into a second-half rut and the Alex Rios experiment seemed to blow up in the entire club's face.
Forgotten in that mess was A.J. Pierzynski putting together a career year, rookie Gordon Beckham being rescued from an 0-for-13 big-league start, Paul Konerko back to being Paul Konerko, the rebirth of Scott Podsednik, as well as the emergence of Chris Getz.
But the contract extension means little to Walker if he feels he is somehow hindering the organization.
"I take it one year at a time,'' he continued. "Even though I have a two-year contract now, that doesn't matter to me. This year did not go like I wanted to. But again, I think they know I'm part of the answer not the problem.''
The search for more answers begins Sunday for Walker when he flies to California for a sit-down with Quentin. It will be the first of two trips he may make out West to work with the outfielder this winter. In December and then January he will be off to Puerto Rico to meet and work with Rios.
Already crossed off the to-do list is meeting with Beckham, who drove to Walker's home last week.
"You go into winter concerned about everybody,'' Walker said. "You look at everyone. You work with [head trainer] Herm [Schneider] with the medical part, A.T. [conditioning coach Allen Thomas] with the conditioning part.
"Quentin and Rios are the two guys that we wanted to work with specifically. They are young middle of the order hitters and should be with us a long time. Q is a guy that watches a lot of video and is a bright guy. We're going to look at the good, bad and the ugly the last few years and come up with a gameplan. No swinging or anything like that. Just some time spent with him, mostly on the computer, come up with a plan.
"We want [Rios] to work on some things in the offseason with no pressure. I wanted to firm up that we're all on the same page.''

From Day 1 of spring training, it was obvious to White Sox veterans like A.J. Pierzynski that Gordon Beckham wasn't your typical wide-eyed rook trying to survive his first major-league camp.
So all Tuesday was for Beckham was a stamp on the 2009 season.
A panel of 338 major-league players voted the third baseman The Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year, making the 23-year-old Beckham the ninth rookie in franchise history to be honored by the magazine with manager Ozzie Guillen last receiving that honor in 1985.
Philadelphia pitcher J.A. Happ won the award for the National League.
"All these awards that come out now, they're awards for the players the last year,'' Beckham said. "That's great, but for everybody, the next year is the biggest year. There's no way I'm going to get caught up with awards from the previous seasons. Nothing is ever given to you in baseball, so now you have to prepare for the next season.''
It's that exact attitude which the Sox love about Beckham.
Not that it didn't hurt that he also batted .270 with 28 doubles, 14 home runs and 63 RBIs along the way, despite not being promoted to the Sox until June 4. But the Sox feel they have something special with Beckham because of his make-up.
He stated on several occasions this season that he wanted to be the leader of the team when the time comes, and manager Ozzie Guillen said on Tuesday that the time might come sooner than later.
"I wish that kid was a two or three-year veteran in the big leagues because he has that attitude,'' Guillen said. "He has that right frame of mind. He was a leader his whole life from when he was in high school, college. I think he wants to be the face of the franchise and we need something like that. When a player thinks like that, doesn't hide in the weeds, you don't see many players come up from the minor leagues and think that way. It's a big challenge. But I don't have a doubt in my mind that he has the right tools to be one. Obviously, it has to come from help from myself, Ken Williams and the staff to make him a great leader.''
Adding to Beckham's first-year resume was the fact that he made the switch to third base, after spending his entire life playing shortstop, including at the University of Georgia where he was picked 8th overall in the 2008 draft.
"It's a very important step for him in his career,'' Guillen said. "You look at the players mentioned in the past, it's a great group. You look how you start your career and [this award] is a very important one to have. You can only win this once.''
Beckham is also a candidate for the American League Rookie of the Year as voted on by the sports writers, but to be given that honor by his peers was admittedly a bit more special.
"It's very special either way,'' Beckham added. "Everyone has their opinion. The media has theirs and the players have theirs. When it comes down to it I would rather have the players' vote rather than the media.
"When I first heard I won, I didn't even know who voted on it. I was happy to hear that it was the players. It made it special, but it's all special.''

ST. LOUIS -- Jim Thome was one of the first players to emerge from the clubhouse and into the visiting dugout at Busch Stadium on Saturday. Thome was decked out in Dodger blue. It all looked so wrong. And it seemed all so right.

If anyone deserved a rags-to-riches story on the South Side this season, it's the future Hall of Famer named James Howard Thome from Peoria.

White Sox general manager Ken Williams presented Thome with a Get Out of Jail Free card on Aug. 31, springing the veteran slugger from a season-killing trip to Boston, New York and Minneapolis to accept a trade to the first-place Dodgers. It was Thome's chance to finally win a World Series ring after 19 seasons and 564 home runs in the majors.

Thome admits it wasn't an easy trade to approve. His teammates and coaches helped nudge him to Los Angeles, and Thome's now thankful for the move. But he can't get the Sox off his mind.

''I'll be honest, I would still love to come back,'' Thome said, tightening the blue batting gloves on each hand. ''I still care about the city. I mean, we're going to live there. Chicago's very fond in my heart. The time that I spent there, [chairman Jerry Reinsdorf] treated me great. I guess we'll deal with that when this is all over with.''

Thome, 39, will be a free agent this offseason. He hopes to have that elusive World Series ring on order once he files for free agency. But either way, he knows his days with the Dodgers are numbered.

He wants to return to the White Sox, even if they are toying with the idea of using Scott Podsednik as part of a revolving door built to accommodate speed at designated hitter.

It's likely they will at least entertain the idea now that Thome will be free from the $13 million salary he earned in the final

Dewayne Wise stated several times this season that he never really felt truly appreciated by White Sox fans, and so on Friday, the outfielder that will forever be linked with Mark Buehrle's perfect game opted for free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to Class AAA Charlotte.
The 31-year-old Wise, who actually won the leadoff job and starting center field spot out of spring training before separating his shoulder early on, hit .225 with two homers and 11 RBI in 84 games with the South Siders.
It was his leaping catch at the wall to preserve Buehrle's perfect game against Tampa Bay on July 23, however, which was Wise's most memorable moment, and maybe one of the more memorable moments in club history considering what was on the line.
Wise came on the scene in the second half of the 2008 season, getting spot starts before taking over in the outfield for a slumping Nick Swisher.
It was not the first time Wise had an opportunity to leave the organization, as he agreed to take an assignment early in 2008 after both Ken Williams and Ozzie Guillen told him that they would need him again that season.
True to their word they did. But when the team acquired Alex Rios and then Mark Kotsay in '09, Wise said he was out of the doing-favors-for-the-club business if it happened again, and sure enough it did on Friday.
With the move the Sox 40-man roster stood at 36.

The usual suspects
While no one from the Sox has come forth and declared that they were out until all hours of the night with Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera last week, it's pretty obvious who the prime suspects are.

1. Manager Ozzie Guillen - A close friend of Cabrera's from their Florida days, as well as a guy not afraid to have a few cocktails now and then.

2. Freddy Garcia - The pitcher is also close with Cabrera - through Guillen - and there's a reason "Sweaty Freddy'' is always perspiring on the mound.

3. Alex Rios - Not afraid to go out late at night ... and into the morning.

4. Octavio Dotel - Loves the road, loves the night-life.

5. Tony Pena - He's Octavio Dotel ... five years ago.

6. Ozzie Guillen Jr. - Would be the prime suspect, but he wasn't on the road trip to Detroit ... or was he?

It was almost an afterthought on if the White Sox would pick up the $1 million 2010 option on Freddy Garcia, but that scenario was put to rest on Tuesday afternoon, as a club source confirmed that Garcia would be back on the South Side next season.
The right-hander was 3-4 with a 4.34 ERA in nine starts, after he was released by the Mets in April and out of baseball for a time.
On paper, Garcia will be the No. 5 starter, behind ace Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Mark Buehrle.
What the Sox really like is the price tag, considering he comes at $1 million with $2 million in incentives.
Garcia, who was on the 2005 World Series winning staff, was traded from the South Side to Philadelphia after the 2006 season in a package that brought Floyd to the club.
He is 118-77 lifetime with a 4.07 ERA.
The club also announced that Matt Thornton and his $2.25 million option were picked up. The lefty also has a $3 million option for next season, so seems to be staying put for sometime.
Thornton was 6-3 with a 2.74 ERA, as well as saving four games. His six wins, 72 1/3 innings pitched and 87 strikeouts were all career highs.

DETROIT - There already more answers than there will be questions, but the few questions facing the White Sox this offseason are doozies.
None bigger than the do they or don't they concerning the possibility of trading closer Bobby Jenks.
The dos are obvious. Jenks continued to battle injury problems this season, with several of those problems believed to be conditioning - or the lack of - related. He's also seen his production dip for a second consecutive season.
The don'ts would be that moving Jenks elsewhere means making Matt Thornton the closer and weakening the set-up role. Plus, the one strength Jenks has is his short-term memory. Yes, he blew six saves, but he never lets it carry over very long.
So what to do, what to do? That final decision falls on general manager Ken Williams.
"That's a hypothetical question that I'm not going to go to until something changes,'' pitching coach Don Cooper said. "Bobby is our closer. We need someone to close the games. Matt Thornton is definitely a capable guy, but then you have to fill that job. Life without a closer on any team is going to be an adventure, and right now Bobby is our closer.''
How would that change? Well, there is no question the Sox want to upgrade the offense. Doing that through free agency might be hampered by a payroll that could be reaching the ceiling already. That means through trade. And if Jenks can land that offensive piece, then so be it.
Manager Ozzie Guillen had his own opinion, however, and would rather see Jenks in shape rather than elsewhere.
"Tough call,'' Guillen said. "We don't want to trade him, but in the meanwhile, Kenny's never going to say no to any trade if he thinks it's going to help this organization. I still think Bobby's going to be our closer next year. If something happens between now and next year, then we'll make a move. Can Thornton close a game? A lot of people doubt it; I say yes he can. He's got good enough stuff and he's got experience.
"He didn't have any problems with his arm, but his back slowed him down for a couple outings. Obviously, this kid's got to show up in shape. That's his problem every winter. Hopefully, he knows about it. That's his career and that's the way he's going to make money, if he takes care of himself a little bit in the winter. Not just him, I think everybody should. And this comes from Jerry [Reinsdorf]. Jerry said if you don't prepare yourself for next year, well, let us know and we'll do something about it.''

DETROIT - Ozzie Guillen doesn't concern himself much with tampering rules or any of that red tape that keeps suits employed within the Major League Baseball offices.
The White Sox manager deals with reality.
So when asked on Saturday about the reality of the club going after free agent-to-be Chone Figgins this winter, Guillen spoke honestly. And honestly, he doesn't see Figgins fitting within the budget at this time.
"I don't think Figgins,'' Guillen said of the Angels speedy leadoff hitter. "To be honest with you, would we like to have players like him? [Bleep], everybody does. But this kid is going to cost you a lot of money. If we figure out this guy is going to solve our problem, then [board chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] will take a shot because Jerry wants to win.
"Jerry wants to win. [general manager] Kenny [Williams] wants to win. I want to win. Everybody wants to win. In the meanwhile, Kenny is going to go see the market and we are going to see how ... I would love to have [Scott] Podsednik back but that's my call. It's between Podsednik's agent and Kenny and the White Sox, but we just need someone. That was our problem this year, our center field problem was pretty deep.''
Alex Rios will solve the center field dilemma, while Carlos Quentin will slide from left field to right with Jermaine Dye likely playing his last game with the Sox this afternoon.
That leaves left field with Figgins and Podsednik in the Sox' sights. It will come down to how many zeros Reinsdorf allows Williams to put on that check.
"Having Rios at the start of the season will make everything easier,'' Guillen said. "With Rios, Quentin and whoever is out there, hopefully Podsednik, but I don't make that call.
"There are a lot of names out there but I'm not going to tell you we bring this guy or that guy because I don't know exactly. I know where we are going when you trade for Peavy and Rios. We are going in the right direction. We are going to win. We do things little by little and hopefully everything work out.''

DETROIT - Believe the hype.
Jake Peavy was dominant in eight shutout innings of work, allowing just two hits in the 8-0 win on Friday. And the rub? He said afterward he still wasn't 100 percent.
Making his third, and final, start of the year, Peavy, acquired from San Diego in a trade-deadline deal, showed no signs of the ankle injury and then the bruised elbow that kept him on the shelf until Aug. 19.
While his Sox showing has been a brief one, it has been an eye-opener, with the former Cy Young Award winner winning all three games he started, allowing three runs in 20 innings of work for a 1.35 ERA.
So much for the NL pitchers can't dominate in the AL theory.
"I think it's big for the organization and fans,'' Peavy said of his final outing. "I owed it to [GM Kenny Williams] for getting me over here and the fans, just them seeing my face, get out there and get familiar. It's nice to go into the winter with a couple wins and let's get it on next year.''
He also finished with five strikeouts and two walks, to go with a whole lot of confidence.
"I certainly would have loved to make more starts than three, but it was a battle, it was a grind to even get where we're at today,'' Peavy added. "I'm happy to be back out there, happy the fans can relate next year that we're coming in expecting big things - from myself, Johnny [Danks], Gavin [Floyd], and hopefully Mark [Buehrle] does what he's done his entire career. We're going to run some pretty good guys out there at you.''