First baseman Paul Konerko recently told the Chicago Sun-Times that if the 2009 team put together by general manager Ken Williams does fall on hard times, he would be open to a trade possibility.
Konerko earned 10-and-5 status last season, allowing him to veto any trade proposals involving him. "You never know, because the answer could be you help them by leaving," Konerko said. "I would never be opposed to that. It doesn't have to be a breakup that's antagonistic. It doesn't have to be a thing where heads are butted."
The 33-year-old team captain has seen it all since arriving on the South Side before the 1999 season. And while he has made it a practice to stay out of front office business, it doesn't take a genius to glance around the clubhouse and see the writing on the wall.
Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Jose Contreras will be free agents after this season.
And even with Williams making it a point to infuse some youth into the minor leagues and the big-league club this winter, the window for the current veteran core of the team isn't far from slamming shut.
Dye spent the offseason hearing his name mentioned in rumor after rumor, enough so that the veteran told the Sun-Times in January that he knows if the White Sox are struggling come July he'll be the first deck chair thrown off the Titanic.
"Definitely (I'm first to go), and that's with any team," Dye said then. "I understand that, and if I get called in with Kenny and have that talk, that's what I do."
But while Konerko is seemingly protected from that, he knows there is a scenario where he could be asked by the club to waive his right and go elsewhere.
"My thought on this, and not that I've thought too much on it at this point, but my thought is that if you earn a right like that -- and usually because it feels like you have to go through hell to get it -- at the same time, the White Sox are like family to me. I've always said that I want to do what's best for the organization because they've done so much for me.
"I'm here for this organization, whether I play for another team or whatever, it won't matter. I'll always be a member of the White Sox. If it ever got to a point like that where it's better for me, better for the team, I would also look at the team I'm going to because I feel like you do go through hell to get that right. Only a small percentage of players get that right and I've got it, but again, we all hear that if we're not playing well this year they're going to do something.
"Our goal is to make sure that doesn't happen. If we do well and we keep doing well, then you hope that conversation can stop."
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