White Sox general manager Ken Williams talked about his current roster and the chance of making a trade before the July 31 deadline.
"When you look at what exactly is available out there or potentially could be available as things get a little bit warmer -- we're in a little bit of a holding pattern," Williams said. "Now there are some obvious names out there, but those names might not be what we need position-wise. You have to be very careful about over-managing, over-general managing." The fact is that the current makeup of his roster leaves very little wiggle room for an acquisition. The two biggest names struggling are Jim Thome and Paul Konerko. Each has the potential to bust out, as well as have the right to refuse a change of address.
Williams will look to move Juan Uribe as the July 31 trade deadline approaches -- if not in the next week before Konerko returns from the 15-day disabled list -- but only because he feels he wants to do right by the free agent-to-be middle infielder.
With that said, Williams isn't going to be reactionary.
"There have been times in the past where for instance you start looking toward a particular guy that's struggling, and you start looking at the fill for that position before saying, 'Uh, you know what, I'm going to stay with this guy,'" he said. "Sure enough, that guy you stay with figures it out and gets back to his normal numbers, his normal tendencies. Like I said at the beginning of the season or even before that in the offseason, we don't need anyone to overachieve, just do what you are capable of doing.
"The ingredients are here for a championship club."
But "Gambler Kenny" isn't the least bit afraid to push the chips in if a big deal comes his way. As he has shown since taking over the post prior to the 2001 season, he is capable of anything.
"Well, I always feel like that," Williams said. "If the right deal comes along at any point of the year, I have never been afraid of that, but I'm not going to try and force it. Because what we've done is plan for the present, to win for the present, but by bringing along some of the guys in the mix to put ourselves in a position for a ... run, I think."
WHITE SOX 10, CUBS 3: Jose Contreras got the revenge he wanted, allowing three runs in the win over the Cubs on Friday. It was last weekend at Wrigley Field that the Cubs hammered Contreras for nine runs in just 3 1/3 innings of work. The win also ended a three-game losing steak to the cross-town rivals this year.
The hitting hero for the Sox was first baseman Nick Swisher, who hit a grand slam. It was the third slam of his career.
