Kenny Williams on Paul Konerko

Here’s Kenny:

“I will say this: In my 10 years in this chair, I’ve never had a free agent to be, especially one that has had the past success and the present year success that he’s had, handled it in such a graceful, classy, professional way. I had to make a statement earlier this year that I don’t know where we’re going to end up, where our revenues are, where our payroll is headed in relation to all the other things we have to do, so we can’t engage in any talks for extensions for anyone.

“He has respected that and been a prince about that. And he’s had every right to question and ask what’s his future. If that question were to be asked, I’d have to say ‘I don’t know.’ All the numbers and projections aren’t in. I’ll get a payroll number at some point in November, I’d imagine. And then we’d have to see how the team fits as a whole, and he’s been here long enough to know we’ve never valued one individual piece more than the team as a whole. If you do that, you can start the spiral that will take you a decade to recover from.

“Now I said that to say this: He is valued on that field, on the bench, on the clubhouse, on the bus, in the hotel, and has just been selfless and one of the best guys you can have around here for a long time, so these are the type guys you would like to finish their careers here.

“Whether that happens or not, I don’t know.”

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