The White Sox do not figure to become outright sellers, not when they’re only 3 1/2 games out of first place in the AL Central. But owner Jerry Reinsdorf wants to trim payroll, according to a major-league source.
So, while the White Sox aren’t about to dust off their dreaded “white flag,” Williams could seek to make deals that lower the payroll while keeping the team competitive for a post-season run.
The Sox went “all-in” this season, increasing their Opening Day payroll to a club-record $127.7 million, the fifth-highest in the majors. However, the team ranks only 19th in home attendance, and their average is down more than 2,000 from a year ago, dropping from 27,091 to 24,647.
Those numbers hint at financial pressure, and the White Sox possibly could move two players – right-hander Edwin Jackson ($8.35 million) and right fielder Carlos Quentin ($5.05 million) without greatly compromising their chances. …
Other White Sox trade links:
- Alejandro De Aza was pulled in the top of the 1st inning of Charlotte’s game today. Will he come up? Will he be traded? Brett Ballantini takes a look, and J.J. puts odds on the various scenarios. UPDATE #2: De Aza was called up and played CF instead of Alex Rios, who was benched.
- James looks back at Kenny Williams’ buy/sell moves in the previous years.
- Mike has a hard time believing that Kenny Williams will conduct a fire sale.
- Joe Pawlikowski at Fangraphs wonders ‘What Would A White Sox Fire Sale Look Like?’ and ‘Should/Would The White Sox Do A Fire Sale?‘
- And a couple “scouting” tweets: the Phillies are scouting Carlos Quentin in case the Sox decide to move him, while the Sox are spending a lot of time scouting the [minor-league] systems of the Yankees, the Red Sox and the Phillies.
UPDATE: Kenny’s answer to Rosenthal’s report:
“We should just get to the Trade Deadline and where we are, what we do, what we may do, all these questions will be answered,” Williams said. “And let’s go from there. We’ll see how we do this week.”When asked if there were any untouchables on his roster, Williams smiled and reiterated, “Let’s see how we do this week.”
