White Sox offer arbitration to Paul Konerko, J.J. Putz; not on A.J. Pierzynski, Manny Ramirez

scott merkin tweets:

White Sox offer arbitration to Konerko, Putz; Decline arbitration on Pierzynski and Manny Ramirez.

UPDATE: Konerko, Pierzynski and Ramirez are Type-A free-agents. Putz is a Type-B. Merkin explains what happens now:

Konerko, 34, has been classified as a Type A free agent, meaning the White Sox will receive two extra Draft picks in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft if Konerko declines arbitration and signs with another team. Konerko and Putz have one week to decide if they will accept the arbitration offer, with Nov. 30 standing as the deadline.

A first-round pick would go to the White Sox from the Konerko-signing team, as long as that team’s pick is not protected in the Top 15. The White Sox also would receive a sandwich pick in between the first and second rounds.

It’s unlikely for Konerko to accept this arbitration offer, meaning he would be under the White Sox control for just the next season at an increase from his $12 million salary in 2010. Konerko figures to command a multiyear offer, based on his overall body of work, his leadership skills and his .312 average, 39 home runs and 111 RBIs put up last year, with the White Sox certainly remaining in the picture.

Putz, 33, meanwhile, has Type B classification, meaning the White Sox would receive a supplemental selection between the first and second round if he declines arbitration and signs elsewhere. If Putz accepts arbitration by next Tuesday, the White Sox would have an important bullpen cog back in the fold for 2011 at a cost slightly above the $3 million Putz earned in 2010.

UPDATE #2: Padilla @ ESPN:

Williams suggested that not offering arbitration to Pierzynski was a sign of respect:

“We felt that if we did offer arbitration to A.J. and there were [compensation draft] picks involved that it would potentially hurt a guy that is loyal to us and has been a stud behind the plate and brings it every day,” Williams said. “We just didn’t want to do that. The market will define what his worth is and there will be a time in the offseason when we will get together with his guy and discern the options for bringing him back and whether it’s affordable.”

UPDATE #3: Here’s MLBTR’s Free-Agent compensation primer. and MLBTR’s Free-Agent compensation offer tracker.

Most Important Sox, 2011 and beyond edition (#21-30)

Ballantini @ CSN:

As the coals in the hot stove are just beginning to get stoked up, it’s time to rank the current Chicago White Sox, in order of importance for 2011 and beyond. It’s not intended to be a strict list of merely the best players, or best values, on the White Sox. Rather, it takes into account team depth, the free agent market, or answering the question of which player would hurt the most not being on the team? …

… 30. Eduardo Escobar, SS

One great AFL season does not make a prospect. But given that Escobar has lit up a fall season that earns more than its fair share of attention from major-league eyes, Escobar becomes an important trade chip this winter. Perhaps the inclusion of the shortstop in a Carlos Quentin-Colby Rasmus deal with St. Louis gets that trade done.

Differences between expected and actual BABIP for the 2010 White Sox

Gross @ THT:

A couple of years ago, Chris Dutton and Peter Bendix did some research on batted-ball data and created a metric called xBABIP (“expected BABIP”). xBABIP dispelled the myth that BABIP was primarily a function of “LD%+ .120.” Rather, as Dutton and Bendix found, BABIP was better explained as a function all batted-ball types and ratios with speed/power/strikeout considerations.

Last year, Derek Carty and Chris Dutton debuted the simple xBABIP calculator on THT. This tool has empowered users to determine a player’s xBABIP and compare it to their actual BABIP. Therefrom, one could forecast a hitter’s expected batting line, assuming all the input ratios were to remain constant. Over the course of 500+ PA, these ratios tend to be significant, though conclusions can still be drawn at the 300 PA threshold (we’d really only be waiting on IFFB% stabilization).

For all 270 hitters who accrued 300 or more plate appearances this season, I applied the xBABIP formula (by park) to determine each hitter’s expected batting lines. In short, what I have created is a spreadsheet of “what you can expect as a baseline for production in 2011, assuming all else remains constant.” In other words, this is how these hitters should have hit in 2010. …

Numbers for the White Sox players from the full spreadsheet:

Player	PA	xBABIP	BABIP	Difference
Andruw Jones	328	.310	.239	.071
Juan Pierre	734	.351	.294	.057
Mark Kotsay	359	.298	.247	.051
Carlos Quentin	527	.282	.241	.041
A.J. Pierzynski	503	.299	.278	.021
Alex Rios	617	.322	.306	.016
Alexei Ramirez	626	.311	.300	.011
Gordon Beckham	498	.304	.297	.007
Omar Vizquel	391	.309	.309	0
Paul Konerko	631	.297	.326	-.029

For players that played part of the year with the White Sox I got their BABIP numbers from statcorner. All the numbers are for the time they played for the White Sox:

Player	PA	xBABIP	BABIP	Difference
Jayson Nix	57	.262	.189	.073
Manny Ramirez	88	.313	.388	-.075

Mark Teahen had only 262 PAs.

Chuck Garfein’s 2011 off-season predictions

Garfien @ CSN:

Let’s start with the four World Series heroes, and their chances of coming back:

Paul Konerko: 50 percent

A.J. Pierzynski:  40 percent

Bobby Jenks: 1 percent

Freddy Garcia:  25 percent

I’d go with those numbers too. More predictions at the link.

Anonymous scout predicts Konerko’s asking price

Gregor:

He’s going to attract a lot of interest, and I can see him eventually becoming a full-time designated hitter.”

Any guess on Konerko’s asking price this winter?“Three years and $45 million,” the scout said.

Seems Ozzie Guillen can’t stand having a DH

Here’s Ozzie:

“Kenny and Jerry [Reinsdorf] never get involved with my lineup,” Guillen said. “They never did and I don’t think they ever will. I hope not. You never know. But all of a sudden you don’t play Manny for three or four days and he’s healthy … we bring this guy here to play every day.

“I don’t blame them to be that way. But they never get into my lineup, they never did. I do the lineup the best I can and pick a matchup here and there who plays better, but playing time for the rest of the guys, they have to wait and see how I handle it.”

… By bringing aboard Ramirez, Williams was essentially forcing Guillen’s hand with lineup decisions. Or at least that’s how Guillen seems to look at it.

“In the meanwhile it’s hard for me to make the lineup every day because of that situation,” Guillen said about Ramirez’s presence.

What part of the ‘the American League uses a DH’ doesn’t Ozzie understand? Is it so difficult to understand if the Twinkies use a 900 OPS DH and the White Sox use a 700 OPS DH, the White Sox would be at a disadvantage?

Joe Posnaski interviews Kenny Williams

Posnaski:

Kenny Williams is thinking about something.

“You know I love this city,” he says. “I love my job. Understand that. Get that part right. I love what I do, and I love where I am. But if the Oakland Raiders called tomorrow and asked me to run the team, I would go. I would do it.”

He wants me to write this down. I write it down. He is joking. He is not joking.

“Don’t misunderstand,” he says. “Get it down right. Get it down that I love what I do. Don’t get it wrong, now. I absolutely love what I do.”

“But you would leave to run the Raiders?” I ask. It’s the second question of the interview. Kenny Williams keeps staring out at the field, and for the first time a hint of a smile on his face.

“I’d have to go,” he says. “I’d have to tell people, ‘Sorry, I’ve been called home. The Silver and Black has called me home.’” …

Great writeup!

Kenny Williams: Paul Konerko can grow a Mohawk

Padilla:

Asked if Tony Gwynn or Ichiro Suzuki came to the White Sox with long hair, Williams amended that statement saying that anybody with Hall of Fame credentials can take some liberties with the team’s appearance standards. He added that Paul Konerko could grow a Mohawk andhe wouldn’t have an issue with it.

Will Paulie be able to adjust [to a Mohawk]?

Translating Manny Ramirez’ numbers to the Cell

Gross @ THT:

The question I seek to answer today is how much value Manny should prospectively provide the Pale Hose. Dave Cameron saw the difference between Manny and Mark Kotsay as worth about 8.0 runs per about 100 plate appearances. What I am going to do is take Manny’s numbers at Dodgers Stadium and attempt to translate them over into the AL for the White Sox.

As a preemptive disclaimer (given past experiences), these translations tend to be more theoretical than actual, forming a baseline around which statistical noise and random luck oscillate around. Over a meager 30 game sample, anything is possible. …

Manny Ramirez cuts his dreadlocks?

CSN:

Ramirez also had his dreadlocks cut by his personal barber, Angel Pena. Ramirez flew Pena to Boston and had him cut off exactly 99 millimeters–the number 99 matching his jersey number.

99 millimeters are 3.9 inches or 9.9 centimeters.

UPDATE #1: Speaking of Manny, does Kenny have a thing for 1990’s Cleveland players?

UPDATE #2: Here’s a picture of Manny:

When Manny won’t go to the barber, the barber will come to Manny

Cafardo @ BG:

LMontro, barber to the sports stars, has texted to tell me he will be doing Manny Ramirez’ hair in Boston either on Thursday or Friday. Ramirez’ dreadlocks have already become an issue in Chicago where team owner Jerry Reinsdorf has a policy on the length of hair.

THT on the 2010 White Sox’ ‘DH by committee’

Gross @ THT:

In a vacuum, a re-signing of Thome by the White Sox would give the South Siders a +3.0 WAR swing in the AL Central Standings. Note, however, that Thome has only 279 plate appearances this season while splitting DH duties with Jason Kubel. Of course, Thome’s been platooned, which may exaggerate his bottom line, but any potential non-platoon “regression” would surely be offset by the additional playing time he would have seen with the White Sox. Let’s just leave the WAR at +2.4 and call it even.

The White Sox do not play in a vacuum, however. Thome, in not re-signing with the White Sox, signed a deal with the Twins. Hence, in a Thome-on-the-Sox-over-Kotsay theoretical situation, you have to not only add +3.0 WAR to the White Sox 2010 win total, but also subtract 2.4 WAR from the Twins’ 2010 win total. That turns a 4.0 game lead by the Twins in the AL Central into a 1.5 game lead by the White Sox. …

Manny Ramirez and the Cell

Sarris:

If a .200 ISO does not seem exciting enough, there are reasons to think he can do better in Chicago. According to StatCorner.com, the park factor for home runs for right-handed hitters in Los Angeles was 92. Compare that to U.S. Cellular, home of the White Sox, which has a 134 park factor for home runs for right-handed hitters. That is a serious swing in fortunes. In 213 earlier-career at-bats at the Cell, he’s had a .338/.448/.601 line that suggests he feels comfortable there. …

BTW, here’s another ‘Manny Ramirez is a bum’ takedown.

The Manny Ramirez negotiations

Jackson @ ESPN:

It was around noon Monday when the Dodgers made it official, issuing a news release announcing Ramirez was going to the White Sox on waivers — meaning the White Sox are responsible for all of the $3.825 million left on his contract, but the Dodgers aren’t getting a player in return.

“We had been talking probably since Friday or Saturday,” Colletti said. “We offered to take back [responsibility for] $1.5 million for not their best prospect but certainly somebody we thought was a good prospect, and they didn’t want to do that. We lowered our [amount] to $1 million for a slightly lower prospect, and they didn’t want to go in that direction. So finally, we offered $500,000 for one of their lower-level guys, and they didn’t want to do that. We tried to give them a chance to recoup some of the salary they’re going to owe him.”

Manny to get to Cleveland at 6 am, get a haircut, and wear no. 99

Gregor @ DH:

Ozzie said Manny might not make his debut until Wednesday, but the guess here is he debuts Tuesday night. Ramirez is scheduled to be on a red-eye flight from California tonight, with his plane landing at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning local time. If he gets enough sleep and feel up for playing tomorrow night, he’ll be in the lineup.

Nightengale@ USAT:

Who knows if Ramirez can vault the White Sox back into the playoffs, but it sure might be fun watching, even without Ramirez’s dreadlocks. He informed the White Sox that yes, he plans to get a haircut and abide by team rules.

Merkin @ WS:

Set to wear jersey No. 99, Ramirez will top Tony Phillips’ previous franchise high of jersey No. 73 from 1997. He was slated to fly on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland on Monday night, leaving manager Ozzie Guillen unsure if Ramirez will start Tuesday.

UPDATE: 6:00 am was 2:15 pm…