Fact: I wanted Paul Konerko on the Angels. There are several others that I want just as much, but I wanted Paul. Call it “Revenge for Doug Eddings” if you want. But the bottom line is that the Angels will get somebody with a Big Bat for the middle of the lineup, because they have money and that’s what they want.
Paul Konerko is a Big Boy now. I assume he can read a contract. If not, I hope that he has an agent who can explain it to him. I hope he and his agent know who they are dealing with, and have read EVERY WORD, EVERY PHRASE. Particularly dealing with THAT owner and THAT Organ-I-Zation. Stop reading after every sentence and ask: How can the White Sox use that sentence against me in three years? Pay particular attention to phrases like “buyout option,” “team option,” “diminished skills” and “negotiable in the future.”
Paul says he wants to finish his career with the White Sox. Well, I want General Motors to build a new Firebird in 2006 so that I can buy it. Guess What. It’s not going to happen. Has any of their best players ever finished his career with the White Sox? Robin Ventura? Ray Durham? Jack McDowell? Alex Fernandez? Bobby Thigpen? Albert Belle? Magglio Ordonez? Rich Dotson? Tom Seaver? NONE OF THEM. Harold Baines. But the Sox dumped him earlier, so I don’t think he is a “counterpoint argument.” Carlton Fisk also did, but under circumstances that were so contentious that for TEN YEARS, he refused to show up at The Cell. Plus, the way they are now treating Frank Thomas — and have treated him for most of this decade — odds are that he won’t finish with the Sox either.
What makes Paul think that he is going to be different? The White Sox have a team history of throwing guys out like last night’s chicken bones when “the skills begin to diminish.” I didn’t coin that phrase, by the way. Or when they don’t feel like signing the paychecks. Is he gambling that he’ll have five great years and not start to break down until this contract is fulfilled?
And when (“if and when,” I guess) this thing goes South, everybody is going to side with The Chairman and his poodle GM. Nobody takes the side of a $60,000,000 ballplayer in the PR wars. Look again at the Big Hurt Example. I think Paul should have asked himself, “If they treat the best hitter they’ve ever had that way, how am I going to be treated when I lose a step.”
I wish him the best, but I think he made a mistake. Time will tell, as it always does.
If Paul Konerko wanted loyalty, he should have bought a dog.
Dont know much about the contract details but you sound a little disappointed.
Just chatted with a nice woman at the cafe who is a die-hard Sox fan. Says she thrilled to have Paulie back again.
As for Konerko, it was only 2 years ago that he hit .234 with minimal power. Not saying he’ll revert to that again but the possibility is there.