Results tagged “paulkonerko”

White Sox GM Kenny Williams always seems to have some deal in the works, so it's no surprise that the Sox are involved in some of the early trade chatter during the off-season. His boldest move last season was landing Jake Peavy from the cash-strapped San Diego Padres, and he might use the Padres' financial situation to try to land another of their star players. Preliminary talks suggest a three-way trade which would send Sox first baseman Paul Konerko to the Anaheim Angels, Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the White Sox and prospects from Chicago and Anaheim to San Diego.

This past weekend, Sox fans saw Joe Crede -- one of the stars from their 2005 World Series team -- sign with the rival Minnesota Twins after management decided to move on without him. Could another one of that team's heroes also find himself in a new uniform before the season is through?

While there was no mention of Bobby Abreu at this past weekend's SoxFest -- and in fact a player of his caliber would seem to be the antithesis of what GM Kenny Williams claimed he was trying to do -- rumors persist that the White Sox are negotiating with the free agent Abreu on a one year, eight million dollar deal. Neither side is denying the talks.

The city of Chicago landed both of our teams in the postseason for the first time since the Teddy Roosevelt administration, and all we got was one stinkin' win before both teams' fortunes sunk quicker than Wall Street. On Monday night, the White Sox saw their season come to a close after losing to the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 at the Cell.

Cubs Blow Another One

While the Cubs and their fans held their annual love-in last weekend, this past weekend the rest of us gathered at the Palmer House Hilton to celebrate and commiserate with fellow White Sox fans. Given the airing of grievances by fans and feats of strength by team management, it could very well have been renamed SoxFestivus.

The Cubs and White Sox have been getting in baseball shape down in Arizona for the past couple weeks, and for the most part it's been a pretty quiet Spring Training for both clubs. Other than Kerry Wood's hot tub incident, and Ozzie's recent war of words with former pitcher Brandon McCarthy, the spring has been pretty quiet. Really quiet, actually. Sunday, however, things got a little more raucous as the White Sox and Cubs...

Should the White Sox again find themselves in the World Series this October -- and why shouldn't they? -- they now know they'll have home field advantage, on account of the American League's 3-2 victory in last night's All Star Game. It didn't look quite so promising for a while, however.

Major League Baseball announced the rosters for next week's All Star Game yesterday, and 6 members of the White Sox were selected, along with one Cub -- Carlos Zambrano.

While the Cubs prized arms have been little more than ongoing sources of concern, their prized slugger has been manificent since joining the team prior to the 2004 season. On Monday, the Cubs signed Derrek Lee to a $65 million, 5 year extension. The deal is expected to be annouced officially during a scheduled Tuesday press conference. Lee won the NL batting title with a .335 average last year, while leading the league in hits...

Want to score a pair of tickets to see Conan when he comes to Chicago May 9-12? Better act fast. To request tickets (2 per person allowed), send an email to ConanInChicago@nbcuni.com with your name, address, phone number and email address.

Remember our sympathy yesterday for the Chicago woman who was attacked by bedbugs at a hotel in New York? Well, we still might send her a bottle of Calamine lotion, but we're not too worried about her mental anguish anymore. It turns out that Leslie Fox and her husband stayed in the same section of the same hotel again two weeks later, for five days no less. Fox's husband had a contract for a speaking engagement and she wanted to go with him. "I was absolutely loath to have to go back there, and I went back with great apprehension," she told the AP. Sure thing, but you didn't change your reservations to the Holiday Inn Express either did you? She's still pursuing her $20 million lawsuit against the hotel, but Chicagoist is betting she won't see that much money unless she either A) hits the lottery, or B) learns to hit a curveball better than Paul Konerko. Better start warming up that swing Leslie.

The White Sox held their first all-squad practice yesterday as Spring Training gets into full swing down in Tuscon.

"To the victor goes the spoils", indeed. Jon Garland avoided arbitration this offseason, signing a three-year, $29 million dollar contract with the White Sox yesterday. This year Garland had the breakout season that everyone expected of him when he was drafted by the Cubs then later traded to the Sox. Even though he had a subpar second half, Garland still finished with a record of 18-10 with a 3.50 ERA and a league-leading three...

Kenny Williams sure has been busy since the White Sox won the World Series. Had he simply brought back most of last year's roster, the Sox would have been a favorite to repeat. However, the taste of victory seems to have fueled an organizational urge to do everything possible ensure another trophy. Are the White Sox positioning themselves to do what the Bulls did in the 90's?

Chicagoist still remembers hearing of a hot prospect getting called up to the White Sox in 1990 and rememebrs being in the right field stands at the old Comiskey Park about 20 feet away from a ball that was THIS CLOSE to going out for his first major league homer. He'd end up hitting 7 during that late-season call-upon his way to 448 in a Sox uniform. So it's really hard to believe that following a 16 year run on with the White Sox, Frank Thomas is gone. The team cut ties with the future Hall of Famer on Wednesday by not offering him salary arbitration, making him a free agent. Thomas had spent his entire career on the South Side -- one of the rare players who had remained with their original team for more than 10 years.

The biggest off-season question on all White Sox fans' minds was whether Paul Konerko would return or not. With his MVP performance through the playoffs, Konerko expected to receive a number of huge contract offers. While there were a couple offers from other teams, Paulie chose to stay with the White Sox, signing a 5-year, $60 million deal. Initially wanting to sign Konerko to a 4 year deal, Sox GM Kenny Williams matched the contract length other teams offered. Konerko said right after the World Series that all things being equal, he'd choose the Sox over another team -- which is exactly what he did.

White Sox GM Kenny Williams pulled off a blockbuster trade Wednesday afternoon, sending center fielder Aaron Rowand to the Philadelphia Phillies in return for first baseman Jim Thome.

Friday marked the opening of free agency for Major League Baseball. Coming off a 40 Homer, 100 RBI regular season and a huge post-season capped by the White Sox World Series Championship, Paul Konerko is one of the hottest commodities on the market. As soon as the ball hit his mitt for the final out, questions came about whether the Sox could retain their offensive star. While Konerko personified the no-ego, play-hard type of player...

Rarely do World Champion teams have as few candidates for major post-season awards as the White Sox. Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland finished 5th and 6th in the voting for Cy Young. Paul Konerko is unlikely to break the top 5 in MVP voting. That just goes to show how the White Sox won as a team rather than riding some superstar's coattails.

So, what's a World Series worth? Both Crain's Chicago Business and Forbes have tried to place a value on the White Sox post-World Championship. Crain's pegs their current valuation at $327 million, while Forbes lists the team at $300 million. Just last April, Forbes valued them at $262 million, but states the anticipated increases in TV rights, higher sponsorship fees and better ticket sales as reasons for the increased value.

The White Sox festivities began with a caravan of double decker buses filled with players, White Sox staff and their families. They rode past cheering crowds throughout the South Side, starting at U.S. Cellular and continuing through Bridgeport, Pilsen and Chinatown before entering the Loop for the ticker tape parade along LaSalle.

That positive premonition was right, as the White Sox won both games at the Cell this weekend! They took Game 1 5-3 Saturday night and won 7-6 in Game 2 Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series at they now head down to Houston.

In convincing fashion, the 2005 Sox demonstrated that they are clearly the best team in the American League, defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 5 games. After dropping Game 1 to the Angels and squeaking by in the controversial Game 2, the Sox headed out to Anaheim and dominated the Angels, winning all three games to clinch the AL Pennant.

Following their 5-3 victory Monday night, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim eliminated the New York Yankees and earned themselves a red eye flight to Chicago to face off against the well rested White Sox Tuesday night in the ALCS. The Sox will send Jose Contreras to the mound against The Angels' Paul Byrd.

Really, the game was over by the end of the first inning as the White Sox jumped all over Matt Clement for 5 runs, including three on a home run by A.J. Pierzynski. Paul Konerko knocked one out in the third and Juan Uribe drove in two more with a long ball in the bottom of the 4th to counter Boston's two in the top of the frame. Scott Podsednik hit his first home run in a Sox uniform in the 6th inning to drive in 3 of the 4 runs they added that inning. Pierzynski homered again in the 8th and Willie Harris drove in yet another insurance run.

The 2005 regular season ended yesterday, so there's a lot of baseball to discuss. As expected by many, one of our two teams heads into the post-season. Of course, the specific team many thought would be playing in October will be starting their off-season today. The other team is the one who's still gunning for the first Chicago World Series title in more than 85 years.

With the fears of an epic choke bubbling to the forefront of most White Sox fans minds lately, manager Ozzie Guillen pulled no punches when he blasted his team following yesterday's loss,

Chicagoist learned what it's like to be a Cubs fan over the past week. No, we haven't begun drinking at noon and we can still name the opponent without having to read it off the centerfield scoreboard. What we learned is what it's like to have your team go a whole week without a single victory, something Cubs fans have endured three times this season. However, such futility is a novelty for the White Sox.

After losing the first game against the Yankees 3-2 on Monday night, the Sox bounced back with an exciting 2-1 victory last night. Jose Contreras, acquired from the Yanks mid-season last year, pitched 7 innings of 3-hit, no-run ball to pick up the victory. Tadahito Iguchi and Paul Konerko each homered to provide the necessary offense.