Kenny Williams On White Sox's Struggles: 'Short-Sighted To Tear It Down'
(CBS) At 36-43 and in last place in the AL Central, the White Sox have been arguably the biggest underachievers in baseball after a splashy offseason infused lofty expectations into this campaign.
Because of that, it's been assumed by many throughout the game that Chicago would be sellers as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches. That may or may not be the case now, with executive vice president Kenny Williams telling USA Today that his team in in the first year of what he called a "three-year plan."
"It's important that we not lose sight of what our organization goal was,'' Williams said, according to USA Today. "And that was to give us the best three-year window. And we're not going to abandon that completely with only three months to play.
"I think (GM Rich Hahn's) done one hell of a job. Everyone wants to put the blame on (manager) Robin (Ventura), too, but all he can do is put the players in position to succeed. They're the ones who have to look in the mirror and execute.
"If we do anything, it will be consistent with trying to maximize this three-year plan or window that we set out originally.''
Williams' words follow a White Sox offseason spending spree that included the acquisitions of Jeff Samardzija, David Robertson, Zach Duke, Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche -- which indicated they were in immediate win-now mode.
Now, nothing's clear as we sit 25 days away from the trade deadline.
"I don't want to say my expectations were too high,'' Williams told USA Today. "But certainly we were optimistic. We certainly see the potential, it just hasn't manifested itself yet.
"But just because it hasn't come to fruition yet, it would be short-sighted to tear it down and go for a total rebuild.''