Major League Baseball is enjoying a lot of attention in the off-season period and the reasons are clear. The winter meetings are here and teams across the league are looking to round up as many good stars, as they can for the coming season.
It is apparently clear that almost every team has come off with problems in the recent days. Formations problems, and quality lags are common and this time period enables many ball clubs the opportunity to restructure. The pursuit for the top agents in the
league is on and many rosters want the enrichment process to come their way.
The Chicago White Sox had a lot on their minds in the recent days. They acquired Adam Dunn from the Washington Nationals recently and one of the tweaking puzzles that were left to be included was none other than their own captain, Paul Konerko.
The veteran had gone to the free agency in search of a better deal but was lured back to Chicago. The batter has been with the team for a long time and General Manager, Ken Williams wouldn’t have wanted his star hitter move away from the franchise anytime
soon.
Konerko packs a wild punch in the White Sox line up. He was a dominant figure in last year’s performance and his intuitive play made him that much dangerous to other clubs that went up against Chicago. Konerko pulled a batting average of .312 and he packed
it up with a slugging rate of .584. The first baseman smashed 39 homers and brought in 111 runs with assists. He was the American League’s 8th best player in 2010.
Konerko’s deal lasts 3 years and he gets a total of $37.5 million. The breakdown involves $12 million distributed in the first two seasons after which, a $6.5 million payout will be earned in the 3rd year. Then for the next seven years, Paul would
receive $1 million annually to complete the contract terms.
Ken Williams had come off on Tuesday with a bleak picture on the signing. He did not seem to acknowledge the agreement in its austere sense. However, he did concede to the fact that talks were being conducted and a middle ground had been reached on intent.
Now with Paul in the team, the Chicago White Sox have the potential to invoke heavy damage on their opponents in 2011.
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