As a whole, the baseball season in Chicago has been a disappointment. The Cubs were expected to contend for a World Series title only to be thrown off track by injuries and Milton Bradley, while on the other side of town the White Sox have failed to exceed expectations. As is usually the case when this happens to large-market teams, wholesale changes are made.The White Sox parted ways with Jim Thome and 2005 World Series hero Jose Contreras, and it's likely other players such as Jermaine Dye, Bobby Jenks and Paul Konerko could be following them out of town this winter. Still, that doesn't mean everybody in the White Sox organization is leaving.
General manager Kenny Williams and all of the White Sox coaching staff have either received extensions, or are working on extensions at the moment, according to a report the Chicago Sun-Times.
While this announcement is not entirely unexpected, it's bound to leave some folks in Chicago upset. After all, these are the same coaches who have been around the last few years as the White Sox struggled on both offense and defense. Of course, save for Baines, they're also the same coaches who were members of Ozzie Guillen's staff when the team won the World Series in 2005.A source confirmed that all of the coaches that had contracts up after this season - specifically hitting coach Greg Walker, pitching coach Don Cooper, bench coach Joey Cora and first base coach Harold Baines - had or were in the process of signing extensions thought to take the staff through 2011.
There was also whispers that Williams recently inked an extension that will keep him the Sox GM through 2012 - the same length of Ozzie Guillen's deal - but Williams replied in a text that he would not comment on that.
Having that accomplishment on a resume won't do much for the remaining players from that team.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-24-2009 @ 10:00AM
nickcherryl said...
Williams should be fired, he is no better than Cooper of the Astros.
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9-24-2009 @ 9:25PM
montgomery said...
The Sox offense was pathetic. They improved in all areas except batting. The batters did not appear to be prepared to face opposing pitchers. The coaches should have been scouting the upcoming pitching lineup and working with the batters to come up with a strategy to find there weakness and exploit it
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9-24-2009 @ 9:26PM
montgomery said...
they need to find another Charlie Lau
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9-28-2009 @ 1:11PM
kmarschk said...
The Sox couldn't hit, their defense was abysmal, their base running a joke, and Ozzie would let starting pitchers like Contreras and Garcia give up seven runs before pulling them. And yet the Sox weren't eliminated until this past week. These are reflections of poor coaching and management, not a call for new players.
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10-04-2009 @ 11:05AM
danmttsb said...
Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams are the right guys for Chicago. The owner knows it too. If they get rid of Konerko, that's a problem though. They have jake Peavey for 2010 and mmmm not sure who else other than the lefty they throw who's a no hitter guy....HItting? The 3rd baseman Beckham and the SS ramirez are both good, no Jermaine Dye, will mean no power...adn WS fans want that....I think it's mediocre the next 2 years for the CWS whether they keep the coaches or not...don't you ?
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