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11-14-2002, 08:32 PM
CHICAGO -- Please forgive Paul Konerko if he doesn't know the exact terms of his contract.
"I'm getting paid to hit, not to add," the White Sox first baseman quipped when asked the terms of his new three-year contract with the team, which was announced Thursday.
He can pocket his calculator: The deal will reportedly pay Konerko $23 million over three years.
"Any time a team is going to go and offer a multi-year deal, two or three or four or whatever, they're saying they're committed to you and they believe in you," Konerko said Thursday. "By me staying, it shows that I'm happy where I'm at."
Konerko, 26, set career highs in 2002 with a .304 average and 104 RBIs, as well as hitting 27 homers.
"As Kenny (Williams, general manager) has said over the last couple years, locking up the core of this young club over several seasons is a priority," said White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn. "The fact that we were able to sign Paul through 2005, which would've been his first season of free agency, is something that we're happy about.
"Paul represents the type of player both on the field and off the field as a baseball player and individual that we want this team to be about," Hahn said. "We certainly are very pleased to have him locked up."
Coming off a two-year contract with the team at the end of the 2002 season, Konerko was arbitration eligible this winter.
With his signing and that of catcher Mark Johnson, who inked a one-year deal Thursday, Chicago now has three players remaining who are arbitration eligible: pitchers Todd Ritchie, Jim Parque and Kelly Wunsch.
As for Frank Thomas, the two-time MVP who filed for free agency and has until Dec. 7 to court teams, Hahn said it's still early.
"Frank is still in the process of exploring the market," Hahn said. "He has until (Dec. 7) to come back to us. I'm sure we'll be in contact with his agent in advance of that."
Konerko would like to see the "Big Hurt" back with the White Sox.
"If you're talking about the numbers he put up in 2000, there's no doubt (we want him back). We need a guy like that," Konerko said. "We need him to be that guy in the (No.) three hole and do what he's done the majority of his career.
"I don't think he needs to change as a guy," Konerko said. "Frank's fine. He's a good guy. He just needs to show up and hit like we know he can."
The White Sox are hoping Konerko can continue at last season's first-half pace. He was the American League Player of the Month in June, and even though he wasn't on the ballot for the All-Star Game, he made the team as a reserve. Konerko didn't disappoint, hitting a pair of doubles, including a two-run double in the seventh that gave the AL team a 6-5 lead. The game, played at Miller Park in Milwaukee, ended in a 7-7 tie.
He had 71 RBIs at the break, third highest in the Major Leagues. But a foot injury slowed him in the second half. He batted .328 with 20 homers in the first half of the season and .270 with seven home runs in the second half.
"It was kind of night and day," Konerko said of the first- and second-half efforts. "Everything was very easy in the first half. The second half was just the opposite. It was real tough."
In July and the first three weeks of August, Konerko struggled but he can't blame his foot injury for that.
"There is no excuse. I was terrible," he said. "The foot didn't start bothering me until late August."
But he gutted it out and was proud of being able to ignore the pain.
"I went out there on the field hoping I don't screw up the game for the pitcher," he said. "There's something to be said for that more than numbers. I showed up every day but I wasn't going to let them take me out of the lineup. I wanted to play as much as I could."
Konerko said the Anaheim Angels' ability to win the World Series this year should inspire the White Sox.
"You see the way the playoffs went this year and the first thought that comes to your mind is that it's possible," Konerko said. "The first thought for us is that if we work hard and play well, all these guys that became household names last October could be us. We have to think that way.
"Don't get me wrong -- (the Angels) are no fluke," he said. "But it definitely makes it seem more within reach after what they did."
The White Sox have the right components. All the playing time that youngsters Joe Crede, Aaron Rowand and Willie Harris received last season should help in 2003.
"When you assemble a team at the beginning of the year and you want to win the division, and all of a sudden it falls apart, it's very easy for a lot of guys to be on different pages," Konerko said. "Once we made our moves and said, 'We're gong to play young guys and play for next year,' things were immediately better."
Konerko is a .291 hitter with 104 home runs and 381 RBIs in 592 games with the Sox after being acquired from Cincinnati for Mike Cameron in November 1998.
Johnson, 27, batted .209 with four home runs and 18 RBIs in 86 games with the White Sox in 2002. He is a lifetime .222 hitter with 16 home runs and 76 RBIs in 302 games with the Sox from 1998-2002.
Injury updates: White Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand had successful surgery on his left scapula (shoulder blade) and should be able to participate in Spring Training, the team announced.
White Sox trainer Herm Schneider said there was no collateral damage to Rowand's shoulder, which he injured in a dirt bike accident near his home in California.
Schneider also talked to the doctor traveling with the Major League team in Japan and to White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, who was hit on the arm by a line drive in his only appearance. Schneider said the injury does not appear to be serious but Buehrle was not expected to pitch again in Japan.
"I'm getting paid to hit, not to add," the White Sox first baseman quipped when asked the terms of his new three-year contract with the team, which was announced Thursday.
He can pocket his calculator: The deal will reportedly pay Konerko $23 million over three years.
"Any time a team is going to go and offer a multi-year deal, two or three or four or whatever, they're saying they're committed to you and they believe in you," Konerko said Thursday. "By me staying, it shows that I'm happy where I'm at."
Konerko, 26, set career highs in 2002 with a .304 average and 104 RBIs, as well as hitting 27 homers.
"As Kenny (Williams, general manager) has said over the last couple years, locking up the core of this young club over several seasons is a priority," said White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn. "The fact that we were able to sign Paul through 2005, which would've been his first season of free agency, is something that we're happy about.
"Paul represents the type of player both on the field and off the field as a baseball player and individual that we want this team to be about," Hahn said. "We certainly are very pleased to have him locked up."
Coming off a two-year contract with the team at the end of the 2002 season, Konerko was arbitration eligible this winter.
With his signing and that of catcher Mark Johnson, who inked a one-year deal Thursday, Chicago now has three players remaining who are arbitration eligible: pitchers Todd Ritchie, Jim Parque and Kelly Wunsch.
As for Frank Thomas, the two-time MVP who filed for free agency and has until Dec. 7 to court teams, Hahn said it's still early.
"Frank is still in the process of exploring the market," Hahn said. "He has until (Dec. 7) to come back to us. I'm sure we'll be in contact with his agent in advance of that."
Konerko would like to see the "Big Hurt" back with the White Sox.
"If you're talking about the numbers he put up in 2000, there's no doubt (we want him back). We need a guy like that," Konerko said. "We need him to be that guy in the (No.) three hole and do what he's done the majority of his career.
"I don't think he needs to change as a guy," Konerko said. "Frank's fine. He's a good guy. He just needs to show up and hit like we know he can."
The White Sox are hoping Konerko can continue at last season's first-half pace. He was the American League Player of the Month in June, and even though he wasn't on the ballot for the All-Star Game, he made the team as a reserve. Konerko didn't disappoint, hitting a pair of doubles, including a two-run double in the seventh that gave the AL team a 6-5 lead. The game, played at Miller Park in Milwaukee, ended in a 7-7 tie.
He had 71 RBIs at the break, third highest in the Major Leagues. But a foot injury slowed him in the second half. He batted .328 with 20 homers in the first half of the season and .270 with seven home runs in the second half.
"It was kind of night and day," Konerko said of the first- and second-half efforts. "Everything was very easy in the first half. The second half was just the opposite. It was real tough."
In July and the first three weeks of August, Konerko struggled but he can't blame his foot injury for that.
"There is no excuse. I was terrible," he said. "The foot didn't start bothering me until late August."
But he gutted it out and was proud of being able to ignore the pain.
"I went out there on the field hoping I don't screw up the game for the pitcher," he said. "There's something to be said for that more than numbers. I showed up every day but I wasn't going to let them take me out of the lineup. I wanted to play as much as I could."
Konerko said the Anaheim Angels' ability to win the World Series this year should inspire the White Sox.
"You see the way the playoffs went this year and the first thought that comes to your mind is that it's possible," Konerko said. "The first thought for us is that if we work hard and play well, all these guys that became household names last October could be us. We have to think that way.
"Don't get me wrong -- (the Angels) are no fluke," he said. "But it definitely makes it seem more within reach after what they did."
The White Sox have the right components. All the playing time that youngsters Joe Crede, Aaron Rowand and Willie Harris received last season should help in 2003.
"When you assemble a team at the beginning of the year and you want to win the division, and all of a sudden it falls apart, it's very easy for a lot of guys to be on different pages," Konerko said. "Once we made our moves and said, 'We're gong to play young guys and play for next year,' things were immediately better."
Konerko is a .291 hitter with 104 home runs and 381 RBIs in 592 games with the Sox after being acquired from Cincinnati for Mike Cameron in November 1998.
Johnson, 27, batted .209 with four home runs and 18 RBIs in 86 games with the White Sox in 2002. He is a lifetime .222 hitter with 16 home runs and 76 RBIs in 302 games with the Sox from 1998-2002.
Injury updates: White Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand had successful surgery on his left scapula (shoulder blade) and should be able to participate in Spring Training, the team announced.
White Sox trainer Herm Schneider said there was no collateral damage to Rowand's shoulder, which he injured in a dirt bike accident near his home in California.
Schneider also talked to the doctor traveling with the Major League team in Japan and to White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, who was hit on the arm by a line drive in his only appearance. Schneider said the injury does not appear to be serious but Buehrle was not expected to pitch again in Japan.