Baseball Guru
02-24-2006, 04:42 PM
http://www.wrex.com/Sports/index.php?ID=642
By RICK GANO
AP Sports Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- In the Chicago White Sox's first full-team workout since winning the World Series, Paul Konerko found himself in the center of a dozen camera lenses. Every swing, every ground ball, every conversation was a photo op.
Konerko is the new and most familiar face of the White Sox. He signed a five-year, $60 million deal in the offseason to return as a free agent. And he's already accepted a rare appointment from manager Ozzie Guillen.
He's going to be the team captain, a position he was initially reluctant to take because he didn't want to be singled out from his teammates. Especially since the White Sox won their first World Series since 1917 a year ago without a captain.
"I'm going to wear it. That's what he wants me to do and Ozzie is my manager and he's been nothing but great for me," Konerko said Thursday.
"Just like any other job, if your boss asks you to do something, if he wants you to do it, you do it. I still believe it's not a huge thing and it's not the answer to winning. He wants to start a tradition of a guy wearing it. There will be somebody after me. It's a compliment that I'm the first guy in line that he wants to do it."
Konerko batted .283 a year ago and reached 40 homers and 100 RBIs for a second straight season. He was the MVP of the AL championship series, hit a grand slam in the World Series right after becoming a first-time dad and finished the postseason with five homers.
And at the end of the White Sox's victory parade, he stood on a platform and presented the ball he caught for the final out of the World Series to unsuspecting team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who was overcome by emotion at the gesture.
"Is he (Konerko) the guy we look up to? Yeah," Guillen said. "I'm going to talk to Paulie about it, my ideas. It's going to be a privilege, my first time to name somebody a captain."
Konerko has more time with the team than any other player on the roster. After short and unsuccessful stints with the Dodgers and Reds, he'll be starting his eighth season with the White Sox and doesn't turn 30 until next month.
Not that he didn't consider leaving in the offseason when he took a meticulous approach to his free agency. He also was courted by the Angels, who offered just over $60 million for five years, and the Baltimore Orioles, who proposed a $65 million, five-year deal.
"I think as a man and as a human being, in the business world, which it is in the offseason, you have to do what's right from a business standpoint," he said.
But when the White Sox added a fifth year to their offer, Konerko came back to where he knew he wanted to be.
He got some good-natured ribbing from teammates Thursday, something he's used to, especially after last season when the White Sox's loose atmosphere - created by the talkative and outspoken Guillen - was credited with helping them win.
"They are relentless. It's so much it just blends in. I don't even hear it after a while," Konerko said.
"That's how it is on this team. That's why this team is great. Everything is on the carpet."
Notes:@ Guillen addressed the team before it first workout. He wanted the new players like Jim Thome and Rob Mackowiak to know who he is. If that's possible. "I think people that come to this organization think I'm a crazy man, but just go around and ask players who I am. I told them be ready to go, from the get-go. I told them 2005 is over, and we're going to be a target to everyone in baseball." ... OF Joe Borchard, who is out of minor league options and who has not emerged as the player the White Sox hoped for when they drafted him in the first round six years ago, said he's fully committed to baseball. Borchard was a quarterback at Stanford before signing a $5.3 million bonus to join the White Sox. He's spent most of his time in the minors and has batted just .191 in 102 major league games with 12 homers. He had 29 homers at Triple-A Charlotte last year. "Make no mistake I'm completely committed to baseball and you know if they have a spot for me here, that's great," Borchard said Thursday. "If not, you know that's also OK. There are certainly no hard feelings, no finger pointing going to be involved. You just have to go where you are wanted. And where the situation takes you." ... SS Juan Uribe missed the first workout because of paperwork problems in the Dominican Republic.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
UpdatedFebruary 24, 2006, 9:20 am
By RICK GANO
AP Sports Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- In the Chicago White Sox's first full-team workout since winning the World Series, Paul Konerko found himself in the center of a dozen camera lenses. Every swing, every ground ball, every conversation was a photo op.
Konerko is the new and most familiar face of the White Sox. He signed a five-year, $60 million deal in the offseason to return as a free agent. And he's already accepted a rare appointment from manager Ozzie Guillen.
He's going to be the team captain, a position he was initially reluctant to take because he didn't want to be singled out from his teammates. Especially since the White Sox won their first World Series since 1917 a year ago without a captain.
"I'm going to wear it. That's what he wants me to do and Ozzie is my manager and he's been nothing but great for me," Konerko said Thursday.
"Just like any other job, if your boss asks you to do something, if he wants you to do it, you do it. I still believe it's not a huge thing and it's not the answer to winning. He wants to start a tradition of a guy wearing it. There will be somebody after me. It's a compliment that I'm the first guy in line that he wants to do it."
Konerko batted .283 a year ago and reached 40 homers and 100 RBIs for a second straight season. He was the MVP of the AL championship series, hit a grand slam in the World Series right after becoming a first-time dad and finished the postseason with five homers.
And at the end of the White Sox's victory parade, he stood on a platform and presented the ball he caught for the final out of the World Series to unsuspecting team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who was overcome by emotion at the gesture.
"Is he (Konerko) the guy we look up to? Yeah," Guillen said. "I'm going to talk to Paulie about it, my ideas. It's going to be a privilege, my first time to name somebody a captain."
Konerko has more time with the team than any other player on the roster. After short and unsuccessful stints with the Dodgers and Reds, he'll be starting his eighth season with the White Sox and doesn't turn 30 until next month.
Not that he didn't consider leaving in the offseason when he took a meticulous approach to his free agency. He also was courted by the Angels, who offered just over $60 million for five years, and the Baltimore Orioles, who proposed a $65 million, five-year deal.
"I think as a man and as a human being, in the business world, which it is in the offseason, you have to do what's right from a business standpoint," he said.
But when the White Sox added a fifth year to their offer, Konerko came back to where he knew he wanted to be.
He got some good-natured ribbing from teammates Thursday, something he's used to, especially after last season when the White Sox's loose atmosphere - created by the talkative and outspoken Guillen - was credited with helping them win.
"They are relentless. It's so much it just blends in. I don't even hear it after a while," Konerko said.
"That's how it is on this team. That's why this team is great. Everything is on the carpet."
Notes:@ Guillen addressed the team before it first workout. He wanted the new players like Jim Thome and Rob Mackowiak to know who he is. If that's possible. "I think people that come to this organization think I'm a crazy man, but just go around and ask players who I am. I told them be ready to go, from the get-go. I told them 2005 is over, and we're going to be a target to everyone in baseball." ... OF Joe Borchard, who is out of minor league options and who has not emerged as the player the White Sox hoped for when they drafted him in the first round six years ago, said he's fully committed to baseball. Borchard was a quarterback at Stanford before signing a $5.3 million bonus to join the White Sox. He's spent most of his time in the minors and has batted just .191 in 102 major league games with 12 homers. He had 29 homers at Triple-A Charlotte last year. "Make no mistake I'm completely committed to baseball and you know if they have a spot for me here, that's great," Borchard said Thursday. "If not, you know that's also OK. There are certainly no hard feelings, no finger pointing going to be involved. You just have to go where you are wanted. And where the situation takes you." ... SS Juan Uribe missed the first workout because of paperwork problems in the Dominican Republic.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
UpdatedFebruary 24, 2006, 9:20 am