The Underrated GM: Why Do We Always Forget about Ken Williams?
Lost in the Toronto Blue Jays’ purge of Alex Rios and his $62 million dollar contract is the fact that, once again, Chicago White Sox General Manager Ken Williams made a bold, aggressive move. Since taking over the GM post of the White Sox in November of 2000, Williams has made over 60 trades which as involved more than 160 Major League players. In the span of two weeks, Williams took on over $100 million dollars in salary commitment to pitcher Jake Peavy and Rios. While many will describe those moves as simply a large market team taking advantage, they would be missing the point. During the past off season, Williams shed nearly $44 million dollars of payroll when he jettisoned Javier Vazquez and Nick Swisher. After the 2009 season, the White Sox will have close to $35 million wiped off the books with the salaries of Jim Thome, Jose Contreras, and possibly Jermaine Dye (option year) leaving after this season. Suddenly, Peavy’s and Rios’ contracts don’t look too daunting, especially for a team that operates on a $100 million dollar payroll.
Williams’ acquisitions of Peavy and Rios epitomize what he has done for his entire eight seasons as the White Sox GM. He simply puts his team in position to win. The question, then, begs to be asked: why isn’t Williams heralded as one of the best General Managers in the game today? There hasn’t been any books written about him; there hasn’t been many articles written either. Yet, Williams has more championships (one) than Billy Beane, Doug Melvin, Mark Shapiro, Jon Daniels, Terry Ryan, and since 2001 Brian Cashman.
Heading into the 2009 season, the White Sox have compiled a 683-614 (.527) record with two division titles, three second place finishes, and two third place finishes with that aforementioned World Series title in 2005. Williams’ winning percentage as General Manager ranks as the best in White Sox history over that eight year period. That 2005 World Series title is significant as it was the organization’s first since 1917. The Red Sox may have received the ink for their World Series drought, but the White Sox’s drought was just as historic. Additionally, he is Chicago’s first African American General Manager and just the third African American to hold that post in all of Major League Baseball.
Finding Undervalued Talent
While every General Manager has a poor contract and bad free agent signing on his ledger, Williams has received value from the majority of his signings. His aggressive approach mixed with a combined analysis of traditional scouting and Sabermetrics has allowed him to keep the White Sox in contention year in and year out. While many of his contemporaries will receive accolades for value signings and keen trades, it has been Williams who has made his mark in relative obscurity.
It was Williams who plucked current closer Bobby Jenks off of waivers in 2005 after he posted a 10.24 ERA during his 2004 season in the Angels farm system. He also signed an underrated Jermaine Dye to be a cornerstone in the White Sox lineup while also acquiring such role players as Dustin Hermanson, Orlando Hernandez, and Tadihito Iguchi to play key roles on the title winning team. Perhaps his most adroit move was the acquisition of Scott Podsednik who sparked the White Sox attack with a career season of .290/.351/.349 along with 59 stolen bases.
One may say that 2005 was a result of luck. While luck always has a role in title winning teams, Williams’ moves prior to and since the World Series team illustrate his talent evaluation. Esteban Loaiza was signed as a free agent prior to the 2003 season. Loaiza won 21 games and started the All-Star game in a career year. Rather than “fall in love” with Loaiza’s career season, Williams traded him to the Yankees the following season after Loaiza proved that 2003 was, in fact, just a career season.
There are two criticisms that can be launched at Williams. First, he may overspend for bullpen help as the recent signings of Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink could indicate. Committing four years to Scott Linebrink is questionable as is the practice of signing heavily used middle relief help. Last season, the Sox bullpen ranked a middling 8th in the American League in bullpen ERA and strikeouts. However, this season the bullpen currently ranks 7th in the American League in ERA and second in strikeouts. His acquisitions of Matt Thorton (2006 trade with Seattle) and DJ Carrasco have steadied the bullpen with the previously mentioned Dotel, Linebrink, and Jenks (who is having a poor season by his standards).
The other criticism is that Williams has brought in many veteran players. It is true that he has either signed or traded for players on the other side of 30 years old many times. Jim Thome, David Wells, Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar, and Ken Griffey Jr. were all brought in as either building blocks or final pieces of teams. But, in recent years, as the core of the team (Dye, Konerko, and Pierzynski) age, Williams has started to remake the team into a younger, more athletic team. During the past two off seasons, Williams has added Carlos Quentin, Gavin Floyd, and Jon Danks through trade. All three players are 26 years old and younger. He has also signed 27 year old Cuban import Alexei Ramirez while adding 25 year old Chris Getz and 22 year old Gordon Beckman to the Major League roster. 20 year old third baseman and Cuban import Dayan Viciedo will also be a factor quite soon. Add in the fact that Williams just added the 28 year old Rios and the 29 year old Peavy and one can see a new, younger core forming in Chicago. While the current White Sox are still led by the core veterans, their not-so-distant future will be led by a group of young, athletic players while three of their five starters will be under the age of 30 and their most consistent pitcher, southpaw Mark Buehrle, will be just 31 years old. It seems that the White Sox are set to compete for the Central title for quite some time.
Position to Win
The trademark of a good General Manager is to consistently put his team into position to win. Ken Williams does that every season. Sure, he has a bigger budget than many teams, but he has never had a payroll in the top two or three. But, his teams are always in contention and always give the fans a reason to hope. Adding Alex Rios to the team is being portrayed as a risk given the large contract. However, Rios is just 28 years old, adds athleticism, power and speed to the lineup, has posted good (not great) seasons, should benefit from the offensive environment in Chicago, and has been an excellent outfielder. While the defensive metrics show he is having a poor 2009 defensive season, he did have the best UZR (ultimate zone rating) among all Major League outfielders in 2008. For this season, he is a tremendous offensive upgrade in centerfield as the White Sox centerfielders rank 29th in Baseball with a .613 OPS. Additionally, his presence will allow veteran Jermaine Dye to rest a bit more. By Rios adding to an athletic lineup of Getz, Ramirez, and Beckham and the power of Dye, Konerko, Thome, and Quentin, the White Sox have one of the most diverse offensive attacks in Baseball. In a tightly contested American League Central, they potentially have the best lineup in the division heading into the final months of the season. That couldn’t be said at the start of the season, but with Beckham emerging, Ramirez finding his 2008 form, and the veterans playing solid baseball, the White Sox are improved.
Jake Peavy brings the White Sox a legitimate number one starter. He is already started his rehabilitation process from ankle surgery and projects to make his first White Sox start on August 28th . With Peavy at the top of the rotation and Buehrle, Danks, and Floyd to follow, the argument can be made that the best rotation in Baseball will reside in the Southside of Chicago. If Peavy can prove healthy this season, the White Sox vault from potential playoff contender to potential World Series winner. In a move that nobody saw coming, Williams made a last second trade deadline deal, capitalizing on the Padres’ poor season and Peavy’s sudden willingness to approve the trade he rejected last winter. A healthy Peavy means the White Sox acquired the best starting pitcher to get moved at the trade deadline. Sure, the rotation has been solid this season (2nd best ERA in the American League), adding Peavy not only gives them an advantage against the Tigers, but it gives them a better playoff rotation as Peavy is a dominant number one starter who can matchup with the likes of Josh Beckett, CC Sabathia, or John Lackey. That is something they were missing last season.
But, Can They Get to the Playoffs?
Even Ken Williams has stated that the White Sox have underachieved this season. They aren’t even five games over the .500 mark yet. But, the most important aspect is that they are a mere three games out of first place. There is time to get hot; there is time for Jake Peavy to make a difference. The Detroit Tigers, who also made moves to bolster their team (Washburn and Huff), are a similar team. In fact, the Tigers’ run differential is +16 while the White Sox is +14. The Sox team ERA is 4.14, the Tigers is 4.22. Their pitching statistics are eerily similar. Offense? Yes, those numbers are pretty close too. The White Sox have an OPS+ of 94 while the Tigers’ mark is 93.
Being similar is actually quite important. The Tigers are generally playing as well as they projected (in fact, better than most had projected). Their rotation of Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello has far exceeded expectations. Miguel Cabrera, Brandon Inge, and Curtis Granderson have formed a powerful core with Cabrera and Granderson being elite level players. In other words, it seems that almost everything has gone according to plan for Detroit in their season. Meanwhile, the White Sox struggled out of the gate with poor starts from Ramirez and their third basemen. Their fourth and fifth spots in their rotation have been quite poor just as the Tigers. But, while the Tigers added Jarrod Washburn, the White Sox added a former Cy Young Award winner. While Aubrey Huff is a good hitter, Alex Rios will have more of an impact because he fills a need in the field. The White Sox did a better job of upgrading their team. The White Sox seemingly have room to improve their performance while the Tigers seem to be at their ceiling. With six of their last nine games of the regular season against the Tigers, the White Sox are in good position to get back to the post season.
Toiling in Relative Obscurity
With the race so close, Williams could’ve played his hand out and probably gone to the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Instead, he used his off season savings to acquire two former All-Stars with Peavy being a potential difference maker in getting back to a World Series. By saving some of his resources this past offseason, Williams was one of the few General Managers who had the ability to take on salary this season. Billy Beane was lauded for taking a chance with Matt Holliday this off season, Theo Epstein was praised for his low risk, high reward signings, and Mark Shapiro and Omar Minaya were praised for addressing their bullpen needs. But, it is Ken Williams who may have made the most impactful acquisitions of the 2009 season. Of the group mentioned, only Epstein’s Red Sox have a better record. With the “new look” White Sox, that could change once Peavy returns.
It remains a mystery as to why Williams doesn’t receive the accolades that are heaped on other General Managers. Perhaps he doesn’t publicize himself enough; perhaps the White Sox don’t publicize him enough. Maybe it’s because they play in a mediocre division. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Ken Williams is widely underrated in Baseball circles. Judging from his stealth acquisitions of Peavy and Rios, maybe that’s just the way he likes it.
Comments
By David Allan on August 19th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
A great article on a General Manager that doesn’t get the love he deserves. Nice Work.