“The Heckler” on A Fan Speaks Out

September 5, 2006

Up Close With Kenny Williams

(Editor’s note:  This interview was conducted in June 2006)

There were questions around town when Kenny Williams was hired as the White Sox general manager over Danny Evans, who appeared next in line when Ron Scheuler left.  There are no more questions.  With a burning desire to win and an intensity that comes from being a former athlete, Jerry Reinsdorf made the right move when he promoted Williams to the position.  With a World Series title under his belt and the Sox competing to make a return appearance to the post-season, he has become the model in Chicago for what a GM should be.  In this interview, he explains why a good minor league system is so important to an organization, reveals what makes him miserable, and why he’s not afraid to lose his job.

The Heckler: When you were hired as the general manager of the White Sox, did you already have a plan in place on how you wanted to build this team?

Kenny Williams: I had 265 days of daily activities outlined and a plan of action that had been developed from all the years in the minor leagues and being up close and personal with the team, so the answer would be yes to that.  But it’s not what everyone thinks.  Everyone thinks the goal was to the win the World Series. Yes, that was part of it.  But the second part of it was to show the franchise that people here in Chicago will come out both with on-field success and how we conducted ourselves.  It’s still a work in progress.

TH: What was your plan to build a successful organization?

KW: I wish I had the manual for that.  I wish there was a manual for that.  There are so many variables and decisions and adjustments you have to make on the fly, but if I had to put one common denominator on it, it’s to make sure that you surround yourself with people smarter than you.

TH: Who do you normally bounce things off of in the organization and who do you think has helped you the most?

KW: I hesitate to even name names because ultimately I’m going to leave somebody out, somebody in my front office staff or one of the coaches here.  We’ve all been together a long time, me and the front office guys and the coaches.  Most of us played together, or in some cases, competed against each other.  It’s an all inclusive management style, so we just get in a room and try to figure it out.  There’s no a big secret or theories here other than hard work, I guess.

TH: How important is it for an organization to develop a good minor league system?

KW: It’s the foundation, unless you’re prepared to spend 200 million dollars a year.   If you don’t develop your own players, you’re not going to be very successful.  That lends itself to relying on the scouting first and player development in conjunction with that.  It’s working together with your scouting that allows me to go out and get information on trades and prospects to bring in.  The one thing I think that has been invaluable here has been that Jerry Reinsdorf has allowed me to bring in old White Sox, guys who know the organization; we all know one another so the dialogue is (lost).  It’s without any political correctness, so when we get behind closed doors and we have that relationship so we get down to brass tacks.  So far it’s worked.  I’m sure there will be a time that will be tested, that relationships will be tested, but we’ll get through it because one thing I know; we’ve got each other’s back.  We’re all supportive and have to look out for one another.

TH: Is there a set system you have in place in the minor leagues?  Do you work with every ballplayer the same way?

KW: No, absolutely not.  That’s taboo.  Some organizations do that.  They have a one philosophy, cookie cutter approach, here’s how we do things.  We like to take people and work with what their abilities and talents are, allow them first to do it their way.  If their way isn’t successful, we then have suggestions for them to improve their game, both mentally and physically.  So the answer to that is literally everyone that walks through the door gets individualized attention.

TH: So having the right people in place would be very important to their development?

KW:  Player development and the minor league staff is part of our success.  Part of it is my long association with Don Cooper, who was my minor league organizational pitching coach director when I was running the minor leagues.  We had eighty different pitchers every year that we had to talk about and I became very clear of what his capabilities are, what he could help guys on and what he can’t help guys on.  That dialogue has transferred over to the big league side of things so we can talk about acquiring a Jose Contreras and what we can do with him and how long he thinks it’s going take, and a Matt Thornton or anyone else we have acquired over the years.  There will be some hits, and there will be some more misses, but it won’t be for lack of communication or effort.

TH: Ever since you became GM of the White Sox, it seems like every move you have made has been with the intention of eventually winning the World Series.  Would you agree with that?

KW: Oh yes.  If we ever get to the point where we’re rebuilding, I’ll let you know.  Our fans deserve that.  I’ll let you know every step of the way what our plan is.  Until I say that, we’re in win mode and win now mode.  It’s healthier too, because we’re miserable people, Jerry (Reinsdorf) too. Jerry’s probably worst than both of us.  We’re miserable people when we’re losing so it’s probably a good idea we just keep trying to win.

TH: You don’t seem to be afraid of receiving criticism when it comes to making a trade if it doesn’t turn out well.  Is that something a GM needs in him to build a winning organization?

KW: I think you cannot be afraid to lose your job by making decisions you believe in.  Sometimes they are going to be very unpopular with the fans.  You have got to be able to suck it up and look like the village idiot in order to get the job done.  I’m like everybody else.  You’d rather people like you than not like you, but I understand that no matter what I do, a certain segment of our fan base is going to say, “What the heck was he thinking about?”  I sit here in front of you saying there are going to be many more times where those people are going to be absolutely right.  I might even go behind closed doors afterwards and say, what the hell was I thinking about?   You’ve got to take the good with the bad.  Ultimately, whatever it is, whether it’s one year, three years, five years, ten years, whatever, whenever I walk out the door for the last time, I want to feel comfortable with myself and say,  you know what, we gave it everything we had and went for it every year.  People can say whatever else they want about me and my personality or anything else about me, but if they say, “That son of a gun, there was no mistaking his intentions,” then I’m alright with that.

TH: Are you at all surprised your team won the World Series last year and did you think that was a World Series team starting the season?

KW: Every year.  Absolutely.  When you have pitching you can believe that.  When you don’t have pitching, it’s not a realistic proposition.  But when you have pitching, you’ve got to believe you’ve got a chance.

TH: Normally teams that win a championship rest on their laurels and don’t make many changes.  You went out and got a Jim Thome, Javier Vazquez, Alex Cintron and Rob Mackowiak.   It seems you have a burning desire to win and you weren’t convinced that this team could win again if you brought everybody back.

KW: We weren’t good enough.  I know we weren’t.  I don’t mean any disrespect to what we did last year, but we were a great team for 2005.   But 2006, the American League is stronger.  So to ignore what we believe to be a stronger league, I think would have been irresponsible on our part.  It wouldn’t have been fair for all of the people that are supporting us.  We finally have a fan base again that’s proud to wear our colors.  So, dammit, let’s give them what they deserve.

TH: I know you were originally reluctant to hire Ozzie Guillen as your manager, and gave him an interview at the request of Jerry Reinsdorf.  What did he do that made him stand out where you said this is my guy?

KW: Because he wasn’t afraid of me.  Because if he wasn’t afraid of me and he wasn’t afraid of not getting the job, he wasn’t going to be afraid of losing the job.  When you’re not afraid of losing your job in this dugout, you can command the respect of the players; you can command the respect that is necessary to keep your team fighting everyday.  He sat down and we talked through the first fifteen, twenty minutes of it, and I tested him with some hard questions, and he came back at me hard and I said that’s good.  We’re going to have some conversations that aren’t always going to be comfortable, but I’m not looking for comfort, I’m looking to win.  I played with him, so I knew what kind of baseball knowledge he had.  I also knew there would be some things that we had to work through like we had to work through this week.  (Ozzie Guillen’s comments about Jay Mariotti)  I knew that I would have to support him in those times.  It’s also my job to let him know that here’s what I see in front of you if you continue to go down this road.  Let me show you examples of people whose career was here on Monday and then on Tuesday morning… bam, bottom of the pit, because they didn’t master the art of telling it like it is , being who you are, but with a limit.  You’re not going to change Ozzie Guillen, but if I don’t try to protect him, if I don’t try to educate him on our society’s ways, who the hell is?  So sometimes that means I’ve got to be a little tougher than others.

TH: You mentioned earlier that Sox fans are again proud to where team colors.  This is a two team town and it seems like the Cubs have been the fan favorites forever, while your team has to win to get the fans’ support.  Do you think the Sox are overtaking the Cubs in popularity right now with them being down and your team possibly heading to another World Series, and does that matter to you?

KW: I stopped caring even before we won and I worried about what we do.  As part of my overall goal, honestly, I’ve got goals of capturing some of the marketplace.  That’s no different than if you run Caribou Coffee over Starbucks, or any other corporation that’s out there.  Yes, I want some of that market share, but there’s only one way we can get it.  Actually there’s two ways: To win the right way.  If you notice, we have a large population of children that attend our games.  As I was saying earlier, I want kids to be proud to wear this jersey but I also want them to be competitive and be winners and win the right way in their own right, not with any arrogance or any attitude.  You know, handle your business like Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko.  Handle your business in that way.

SportzNutz Columnist Darrell Horwitz isn’t shy when it comes to “A Fan Speaking Out”… he holds nothing back and tells it like it is, from a fan’s perspective.  A Chicago native, Darrell is a lifelong Cubs and Bulls fan. Along with his “A Fan Speaks Out” column, Darrell is the fan writer for the Chicago Cubs, here on SportzNutz.  If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email Darrell at darrell.horwitz@nutzworld.net