Kenny Lofton is home again, though not exactly by the route he’d planned.
The new White Sox center fielder said Saturday he was pleasantly surprised to wind up near his East Chicago, Ind., home.
“I talked to a lot of teams,” Lofton said. “They wanted me, and then they didn’t. Wanted me, didn’t want me. . . . I didn’t think Chicago would have an opportunity to be in the picture because they already had a center fielder. But when they traded Chris Singleton, my agent told me they [were interested]. I said, `It sounds interesting.'”
Lofton, who turns 35 in May, signed for $1.25 million and incentives, a huge comedown for a six-time All-Star. Whether the Sox already had a verbal agreement with Lofton when they made the Singleton trade is a question general manager Ken Williams declined to answer when a fan posed it during a question-and-answer session Saturday at SoxFest.
“Can I take the fifth?” Williams replied with a laugh.
Lofton is coming off a career-worst .261 season and has endured shoulder problems since 1999. He said he has spent the off-season performing yoga and practicing karate, trying to maintain strength in his body. Williams said there are no concerns about Lofton’s age.
“He’s only had one bad year in the last seven years, where his numbers were not outstanding,” Williams said.
Lofton acknowledged growing up a Cubs fan in Northwest Indiana, but he has so many family and friends in the area that the Sox gave him an incentive clause based on attendance at Comiskey Park.
“Playing in the Central Division a long time, I’d come here and hear people all the time saying, `Kenny, come to Chicago,'” Lofton said. “People in Northwest Indiana came to see me play every time Cleveland came in, and I had so many people on the South Side who knew who I was. This team has a great opportunity this year, and my presence is going to enhance that.”
The arrival of Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Royce Clayton since Williams’ hiring at GM has turned the young, division-winning team of 2000 into a significantly older team that figures to contend in 2002. Lofton believes he’ll blend in nicely in the Sox clubhouse.
“I am no trouble,” he said. “I just like to have fun.”
