When Ken Williams ran into shortstop Jose Valentin on Friday afternoon at SoxFest, the White Sox general manager greeted him with more than a hello.
Williams asked Valentin if he had seen a published report indicating he might be traded to the Yankees or to Anaheim as part of a three-team deal.
When Valentin said he had, Williams told him: “Don’t worry about it, you’re not going anywhere.”
Valentin was relieved.
“My wife said she didn’t want to go to New York,” he said, joking. “I didn’t want to go there either because she’d be shopping all the time and I’d go broke.”
Valentin has been the subject of trade rumors since the moment the Sox picked up his $5 million option. Valentin thought he was a goner when he heard the Sox were close to trading for Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra.
“When you try to bring a guy like Nomar in, well, he’s not going to be playing center field,” he said. “I’m more relaxed now. I’ll be in Tucson on [February] 25th wearing a White Sox uniform. And not just for one year. Probably for three or four more years.”
While Williams pledged to keep Valentin, he left open the possibility that he would make a trade before camp opens.
With new Dodgers owner Frank McCourt promising to acquire an impact player, Williams figures to listen to offers for Magglio Ordonez, Paul Konerko or Frank Thomas.
“I know they’ve been looking,” Williams said of the Dodgers, “and the market has certainly gotten very thin.”
As for swinging a three-team deal with Anaheim that would send third baseman Troy Glaus to the Yankees and lefty Jarrod Washburn to Chicago, Williams said: “I thought the report, the opinions and thoughts expressed, give people some insight into how a three-way deal could possibly work, how some of these things could be structured.”
Asked if he has had substantive trade discussions with Anaheim, Williams replied: “With that particular club, there hasn’t been a match. If there was something out there to make our club better, it would have already been done.”
Williams also was asked about Thomas, who has declined to return his phone calls and those from new manager Ozzie Guillen over the last few months.
Williams said he spoke to Thomas in late October when Thomas was mulling whether to return to the Sox for $6 million or opt for free agency.
Thomas asked Williams if Guillen, his former teammate, was a candidate to succeed Jerry Manuel. Williams told him he was.
“I don’t recall exactly what [Thomas’] response was, but obviously there weren’t any issues because shortly after that he re-signed with us when he could have been a free agent,” Williams said. “That’s why I’m not making too much of all that’s being said [about Thomas’ possible discontent] because he had an opportunity to choose to go elsewhere.”
Thomas has had contact with a few teammates. After he called Mark Buehrle to congratulate him on signing his three-year, $18 million contract, they met briefly at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Thomas’ off-season home.
“I talked to him for about 10 minutes and got out of there,” Buehrle said. “He was gambling and I didn’t want to bother him.”
Buehrle said he didn’t ask Thomas whether he was upset with Guillen or Williams.
“It seems like every off-season there’s something doing with Frank,” Buehrle said. “He came to camp last year and got everything settled with Jerry [Manuel] and he played fine. Hopefully he can do the same. Get it out of the way at the beginning of spring training and not cause anything with the team.”
As for Thomas’ decision not to respond to Williams’ and Guillen’s calls, Buehrle said: “I think it’s kind of rude. [Pitching coach] Don Cooper has called me a couple times and I’ve talked to him.
“But I really don’t know what it’s all about. When I saw Frank in Vegas, everything seemed fine. I think they’re going to be men about it and solve everything at spring training.”
