In one of his first acts as a member of the White Sox, slugger Jim Thome placed a call over the weekend to free agent Paul Konerko to implore him to re-sign with the Sox.
But that was just the latest in a series of developments that have accelerated the pursuit of the top slugger on the free-agent market.
Rick Hahn, the Sox’s assistant general manager, said at Monday’s news conference that talks with Konerko’s agent are “ongoing” but declined to elaborate.
Meanwhile, Konerko has received four-year offers at around $50 million from Baltimore and the L.A. Angels, according to reports in Tuesday’s editions of the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times.
Konerko, 29, is scheduled to visit Angels officials later this week, the Times reported. The Orioles, albeit a long shot to land Konerko because of his preference to attend Spring Training in Arizona and to play for a playoff contending team, are expected to raise their offer to five years and $60 million, the Sun reported.
The Sox, and Thome in particular, expressed a sense of urgency in retaining their slugger who hit .283 with 40 home runs and 100 RBIs during the season and had five homers and 15 RBIs in leading the Sox to their first World Series title in 88 years.
“I put a call into him this weekend,” Thome said at his news conference at U.S. Cellular Field. “We have not talked. For me, it’s important. I’ve known Paulie a long time. … For me, I wanted him to know from my end to come back, please. That’s a big thing.
“He’s a great, great guy and would be a wonderful teammate. I want to be part of that with him. We’ll connect, I’m sure. He’s had a lot going on, and vice versa.”
The Sox are willing to expand last year’s $75 million payroll to accommodate the re-signing of Konerko and would like to resolve Konerko’s status by the end of the annual winter meetings in Dallas on Dec. 8.
“We’ve had ongoing good dialogue with Craig [Landis],” Hahn said of Konerko’s agent.
GM Ken Williams wasn’t at Thome’s news conference because of kidney stones, but he has said the Sox will offer salary arbitration to Konerko on Dec. 7. Konerko, however, is likely to command a contract of at least four years and at least $50 million.
In January, the Sox stretched their player payroll to accommodate second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, who signed a two-year, $4.95 million contract. But the stakes are greater with Konerko. The Sox already have 14 players under contract for 2006 at a cash obligation at about $57.725 million.
If the Sox can re-sign Konerko, it would give them some financial certainty. They also could attain more financial flexibility if they backload Konerko’s contract. If Konerko signs elsewhere, the Sox would pursue other options they’ve already discussed.
In other baseball news . . .
– Jim Thome said he is ahead of schedule in his recovery from back and right-elbow injuries and should be able to join his new White Sox teammates in Spring Training without any limitations. He played just 59 games with the Phillies last year after playing in at least 143 games in each of the six previous seasons.
– The Sox’s season opener against Cleveland has been switched to 7 p.m. April 2 so it can be televised nationally by ESPN2 as the first game of the major-league season. April 3 is now an off day, followed by 1:05 p.m. home games on April 4-5.
– Sox single-game home tickets will go on sale Jan. 27 and can be purchased at whitesox.com, through TicketMaster (312-559-1212 and 866-SOX-GAME), and at Chicagoland TicketMaster outlets.
– The Cubs made one last push for free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal over the weekend as General Manager Jim Hendry visited him at home. The team expects a final decision before the end of next week’s winter meetings.
