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White Sox Claim ManRam for Their South Side Circus
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Manny Ramirez could be Chicago bound. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
White Sox General Manager Ken Williams wouldn't comment Friday on word his team won the waiver claim on Manny Ramirez.
"You want to add to your club as quickly as possible," is all he would say, deferring to Major League Baseball's tampering rules.
Williams admits such a move could be a gamble. The White Sox have until Tuesday to trade for Ramirez, and by that time they could be six games out of the American League Central race.
"We don't want to go to bed at night thinking, 'What if' we want to go to bed putting all our chips in,'" Williams said Friday before the Sox opened a series with the Yankees.
But there's also the gamble of adding the ginormous personality that is "Manny."
"I think we have some big personalities around here to begin with. It's already kind of a circus," First baseman Paul Konerko laughed. "It's not going to change much we have enough to go around."
Still, everyone in the White Sox clubhouse knows that if the trade goes through, they're getting a future Hall of Famer and one of the best right handed hitters to play the game of baseball.
Konerko acknowledged doing his homework on ManRam and consulting Jim Thome and Juan Pierre, who've played on the same teams.
"He's a pretty hard worker," is what Konerko was told, despite the Jekyll & Hyde personality that comes with him.
"I see him a lot," said manager Ozzie Guillen. "He says 'Hi' one day, the (next) he doesn't know you!"
Aside from Ramirez' mood swings, there's his tendency to do things his way.
"If this kid come here, we have rules," Guillen said. "And we're going to go by the rules."
That would include Ramirez following team rules and Jerry Reinsdorf's rules, whether it's dress code or length of hair. But Guillen thinks that won't be a problem on this team.
"If this kid comes here it's because he wants to and that's a good thing," he said. "Afterall, who didn't grow up wanting to join the circus?"
Posted Friday, Aug 27, 2010 - 8:44 PM CST
