White Sox GM Kenny Williams: Money? What money?

Some disgruntled fans wanted Williams to offer more money to Hunter or at least spend the $75 million earmarked over five years for the potential free-agent signing. But Williams explained how this money wasn't a hard-and-fast part of the overall 2008 budget, and he has to keep an eye on the White Sox future, while spending in the present.

"You are assuming we had $75 million," said Williams, when asked about the Hunter offer. "We were hoping to get that along the way, and ultimately, [the move] would pay for itself to a large degree. [Chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] authorized it, and I appreciate him having the faith in me to go out on a limb, because it took us well above break even.

"This is like your personal finances. There has to be a certain amount of fiscal responsibility, otherwise you will put yourself in a situation where you have to do without something that's very vital to the functioning of the house.

"Going a couple of years back, if I made some decisions on some of the players people were urging -- it goes back three, four, five years ago -- if I made those decisions in the fashion the public wanted me to do," Williams added, "we would not have been in position years later to extend [an offer to] Konerko or Garland, the first time, or Mark Buehrle.

"People say to look at today and only today, but I have to look at where we were and where we are going. You can't take one action and have it prevent you from doing something that might be important to the overall picture. I have not found a way to articulate that point in a way that people understand or accept."