White Sox Offer Arbitration to Konerko, Putz; Decline on Pierzynski, Manny

The deadline to offer free agents arbitration arrives Tuesday night, and the Chicago White Sox found themselves with some decisions to make with some key members of their 2005 World Series team and more recent additions. That decision has come.

On Tuesday the White Sox announced that they had offered arbitration to both Paul Konerko and J.J. Putz, but declined to offer arbitration to A.J. Pierzynski and their two-month rental, Manny Ramirez.

The news that the team isn't offering arbitration for Ramirez is not a surprise at all, as he didn't do much to help the White Sox down the stretch in 2010, and the team has enough headaches as it is with the constant feuding of Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams.

The decision to offer Putz isn't surprising either, as the team would like to keep Putz around due to his versatility, especially with the rumors that Bobby Jenks will not be brought back.

As for Pierzynski and Konerko, two of the holdovers from the 2005 World Series team, the decision may have been made following Victor Martinez signing with the Tigers on Tuesday.

The White Sox had made an offer to Martinez, but since he chose Detroit, they might figure that their best option at first base in 2011 in Konerko. As for Pierzynski, while the White Sox likely wouldn't mind having him back in 2011, by offering him arbitration, they likely would have had to pay him more than the $6.25 million he made last season.