Williams avoids Gonzalez-Beckham trade rumor

Before there was Adam Dunn, was there almost Adrian Gonzalez for the White Sox?

According to a Monday Tweet from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the White Sox were the runner-ups to Boston in the Gonzalez derby. He added how the White Sox offered second baseman Gordon Beckham and prospects but were turned down.

White Sox general manager Ken Williams wouldn’t talk about any trade rumor when speaking to the Chicago media on Monday. But he finished up his comment with an indirect indication as to how Gonzalez would be considered a White Sox target.

“All I can say is that it’s always been business as usual for us and we try to go after impact players every year,” Williams said. “But I’m not going to get into the particulars of those types of things.”

Beckham, 24, struggled through a miserable first of the 2010 campaign, hitting just .199 as late as June 23. But Beckham hit .310 the remainder of the season.

This bounce-back effort from Beckham earned an extra dose of respect from Williams moving into the 2011 season.

“I’m more so confident that he has now gone through some struggles that you go through as a big leaguer and he’s come through it on the other side,” said Williams of Beckham, who hit .252 in his sophomore season, with nine home runs and 49 RBIs. “It’s just unfortunate that he had the injury. He was having quite a second half. That Chicago tough that I talk about, he showed some a little bit of it in doing what he did.”