Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said low attendance numbers at U.S. Cellular Field mean that he won't have the flexibility at the trade deadline to add money to his payroll.
"The answer is no, if I'm being completely honest with you. And I wish I were lying," Williams said. "But the fact of the matter is we haven't earned our fans' patronage up to this point in the fashion that we played and the weather hasn't helped as well so we're a little behind the eight ball financially."
Williams said with the team playing better and more games at home he hopes they will get more fan support. After playing 30 of their last 43 games on the road, the White Sox are hosting 23 of their next 35 games.
"That gets us back to hopefully even [financially] before the break," Williams said. "Then we can optimistically look beyond July 31 and [I'm] hopeful that we can bring in even more fans, which would thereby give me the resources to go out and do some things."
Williams said manager Ozzie Guillen and hitting coach Greg Walker are working with players like Alex Rios and Adam Dunn on the field early on game days. Williams hopes when those veterans turn it around, the wins will come in bunches and so will the fans.
"As much as you can remain positive, I go to other places and let me tell you, in Boston, there are some guys struggling too," Williams said. "But every single time they came up to that plate, there were 37,000 fans encouraging them. And the atmosphere was electric. You think that doesn't matter? It matters."
However, Williams emphasized that he's not putting the blame on the fans for the White Sox's financial issues. He knows there is no other way to fill the seats then to get back on a winning track.
"We have to earn [the fans'] respect, we have to earn their patronage and the only way to do that is not by me saying anything or Ozzie saying anything," Williams said. "It's by the players playing, playing their [tails] off and showing the fans that you know what, let's go check these guys out. That's the only way."
Williams acknowledged problems with the economy are a concern and do factor in the White Sox short- and long-term thinking. However, he maintains he has to focus on the things he can control and leave those issues to more qualified people.
During the offseason, the White Sox's payroll jumped nearly $25 million to almost $128 million. With the financials at an all-time high for the White Sox, Williams and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf discussed prior to the season what needed to happen for the team to sustain such high levels, payroll-wise.
"Part of our conversation last year was let's take ourselves to yet another level. Let's be representative of one of the types of teams that can go out and dream about any possibility or any acquisition," Williams said. "That comes with risks and certain challenges we are a little uncomfortable with. And we are out on a limb. It is what it is. At the end of the day, we are either going to be right in our decision to push it a little bit or we are going to be wrong and have to try to make do the best we can."
Sahadev Sharma is a regular contributor to ESPNChicago.com.