White Sox GM Ken Williams seems determined to figure out what has been bothering Jose Contreras of late and keep the starting rotation in tact.
"As with every off-season, we'll listen to overtures, but I'm not anxious to break up the one component that has been the most consistent," Williams said of the rotation.
"So it would have to be something we felt rounded us out as a whole similar to the way we thought of Carlos [Lee] a few years ago."
As of now, Contreras will stay in the rotation while Gavin Floyd works out of the bullpen.
Getting Contreras back to a semblance of his 2005-06 form would stabilize the rotation and give the GM more strength to make trades.
On Friday Contreras showed flashes of the form that helped him win 17 consecutive decisions, but he made enough mistakes to suffer a 5-4 loss, his eighth consecutive setback as a starter.
Williams agreed that Contreras also is less dominant against right-handed hitters when he drops to a three-quarters delivery.
If Contreras rebounds, Williams could listen closely to offers for Jon Garland, who has no history of arm problems, won 36 games over 2005-06 and will earn $12 million in 2008 before he's eligible for free agency.
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