Ken Williams has always been a ''go-for-it" general manager. Maybe that's why it was so difficult for him to utter the "R" word the day Robin Ventura was formally introduced as manager of the White Sox on Tuesday.

"If you're talking about rebuilding, the answer to the question is no,'' Williams said when asked about the direction the team is headed after it flopped with an all-time high $127 million payroll. "If we have to retool a little bit, well the answer to the question is 'maybe.' Let's see what's available out there through the winter discussions and we'll make that determination as we go along. We very well, with all the names you mentioned could be out there come spring training. But until we have these conversations, I have no idea.''

We mentioned to Williams the names John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Carlos Quentin, who are movable pieces with value who could bring quality, younger players in return as rebuilding blocks. Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski were brought up, too. They would have to agree to a trade. Konerko, while pledging his allegiance to the Sox, didn't rule out the possibility when I asked him the other day.

"Well, over the course of the 10 or 11 years, the one thing I have learned first and foremost is to never say never,'' Williams said. "But in many cases I can say very, very unlikely that we would head down that extreme of a direction.''

Under Williams, the Sox have consistently fielded teams going into the season which had a chance to contend. One of them won a World Series in 2005. But Ventura, with no experience at the helm, does not fit the mold of the manager of a team that is "going for it."

"You know if I keep talking to Robin Ventura, yeah I'm going to feel a little more confident in the roster that we have and the young players and the veteran players and what we can reasonably expect,'' Williams said. "But again, I'm fresh off the most disappointing season in the last 11 years for me personally and for us as an organization. So right now I have to take a little bit of time to see the bigger picture and the bigger picture is we're pretty happy with the leadership we have in place and a coaching staff that I think will be.''

The Sox gave $2.7 million to players drafted this season, the smallest amount in baseball. They are last in baseball over the last three years in investing in the draft. Rebuilding or re-tooling will require more money invested in the draft, and Williams said he doesn't know if it will happen.

"Don't know yet,'' he said. "Depends on what the player payroll is going to be. We've stretched ourselves over the last number of years.''

Whether Mark Buehrle is brought back remains to be seen. It would appear to be a long shot, but the left-hander -- one of three Sox remaining with Pierzynski and Konerko from the 2005 team -- hasn't been ruled out completely, Williams said.

"We'll get to the player matters when we can," Williams said. "But it's not dissimilar to the Konerko situation last year. The market has to tell us what he's going to command, and we'll look into it then to see if it fits into our planning and budget.

"Listen, whenever it is when Mark Buehrle leaves, you're going to have a void. I'm not just talking about the player standpoint, but who he is, what he is -- all the peripheral things. You can't ask for a better guy, performance-wise and non-performance wise."

Perhaps the most stunning news to emerge from the White Sox' press conference introducing Robin Ventura as manager was general manager's Ken Williams' revelation that he considered Paul Konerko as a player-manager candidate.

It never got to a point where Williams asked Konerko about the possibility.

"Well, it was considered long enough for me to realize that Paul is a very cerebral person and he would probably drive himself nuts right now playing and managing at the same time,'' Williams said Tuesday. "But that's the kind of respect I have for him that yeah, I did consider it. Then I thought I think I would rather him be focused more on hitting third or fourth in the lineup and driving in 100 runs rather than trying to worry about 25 other guys in addition to it. We are trying to win.''

Konerko, the No. 2 White Sox all time in home runs and RBI, has two years left on what could be his last contract.

"I believe Paul Konerko, if he wants to, can ultimately run a Major League club and would be able to do so as soon as he steps off the field,'' Williams said. "Why do I believe that? Because I spent the last 11 years talking to him about baseball. And when you talk about that in that fashion and does it fit in our equation, we have a situation here where it's a unique situation where there is scrutiny, there is the microscope and a person has to be able to deal with some of the peripheral things so that he can also maintain himself as a strong individual to lead 25 guys.''

Robin Ventura, who was formally introduced as the 39th manager of the White Sox on Tuesday, is exactly as you see him.

Down to earth, centered and steady. And not a single word bleeped out of your evening sportscast.

No bleeps, no tweets, and no looks of angst on the White Sox public relations staff.

As for his style of managing, no one knows because Ventura has not managed or coached at any level. What his players can expect from the two-time all-star, Ventura said, is a straight-forward and honest dude.

"Just being truthful, being upfront, honest and fair, really," Ventura said. "I think everybody's accountable and from being a player, guys like that. Guys know what to expect, they like that. As a manager, I don't change day-to-day, and I think that'd be part of the draw. I'm pretty much the same every day, and they'll know what to expect.''

Asked if he has the cure for what ailed Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham during their poor 2011 seasons, Ventura said knows what the the first step is. And they're all taking it now.

"Well, I think for right now they need a break," Ventura said. "The mental grind of baseball is probably the toughest of of any sport because it's daily. It's daunting, especially if you get yourself in a hole. I don't think it's anything I can do right away.

"For them, you come to spring training and feel fresh. You feel different as a player every year as a player when you go to spring training. There's no guarantee that any guy on our team is going to have a better or worse year than last year."

Ventura was an off-the-radar pick by general manager Ken Williams, who was thinking outside the box all the way. He revealed Tuesday that he thought about asking Paul Konerko to be a player-manager. But that's as far as it went.

Williams said the rest of Ventura's coaching staff will be announced soon. He also said that first-base coach Harold Baines will get more involved with hitters, particularly on the mental side.

Here are exerpts of what Ventura had to say Tuesday.

On whether he talked to Sox players: : "I talked to Paul and then have done a little phone tag with a couple of other ones. That will eventually happen but it's just nice to get in contact with them and just talk to them.

On the best piece of advice he received since hired:

"The best piece of advice is to be yourself. That's going to be pretty simple for me."

On what he's learned from former managers:

"For me, I think you take something from every guy you play with, every guy that coached you and managed you. I think everybody has that. I've played for a lot of great managers and I plan on - I don't know if it's stealing - but it's using a lot of their styles and philosophies and I think that makes me confident."

On being a good cop/bad cop:

"Just being truthful, being upfront, honest and fair, really. I think everybody's accountable and as being a player, guys like that. Guys know what to expect, they like that. As a manager I don't change day to day and I think that'd be part of the draw. I'm pretty much the same every day and they'll know what to expect.

On what he can do to fix Dunn, Rios and Beckham:

"Well I think for right now they need a break. The mental grind of baseball is probably the toughest out of any sport because it's daily, it's daunting especially if you get yourself in a hole. I don't think it's anything I can do right away. For them, you come to Spring Training and feel fresh. You feel different as a player every year as a player when you go to spring training. There's no guarantee that any guy on our team is going to have a better or worse year than last year. We're hoping everybody has a great year and that's what we're counting on."

On Williams "interviewing" him as a player:

"As a player, it's hard to sit there and think you're going to be a manager back when you're five years in the league.

"Granted I don't have that coaching or managerial experience officially but I think later in my career that was something that was evident that I felt I could do it and I felt confident that I could do it.''

On being an instructing manager:

"I would instruct on things that I'm stronger at. Obviously when we fill the staff there's going to be guys that are stronger in certain areas of the game and I'm going to let them do that.

"I think third base and maybe a little bit of second. Probably with Brent more than anyone else if he needs it. He had a great end of the year and we're going to have to play that by ear. But I think everybody instructs in one way or the other and we're just going to have wait and see in spring how that all comes out.''

On handling different personalities:

"Well I played for a lot of different personalities and got along with a lot of different people and become friends with a lot of people from the outside they look at my personality andtheir personality and not think that we would get along. It's finding a way to have common ground. Personalities are great on teams. As long as they're a good teammate, we're going to get along great as long as they're going toward a common goal. When it's about yourself there's going to be times for discussion.''

Daryl Van Schouwen

With no experience on his resume, Robin Ventura will be formally introduced as manager of the White Sox at a press conference Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field. With no major-league coaching experience, Mark Parent and "Super Joe" McEwing are expected to be named to two of the most important positions on Ventura's staff.

Parent, 50, a manager for the Philadelphia Phillies' AA team in Reading, Pa., would be Ventura's right-hand man as bench coach, a source said. McEwing, an energetic 38-year old who probably received consideration from general manager Ken Williams for the manager's job, will coach third base. McEwing managed the Sox AAA team at Charlotte this season.

Jeff Manto, the organization's roving hitting instructor, is believed to be the leading candidate to replace Greg Walker as hitting coach. Manto has major-league experience, as the Pittsburgh Pirates' hitting coach in 2006 and '07.

Manto was a .230 hitter with 31 homers and 97 RBI in parts of nine big-league seasons. Four of his homers came on consecutive at-bats, which tied a major league record.

AAA hitting coach Tim Laker has also been considered for the hitting coach job.

Ventura played with McEwing, a nine-year career utility man, on the New York Mets in 2000 and '01. He never played with Parent, a 13-year backup catcher in the majors. The two shared the same agent as players.

Manto and McEwing are both from the small town of Bristol, Pa.

White Sox general manager Ken Williams said this week that left-hander Chris Sale would be given every opportunity to be a starter next season. And Sale, who was drafted in the first round as a projected starter, appears too valuable to stay in the bullpen -- unless the Sox decide to make him a closer.

But Sox pitching coach Don Cooper cautioned against penciling Sale into the rotation just yet.

"I haven't heard that officially because we haven't sat down as an organization, as staff, as coaches,'' Cooper said Tuesday. "We haven't talked about the team as an organization and determined Chris Sale's role for next year.

"My guess is that's next - sit down with [the new] manager and we'll talk about the team. We all have to take a step back, sleep on a few things, take the emotion out of it and as intelligently as we can and set things up.''

The Sox have other rotation question marks. Will Mark Buehrle re-sign? Will John Danks and/or Gavin Floyd be traded? There is no question that Sale has a big upside. Asked about Sale's role in 2012 after the final game of the season -- in which Sale blew a save in an opportunity to save games on consecutive days -- Cooper was noncommittal.

"I see him right now as a top-flight first-year guy in the bullpen who is a bad son of a gun,'' Cooper said. "This guy is tough. He can pitch. He has heart, smarts, [guts]. He's got everything you want in a pitcher. And if we leave him alone, my guess is he's going to continue that.

"The other option do we decide as an organization to start him. Is that the best thing next year for him for his career to keep going? That's where we haven't had the discussions yet. That's where Chris Sale is right this second. He's good.

"I think I said it yesterday and said it a lot. You ask a lot of hitters that come to the plate, lefties and righties, they say they don't like this guy. He has a nice future ahead of himself for sure. The challenges ahead are all the challenges I mentioned a minute ago. Come ready, in the best physical and mental shape of his life. That decision, he'll know what he's doing prior to when he gets to spring training.''

It's not like the conditioning is going to change a whole lot. Getting into top shape is top shape, starting or relieving. We'll have to wait and see on that one. Chris Sale had himself a fine season regardless of what happened today.