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Paul Konerko said 2013 could be his final season as a player, according to Chuck Garfien of CSNChicago.com. The first baseman turns 36 next month and it’s not a given that he’ll continue playing after his contract expires following the 2013 campaign.
“Yeah, in all reality I would see it ending after next year or maybe another year,” Konerko said. “I mean, at some point you got to go home and be around your kids and have other things to do.”
Konerko expects to consider playing opportunities after the 2013 season, but he doesn’t intend to “hang on for another year and kind of go through the motions.” The White Sox briefly considered making Konerko a player-manager this offseason, and though he doesn’t expect to manage any time soon, it could happen at some point. He posted a .300/.388/.517 line with 31 homers in 2011, when he was named to the American League All-Star team for the fifth time in his career.

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The White Sox signed first baseman Dan Johnson to a minor league deal, tweets Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.
Johnson, 32, hit .273/.382/.459 in 395 Triple-A plate appearances for the Rays’ affiliate last year, a downturn from his 2010 production perhaps caused by a wrist injury.  He elected free agency after being outrighted by the Rays in November.  Johnson clubbed a pair of legendary late-season home runs for the Rays in ’08 and ’11, as described here by Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  Johnson is represented by TWC Sports.
For teams still seeking a little extra depth at first base, the free agent market features Russell Branyan, Ross Gload, Conor Jackson, Casey Kotchman, Derrek Lee, and Xavier Nady.

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The Indians made a trade today, acquiring 2011 International League MVP Russ Canzler from the Rays. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Cleveland add another hitter before Opening Day, but their division rivals appear to have completed most of their offseason shopping at this point. Here’s the latest from the AL Central…

Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski ruled out the possibility of playing Miguel Cabrera in left field, according to James Schmehl of MLive.com.
White Sox starter Gavin Floyd joined Jim Memolo and Jeff Nelson on MLB Network Radio and said he’s been kept in the dark about the trade rumors surrounding him this offseason and that he knows it’s out of his control.
GM Dayton Moore told Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star that he’ll consider ways of upgrading the Royals if they’re in the pennant race midseason. For now, Kansas City is likely done adding major pieces.

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Here’s the latest on Yoenis Cespedes, who was officially declared a free agent last week…

“We are aware of the [Spring Training] dates,” said agent Adam Katz to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). ”We expect him to be in camp with one of the clubs.” Katz also called the market for Cespedes ”meaningful and aggressive.”
The Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, Orioles, and Tigers are five of the six clubs that have been in serious talks with Cespedes, reports ESPN’s Jim Bowden (Twitter links). He is expected to travel to the United States in the next 7-10 days for face-to-face meetings.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis said he would rank Cespedes in the 7-15 range of their top 100 prospects list, and that he would take over as the top prospect of pretty much any team that signs him.

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