"General manager Ken Williams isn't all-in.

While he admitted teams have inquired about several White Sox players, Williams said he and his staff are weighing the merits of making trades for younger major league-ready talent against keeping those veteran players with hopes of a rebound year.

"You know by now I'm generally ready," Williams said Thursday night, four days before the start of the general managers' meetings in Milwaukee. "I'm not ready right now. There is some fact-finding that has to go on, and this is going to take a while.

"We have some players who have garnered interest from a number of clubs. And we have to exhaust ourselves to make sure that if we end up making a deal or end up staying the course and try to add to it, that we know exactly what we're getting ourselves into."

The Sox already are coping with the potential loss of staff ace Mark Buehrle, although assistant GM Rick Hahn spoke with agent Jeff Berry last week and will continue talks. But the Sox already have earmarked $91.75 million to 13 players for 2012, and Williams admitted the payroll will be "a little bit less" than last season's club-record $127 million."