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On his 11 years with the Chicago White Sox as first baseman is Paul Henry Konerko who went to high school in Scottsdale and still makes his offseason home in the area, and if the Arizona Diamondbacks have their way he will be playing there year-round too. Bruce Levien of ESPNChicago.com reported Henry Konerko will be an offseason priority for the D-Backs once the free agency period starts in another week or so.

Diamondbacks received good but not excellent production out of Adam LaRoche this year (.261/.320/.468 with 25 homers), and this report appears to indicate that they’ll acquire out his $7.5MM mutual choice for $1.5MM instead of pick it up. Konerko had a great mlb season, hitting .312/.393/.584 with 39 home runs in 631 plate appearances. New General Manager Kevin Towers has shown interest in cutting down on his team’s strikeouts, something Konerko would definitely support with; he struck out 62 fewer times than LaRoche in 16 much more plate appearances.

The 34-year-old first baseman informed the reporters back in September that he could retire if he is not happy with the way his offseason shakes out, but I am confident playing close to home will be an interesting choice. Konerko also said that contract length is not significant priority since he is not certain how much longer he wants to play. He just wrapped up 5-year deal that paid him $12MM annually.

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