Chicago ? Now playing shortstop for the Chicago White Sox: Ozzie Guillen.

Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox manager? That Ozzie Guillen?

“If someone needed to go on DL, I was reaching for the major-league rulebook, seriously,” general manager Ken Williams said.

Williams on Tuesday was in Charlotte, N.C., when he heard the news that his White Sox would be playing a Wednesday game in Oakland without such injured shortstop candidates as Juan Uribe, Tadhito Iguchi and Pablo Ozuna.

There was not time to fly a replacement cross-country from Triple-A Charlotte, so Williams opened his rulebook:

“I could have signed and activated (Guillen),” he said.

When he heard that Williams might sign him, Guillen’s first reaction was: “I thought he was talking about (an extension) as manager.”

His second reaction: “If we needed a guy, I could catch the ball for a day. I don’t know if I could throw it.”

Could he hit?

“I never could hit,” he said.