Griffey Jr. ... the insurance policy

At about 10:30 this morning I received an instant message from a fellow Motor Mill co-worker:

"What do you think about Griffey, Jr?".

I replied, "what?".

He replied, "Griffey to the White Sox".

I replied, "what?".

Off to ESPN.com I went.

Sure enough, a trade to the White Sox was pending Griffey's approval.

I then navigated my Firefox browser to WhiteSoxInteractive.com to follow the play-by-play in its message board.

That pretty much consumed the rest of my day. I don't know why, because a 39-year old Griffey, Jr for Nick Massett and Danny Richar doesn't exactly make the White Sox a contender.

Maybe the trade consumed the rest of my day because I didn't understand it. The White Sox already have two slow, aging sluggers in Paul Konerko and Jim Thome.

Now the Sox have three.

So the questions became:

A) where does he play?

B) just exactly how slow will the White Sox be?

C) exactly how much will the White Sox cumulative on-base percentage drop?

I think I literally pondered these questions for hours and came up with no answer. Does Griffey play center? If so, where does Nick Swisher play? First? If so, where does Paulie play? DH? Bench? What about Thome?

The trade made no sense.

That is until I watched Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast Sports Net Chicago. Kenny Williams was a guest on the show, and the hosts asked the exact questions I had been noodling on for hours without conclusion.

Kenny's answer, as summarized by me, was simple ... insurance.

He acquired Griffey to protect for injury. He also acquired Griffey to light a fire under the arses of Konerko and Swisher.

That's it ... it's that simple.

Paulie, you've been put on notice

But that doesn't make me really like this deal. Ozzie still has to deal with the playing time scenario. Someone will have hurt feelings. And furthermore, Ozzie's problems will exponentially increase should Griffey play at the same level as Swisher and Konerko.

I like this deal from the stand point of seeing Griffey in a Sox uniform. I don't like it otherwise. I would've much preferred someone who could get on base more frequently and steal bases. I also would've liked a 5th starter, but starters were a scarce resource (NOTE: players are not commodities ... they have differentiating features, like playing ability!).

My attitude about this season has not changed. I don't think the White Sox are good enough to make the World Series. Will they make the playoffs? Maybe, but they'll never get by the Angels.

In fact, no one will. The Mark Teixeira deal seals it for them as far as I'm concerned. Sorry, Cubs fans ... this is the Angels' year.