Alex Rios to the White Sox. Greg Zaun not included.

This deal really needs to be looked at for what it is from a White Sox fan's perspective. It's very high risk with a potential high reward. It's tough to say that picking up a player who has been disappointing for the last year and a half and carries with him $60 million remaining on his contract is a terrific move all around. There's a good chance he's a valuable player for the White Sox, but there's also a good chance that they regret this one.

Also, his career numbers, as well as this season's numbers, don't support the claim that he'd be above average offensively in right.

I'm not saying there aren't positives. There's little to not like about an 82% SB%, and he is a very good defender. Even in his good offensive seasons, though, he didn't show that he grasped the concept of the strike zone, which can be extremely maddening to watch.

The other thing to think about is, with a player whose biggest assets are his defensive ability and his speed on the base paths, how well will he age? He's in Chicago until his age 33 season, when he will be making $12.5 million. You have to wonder how good of a value (or how much of a burden) he will be at that point.

And you can't pretend that the money Rios earns as a White Sox is of no concern to the fans. To already have $42 million committed to just 3 players for 2011 (Buehrle, Peavy, Rios) and $29 million to two for 2012 (Peavy, Rios) is going to have plenty of implications on who else the Sox will be able to sign to fill out the roster.

I'm not in any way saying it's a bad deal (yet), but to call it terrific given all of this seems a little optimistic.

Fair enough, Rick. And I did mean to address the jump from AL East to the AL Central/US Cellular (mostly because I've been more than ready to point out Peavy's jump from the NL to the AL and PetCo to US Cellular having a possible opposite effect.) That should help him out some.

But I mean, $12 million is by no means chump change. I'm not saying Rios is worthless (not by any means). This year, each player in the Sox middle of the order is getting paid about that.

I do get that it might have been one of their best options to fill the center field hole, though. It raises a couple more questions, though. What happens to the top of the White Sox order if they let Podsednik walk? Getz/Beckham maybe? It'd be hard to leave If you're right and Dye is retained, is Thome, as well? For how much? If not, what happens with DH?

And I don't know for sure Danks' and Floyd's arbitration situations, but is that $42 million committed to 3 players for 2011 going to impact them 2 in any way?

Rios is not a bad player, and he absolutely has some value to the Sox, but his (and his contract's) presence on the White Sox will likely have an impact on how the roster shapes up for the next few years. Personally, I just feel like there's a pretty good risk in getting a player owed the amount of money he is for as long as he is, and banking on the idea of him returning to offensive form. Although, apparently we can both agree on the high reward part. Who knows what you'll get with him. It's definitely a roll of the dice kind of move.

With the arbitration raises, they should be around $85 million next year. I think there's probably room to squeeze JD's option in there at $12 million. Thome is probably gone unless he takes a sizeable discount, probably in the 5-7 mil range. I think JR might extend the budget a bit for more if Thome's willing to take that.

As for the order, I don't think that's too big of a concern right now. Get good players first, then sort it out. Not sure I want Getz near the top, though. If he's your 8th or 9th best hitter, it seems pointless to hit him 1 or 2 just because he can kind of move. Beckham can probably handle leadoff. AJ, Getz, or Alexei could hold down the two hole. The middle of the order will still be Q, Konerko, and hopefully Dye (and possibly Thome).

That Blackhawks game has to be one of the top 10 heckling sessions of all-time..along with Khabibulin having herpes, Mike managed to insult some overly obese dude 3 rows in front of us for about 20 minutes straight. All-time Heckler...

Mike is the G.O.A.T. when it comes to sports heckling.

Oh and Stompy remember when you asked kept asking me about that swearing in front of kids story a few months back? I referencing Mike at the UC, heckling Khabibulin. It was possibly the most obscene thing I've ever seen at a sporting event. When we sat down there were a few parents with kids in the stands in our section. After five minutes, they were all gone.

I'm sad to say my heckling days are over. No longer can I be the annoying drunk 18 year old at sporting events. Now I just sit back and make comments under my breath, slowly as my ego dies.

I really think they will re-sign both Pods and JD, have Pods play left move TCQ to right and Dye to DH. Dye already has said he would give a hometown discount, so buy him out for the 1-2 million and sign him for around 6-7. Pods should come fairly cheap (1-2 mil range) and with Thome, Contreras, and Dotel almost certain to be gone, thats almost 30 mil right there. Think of this lineup- Pods, Beckham, TCQ, JD, Paulie, AJ, Rios, Alexei, Getz. Scary good.