It sure looks like Sox are going for it
You have to have followed Jerry Reinsdorf for a couple of decades to make a couple of educated assumptions about the Alex Rios transaction.
The first is that the White Sox didn't snooker themselves into acquiring him.
The second is that the Sox aren't afraid of anybody in the American League this season.
Let's take first things first.
One notion circulating is that the Sox claimed Rios on waivers last week from the Blue Jays to block the Tigers from getting him.
Maybe that's true to a degree. The Sox are locked in struggle with Detroit for the AL Central's playoff berth.
The risk was that the Jays would allow Rios to go without compensation and the Sox would have to assume the more than guaranteed $60 million remaining on his contract.
My guess - only a guess - is the Sox didn't consider it a risk. The worst-case scenario would be that they wound up with Rios, a talented player manager Ozzie Guillen loves.
If the Sox weren't sold on adding Rios at the cost it took, they wouldn't have even considered claiming him.
The one thing Reinsdorf's teams, the Sox and the Bulls, are not is financially reckless. The clubs' chairman is one of the shrewdest money managers in sports.
If Reinsdorf can be accused of anything, it's being too cautious with a dollar. He demonstrates that these days by not allowing the Bulls to go over the NBA's luxury-tax threshold.
Yet Reinsdorf always has said he will pay for the right player, even if the price is obscene, when the Sox or the Bulls are close to winning a championship.
That must be where Sox general manager Kenny Williams has convinced Reinsdorf they are.
Why else would the Sox suddenly be spending money like they have three months to live - through, you know, the World Series in October?
First, Williams talked Reinsdorf into trading four inexpensive young players to San Diego for the more than $50 million left on ace starting pitcher Jake Peavy's guaranteed contract.
Then the Sox' brain trust agreed to put in the claim on the more than $60 million left on Rios' contract.
Reinsdorf and Williams considered that Toronto might be willing to unload Rios for no compensation just to get out from under a huge financial commitment.
That was OK with the Sox. Why? Because they feel Rios can help them win this year's division, pennant and World Series.
The Sox saw the Yankees last week and won three of four games. They saw the Angels and won two of three games.
The Yankees didn't scare the Sox. Nor did the Angels. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are coughing and wheezing into the stretch run.
The White Sox might be more afraid of Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota - division rivals they have had trouble with lately. But those teams won't make the playoffs if the Sox do.
It's clear the Sox are going for it, folks. With Reinsdorf providing the money and Williams using it wisely, they just might get it.
Yet even if the Sox fall short this year, they have a couple of valuable parts in Rios and Peavy for multiple seasons to come.
Sounds like a plan to me.
mimrem@dailyherald.com