I come not to bury Paul Konerko but to praise him.  The White Sox captain is a stand up guy, a good first baseman and an above average power hitter.  His presentation of the ball from the final out of the 2005 World Series to the Chairman is a story of legend.  He's the kind of guy you wish your daughter would bring home.

That said, it has become painfully obvious over the last two games that the White Sox might just be a better team without him. 

Konerko suffered a thumb injury early in the year that has both his power numbers and his average in the toilet.  He's had problems producing runs.  Pitchers routinely throw him inside to take advantage of his lack of hand strength.

Now, Konerko is on the DL with a rib cage injury, one that is painful for him to sneeze or laugh.  The word is, it will take him a minimum of three weeks to overcome it.  It might be one of those injuries that he has to suck it up and live with the remainder of the season.

My thought is he should rest.  Why allow a valuable member of your team to play with a lingering injury that affects his ability to hit?  Jim Thome had a similar injury last year and was not very effective the last two months of the season (of course, nobody in the Sox lineup was particularly effective after May of last season).

In the interim, first base is being handled by Nick Swisher who seems to hit better there than he does when he plays the outfield.  In center, Brian Anderson went deep for the Sox last night as well as providing some solid defense.  Konerko, while a valued member of this squad can be replaced by parts already in the machine.

I'm not necessarily saying the Sox should shed themselves of him, but that his return should be when he is healthy, not when he says he's healthy. 

In order to make it to the playoffs and possibly win a championship, your best nine players need to play.  An injured Paul Konerko is not one of your best nine players.  Not even close.