After the Bears made a multitude of off season moves one season, the coach (alleged) at the time, Dave Wannstedt asked if the moves would get the Bears to the playoffs.  Wanny thrust out his chest and proclaimed "All the ah pieces are ah in ah place."  Of course, history shows that from that moment on, the Bears were a failure and eventually chased their confident coach out the door to South Florida and eventually to a college campus in Pittsburgh.

While we probably won't hear similar proclamations from Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams, you have to believe his thinking is similar.  With yesterday's acquisition of Juan Pierre from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kenny has solved the left field-leadoff conundrum for a fraction of what he would have to pay for someone like Carl Crawford or even Coco Crisp.  The Dodgers will pay the bulk of Pierre's salary over the next two years, which locks him up at about $3 million a year and buys two seasons before studs to be Jordan Danks and Jared Mitchell are ready for prime time.

Or has he?

One does not have tbe too smart to realize that Pierre is Dewayne Wise on steroids.  Yes, he is fast and can steal bases, but he has to get on to do that.  He has absolutely no power and he may have a worse arm in the outfield than Scott Podsednik.  If you are looking for Pierre to set the table, he might be able to, but then again, if he has a year like he did in 2006 with the Cubs, he will go down as one of the great busts in Sox history.

Ozzie Guillen has worked with Pierre before when Ozzie was a member of the 2003 world champion Marlins coaching staff.  Certainly this a move that Ozzie approves of.  Of course it was Ozzie who was hot after Orlando Cabrera and we all know how that worked out.

So, my guess is that the Sox lineup looks like this right now:

Pierre LF
Savior 2b
Q RF
Paulie 1B
AJ, C
Rios CF
Teahen 3b
TBD DH
Cuban Missile SS

Feeling scared Detroit?  Quaking in your boots, Minnesota?  Yeah, I thought not.

The key for the Sox this year is seventeen wins from Jake Peavy, fifteen from Mark Buehrle and fourteen each from Pink Gavin Floyd and John Danks.  Then, with twelve more from Freddie Garcia the Sox will be in position to at least compete with the Tigers and the Twinkies. It's no longer the hitting that has to carry this team, it's the pitching and if the added speed and gap hitting can make it happen, I'm okay with it.

Of course, a lot of things need to go right.  Peavy needs to be recovered from his injury last year.  Beckham has to have another solid season while adjusting to yet another new position.  Carlos Quentin needs to stay healthy through an entire season and pick up some of the slack left by the departure of Jim Thome.  Andruw Jones and Mark Kotsay must contribute off the bench.  And AJ and Paulie need to continue to hit.

Juan Pierre wouldn't be my first, second or third choice to be the final piece to the puzzle, but given the financial constraints and who is available, I don't blame Kenny for once again shopping in the bargain bin.  Pierre can be considered the best player available at a price the Sox could afford to pay.  The two minor leaguers they gave up probably wouldn't have seen the light of day in a Sox uniform any way.  Daniel Hudson, the Sox best young arm is still with the club.  It is what it is.

We'll see how it all works out in a couple of months.