We’re a little late to the party here, but by now we’ve all heard the super-secret whispers about Jim Thome wanting to return to Chicago:

“I’ll be honest, I would still love to come back,” Thome said, tightening the blue batting gloves on each hand. “I still care about the city. I mean, we’re going to live there. Chicago’s very fond in my heart. The time that I spent there, [chairman Jerry Reinsdorf] treated me great. I guess we’ll deal with that when this is all over with.”

This line of thinking, while certainly heartwarming, also runs the risk of being mutually poisonous - not just to an aging, one-dimensional power hitter who would in theory be returning to a team full of them, but to a fanbase at risk of pinning their hopes on sentimentality rather than practicality. The Sox already chose Scott Podsednik over Chone Figgins based solely on cost, so what would make them pony up for Thome’s single-purpose services when they effectively already have him on board in the form of just-barely-more-versatile Paul Konerko?

But beyond questions of what Thome can possibly do for the Sox, we have to ask just why some reporter would raise this question in the first place. To get someone’s hopes up? To quell the tears of every No. 25-clad fan? Because he hit some home runs? Because he’s Jim Thome? We may never know, and all things considered we probably shouldn’t bother trying to find out; there are teams that could make better use of Jim Thome, and there are players the White Sox would be better off pursuing this winter. Thome’s a good guy and has done some wonderful things in his career (and in this time with the Sox), but talk like this only serves to cheapen all of those things. Thome, of all people, doesn’t deserve that. And we know this. And so does Jim Thome. And so, one would hope, do the reporters asking the questions.