Many years ago, I happened to visit the old Comiskey Park for an odd event: George Foster's first appearance in a White Sox uniform. In that first game, George received a rousing standing ovation and responded with a home run -- the only home run of his brief stay in Chicago and the final home run of his career.

For some reason I thought of George this week when another Chicago team made a trade for a declining veteran. The Cubs finally made a move to fill the tremendous void in their lineup left by the injury to Derrek Lee. They dealt Jerry Hairston, who failed to seize the second base job when Todd Walker moved to first, to Texas in exchange for Phil Nevin.

Obviously, the Cubs have slowly come to the conclusion that their existing roster wasn't up to the task of filling in for Lee for a lengthy period. Walker has continued to be Walker, but the guys who have filled in for him at second haven't performed.

Accordingly, the Cubs signed Tony Womack after he was cast off by the Reds, and he joined the Cubs last week after a few blistering days in AAA. And then they made the move for Nevin.

Nevin won't be particularly useful in mixed leagues, but he should immediately be snapped up in most NL-only leagues. His nine home runs and name recognition will stick out a lot on fantasy waiver wires. Obviously, he never was George Foster, but to fantasy owners in deep leagues who've been staring at the waiver wire for weeks waiting for anything worthwhile to appear, Nevin will look pleasantly familiar.

However, it's likely he won't be the savior he might seem. For one thing, Womack has been hitting very well thus far. Given Nevin's struggles against righties over the last two years, this could quickly evolve into a platoon situation where Walker and Womack play against righties and Nevin and either Neifi Perez or one of the other two play against lefties. If that is the case, Nevin may provide a little bit of power, but he won't be all that useful overall.

Even if Nevin is handed the everyday job, there are reports that Lee will return by the end of the month. If that is the case, Nevin won't have much value upon his return. And if Lee is delayed, part of that calculation will probably be the fact that the Cubs will have fallen hopelessly out of the race. That won't be a very good situation for Nevin, either.

There is a slight chance that Nevin could supplant Matt Murton in the outfield if he really hits well and demonstrates he can play the outfield.  Very slight.

In Texas, the short term result of the trade is a boost in the value of Jason Botts, who will now play every day. He should be gobbled up in AL-only leagues if he hasn't been already, and he's worth paying attention to for mixed leagues, as well. Hairston shouldn't have any value unless there is an injury.

All in all, an interesting trade for those of us who have had nothing to chew on lately but Joe Borchard. In closing, I'll go out on this very solid limb: Phil Nevin will have a bigger impact in Chicago than George Foster did.