Steve Stone, who left the Cubs broadcasting team after the '04 season following run-ins with thin-skinned reliever Kent Mercker and manager Dusty Baker, will be joining the White Sox radio crew in '08. He'll be the third man in the radio booth with Ed Farmer and Chris Singleton but only for the 13 Friday games the Sox play at U.S. Cellular Field.

Last August, Stone filled in for former Cub Darrin Jackson on the Sox tv broadcasts alongside play-by-play man Ken "He Gone!" Harrelson.

From Ed Sherman in the Tribune:

"The Sox have been great to me," Stone said. "To have a chance to keep a hand in calling games is something I wanted to do. I do love broadcasting baseball. I like Ed and Chris. It should be fun."

However, there's a chance the arrangement might not survive the season. With Tribune Co. set to sell the Cubs, Stone has expressed interested in having a role with the new owners.

Again, it is about keeping his options open.

"Nobody knows when the new owner will take over," Stone said. "The only thing I can say is if I'm familiar with the people who will own the team, I would like to have a discussion with them."

I've written about Stone in this space before; about how I think his divorce from the Cubs after 18 mostly good years, seems to have left him a bitter know-it-all, at least when the subject of his conversation is the Chicago Cubs.

I hope he has no connection to the new owners. I don't see that Stone is qualified for the Major League front office position he has openly lobbied for in the past, and I don't think the position of Bitter Know-It-All is one the Cubs should worry about filling.