

But Williams' worst nightmare could be getting closer to reality, and there may be nothing he can do to avoid it.

The longer Williams and the White Sox go without assuring Magglio Ordonez he will remain on the South Side for the rest of the season, and possibly longer, the better chance they have of driving Ordonez into a Cubs uniform in 2005. And if Ordonez joins Sammy Sosa in the Friendly Confines, Williams will get daily reminders that the two best-hitting outfielders to wear a Sox uniform since Shoeless Joe Jackson are playing on the other side of town.

Don't believe it?

OK. Get back to me in November when Ordonez becomes a free agent and gets a chance to show the Sox what a mistake they made by letting him go.

Ordonez, a 30-year-old Venezuelan, is a reserved guy who tends to keep his feelings to himself. But friends say he is quietly steaming over a series of slights that began last winter when the Sox attempted to deal him to Boston for Nomar Garciaparra. The trade eventually fell through, but the scar never healed.

Now the Sox basically have stopped negotiating with Ordonez, and Williams continues to insist no one in the clubhouse is an untouchable, an obvious reference to the possibility of trading his star right fielder.

Rehabilitating from his knee injury, Ordonez is playing it smart, keeping quiet and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Though he really wants to stay with the Sox, he has no reason to believe the Sox really want him to stick around.

Unfortunately for the Sox, they never have known exactly what to do with Ordonez, a fan favorite who never has been marketed as such. All he has done since coming up in 1997, is hit, drive in runs and play a more-than-respectable right field. He never has embarrassed the organization complaining about his contract, never has been involved in any off-field stupidity and never has said a word about taking a back seat to lesser teammates or his manager or even the ballpark food in the team's advertising campaigns.

How would Ordonez look in Cub pinstripes? Cubs general manager Jim Hendry has to be intrigued by the prospect. Before they were injured this season, Sosa and Ordonez ranked 1-2 in RBI production among right fielders since 1999, with 650 and 590 RBIs respectively. Along with center fielder Corey Patterson, they would make up one of the best outfields in baseball, no matter which one moved to left.

For everything to fall into place, the Cubs would have to decline their $11.5 million option on Moises Alou, which they are likely to do anyway, and come up with a creative, back-loaded deal for Ordonez. Hendry has proved he can get things done, and it would be up to Tribune Co. to approve a probable payroll increase. Ordonez could be linked with Sosa for years or he could be insurance for the Cubs if contract negotiations with Sosa over an extension beyond 2005 go sour.

Ordonez prefers to stay in Chicago, so a move to the North Side would be his first choice. If not, look for him to try to find a job in a warm-weather city like San Diego or Los Angeles.

No one in Cubs management can talk about Ordonez without being accused of tampering, but the idea of acquiring an All-Star caliber outfielder who's still in his prime and wants to play in Chicago is obviously something they couldn't ignore. Ordonez might have to accept a little less to play with the Cubs, but after feeling disrespected by the organization he grew up in, he might not mind sticking it back in their face.

The current Sox ad campaign features an "us vs. them" comparison with the Cubs that's meant to draw fans and some laughs at the same time. But would anyone on the South Side still be laughing if Ordonez went from "us" to "them"?

Unless the Sox wise up and begin treating Ordonez like the franchise player he is, that scenario is a nightmare waiting to happen … and a dream come true for Cubs fans.

Paul Sullivan covers the Cubs for the Tribune.