For years Sox fans have keyed in on one particular starting pitcher and begged the organization to bring him aboard. We're talking about a Cy Young award winner here, with more than 100 career wins and a sub-4 ERA.

The Sox finally corralled that elite starting pitcher in a very pleasant spring training surprise. And the best thing about this guy is he doesn't need four days rest-he can go every day.

I'm talking about your new full-time radio color commentator, Steve Stone.

So what if his Cy Young was in 1980?

WSCR AM 670 and the Sox announced today that incumbent color analyst Chris Singleton, who was just beginning to settle in as an announcer, has elected to leave the Sox to pursue a television gig with ESPN's Baseball Tonight, leaving open the seat next to Ed Farmer. Stone had been slated to join Singleton and Farmer in the booth for only Friday home broadcasts this season but was "extremely thrilled" to take over full time.

When it comes to on air analysis, there is no one better than Stone. His eloquent descriptions, uncanny predictions and sharp wit have made him a Chicago icon for decades, even though this will be his first full time job since the Cubs' senseless dismissal four years ago. He will bring an air of professionalism to the Sox booth not seen since John Rooney left in 2005.

This move has been a long time coming. As far back as two years ago I believed the Sox should have hired Stoney to solidify the broadcasts. Instead they chose Singleton, an intelligent baseball man but a noticeably awkward announcer who never quite hit it off with the eccentric Farmer.

Now overnight the radio broadcasts have become the most desirable destination for Sox fans tuning in to the ballgame.

Hawk and DJ, while individually proficient at their jobs, have long been stale as a combo and their telecasts are boring, repetitive and banal. When DJ sat out one week last August, the Hawk-Stoney booth received rave reviews and injected some excitement into an otherwise mundane late summer swoon.

With Stone around to police things in the radio booth, the Farmer-Stoney broadcasts will engage Sox fans while keeping focus on the play by play. Listeners often bemoaned a three-run homer taking backseat to a Farmer golf story.

The golf stories will still be there, but Sox broadcasts just got a lot more interesting in 2008, even if the team tanks.

Singleton, an all-around nice guy, tried to make it work in Chicago but was overmatched. I wish him the best of luck in television; he'll immediately step in as one of the best analysts on Baseball Tonight in an environment where he's more likely to flourish.

But from the Sox perspective, this move couldn't be sweeter. As an added bonus, Stone's presence gives owner and fellow-cigar smoker Jerry Reinsdorf a possible replacement for GM Ken Williams if things go downhill in the next few years.

I'm not saying that was motivation for the move or that it is likely to happen anytime soon. But Reinsdorf is famous for only promoting from within his organization, and now he has two viable GM candidates: Stone and Rick Hahn, in house. Just in case.