Sports

Griffey Jr. No Longer Seeing Red, Traded to White Sox

by drgraffnburg | July 31, 2008 at 09:12 am

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The rumor was flying around as of late yeesterday, but now it is official as Griffey has agreed to be traded to the White Sox.

Ken Griffey Jr. approved a trade from the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, paving the way for the future Hall of Famer to pursue a spot in the World Series for the first time in his career.

The deal is subject to the approval of commissioner Bud Selig's office, said a baseball source, who added that MLB approval is expected to be a "rubber stamp.'' The Reds will receive pitcher Nick Masset and infielder Danny Richar in return.

Griffey joins a very solid line-up on Chicago's South side. The question is, what dos this mean to Chicago's outfield? You can't replace Carlos Quentin in left field or Jermaine Dye in right field as both are having incredible offensive years. And Griffey is just over the hill far enough in baseball years to be a good center fielder. However, center field may be where he ends up. It has been speculated that curent center fielder, Nick Swisher, could move to first base to replace Paul Konerko, who has been slumping mightily. The other potential spot, Designated Hitter, is filled by Jim Thome, but it is hard to imagine the White Sox sitting Thome in favor of Griffey because Thome is having a productive year this season.

Clearly the White Sox were a great team before, leading the AL Central and currently sitting at 60-46, 1.5 games up in the division. The addition of Griffey isn't a major boost to the offense, though the natrual born hitter should thrive in a ballpark that has yielded more runs, homeruns, hits and doubles than The Great American ballpark in Cincinnati has this season. (Source: ESPN.com).

If you also take into account how Griffey has thrived against Chicago's divisional rivals' pitchers, maybe this is the boost the White Sox need to make the October run. Versus the Minnesota Twins' pitchers he is batting .364, 5 HRs, 7 RBI and slugging 1.091. Versus the Detroit Tigers' pitchers he is batting .306, 2 HR, 8 RBI and slugging .468. (Source: ESPN.com)