Ken Griffey Headed to the White Sox in Early Deadline Day Deal

When I heard the words "Ken Griffey, Jr. has been traded", I actually bugged out a little which, in hindsight, seems kind of silly. As of this morning, when Griffey was in fact traded to the Chicago White Sox, he's batting .245/.355/.431 with 15 homers and 538 at bats.

In other words, health provided, he's on pace for his worst season as he heads to the ~~North~~(Ed Note: Sorry, lack of coffee and/or intelligence caused that.) South Side. Assuming he approves the deal of course.

The Reds have traded Griffey to the White Sox, pending his approval. Griffey will decide Thursday morning whether he will approve the deal, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. It is not known what the Reds would receive in return.

Griffey, as a player with 10 years of major-league service, five with the same club, has the right to block any deal. The White Sox attempted to acquire him from the Reds at the trade deadline in 2005, but the trade reportedly was nixed by Reds ownership for financial reasons.

It would seem pretty unlikely that Griffey would squash a deal like this. He gets to head to a contender relatively near his home now, and the White Sox, with Nick Swisher, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin already in the outfield, would be able to offer him playing time and some beneficial DH "rest" (although he stinks as a DH career stat wise).

But the bigger points are that 1) Griffey gets a decent shot at a ring and 2) this isn't that huge a deal, sadly. As Mr. Calceterra pointed out, "Wow, with his bat between Albert Belle's and Frank Thomas's, the White Sox should really make some noise!"