Fox Sports and the Associated Press initially reported that the Cincinnati Reds have agreed to trade Ken Griffey Jr. to the Chicago White Sox and the only thing standing in the way of this deal going through would be Griffey and his right to veto the trade because he is a 10-5 player (10 years in baseball and 5 years with the same team).

Griffey has in fact agreed to waive his no trade clause and will be sent to Chicago in exchange for infielder Danny Richar and pitcher Nick Masset.

It is unknown how Griffey would fit into the White Sox’s lineup.  With a full outfield consisting of Jermaine Dye, Nick Swisher, and American League home run leader Carlos Quentin, and the DH spot taken by Jim Thome, it is uncertain where exactly Griffey would go.  With first baseman Paul Konerko batting .214 with only 9 home runs and 35 RBI and having the worst year of his career, it is possible that manager Ozzie Gullien could opt to bench Konerko, start Swisher at first base, and put Griffey in center field.

Swisher has played in 42 games at first base for the White Sox this year and hasn’t committed any errors.  For this reason, he is the more likely option to be moved to first base over Thome who has played in the field only four times since he joined the White Sox in 2006.

No matter what, the White Sox would figure out a way to play Griffey, but it would probably been done at the expense of Griffey giving up a lot of playing time.  Because of this, it is pretty surprising that the White Sox would make a trade to acquire Griffey and it is also surprising that Griffey had no problem with waiving his no trade clause.

Although Griffey left the Seattle Mariners in 2000 to take the big contract offer in Cincinnati, Griffey is an old school player who isn’t one of these players today who are all about the money.

There are two things the 38-year-old Griffey wants: playing time and a World Series ring.  By joining the White Sox, he will greatly increase his chances of completing this season with a championship, but he might not necessarily get the playing time he wants. 

Only time will only tell how the White Sox will work this whole situation out to everyone’s best interest.