By Chris Pummer
Staff Writer
Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports is reporting that the White Sox will land Ken Griffey Jr. pending his approval.
Rosenthal doesn't mention yet what the Sox would be forking over for the tail end of Griffey's career, but I can't imagine it would be much. The Reds would probably be happy just to get his salary for the rest of the season off the books. Griffey's price tag would likely preclude either team from offering him arbitration this winter, so he wouldn't yield any compensation draft picks.
This year Griffey is batting .245 with a .355 on-base percentage and .432 slugging percentage. Those are obviously all well off his career totals. But over the last month he's hitting .263/.391/.553. So long as the Sox are only sending over a fringe prospect, it's probably worth the gamble to see he can keep it up through the rest of the year.
Of course to ride the hot hand, the Sox will have to drop someone from the lineup, and my guess is that it will be first baseman Paul Konerko.
Konerko and Nick Swisher are both touting poor batting averages, but Swisher has at least maintained respectable on-base and slugging numbers. Swisher also offers a lot of lineup flexibility with his ability to play all over the outfield and at first base.
That will be the right move. Sentiment might not favor benching a player that was a key cog for the team when it won the World Series three year ago, but reason dictates that Konerko has had enough time this season to try to pull himself out of his slump.
Besides, the Sox might be on the verge of acquiring a legitimately good player to replace him in the lineup. Not some guy like Brian Daubach.
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