Ken Griffey Jr.: Reason to Be Scared?

Early on Thursday, just short of the trade deadline, the Chicago White Sox acquired veteran outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for pitcher Nick Masset and infielder Danny Richar.

The deal was approved by Griffey, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, but is still subject to approval by the office of the commissioner.

I wrote recently that I was going to be pulling for the Minnesota Twins to winning the division over the Sox. With the addition of the aging slugger from Cincinnati do the Twins have cause for concern?

The facts are Junior hasn't really proven his worth in a full season since he came to the Reds in 2000. The only time he has played a full season was in 2000 and last season, and in those seasons he hit .270 and .277, respectively.

Since 2000 he has not hit more than 100 RBIs and his power numbers have significantly declined (albeit often because of injury). Which begs the question: how much can he add to this White Sox team?

Who do you remove from the White Sox lineup to make room for Griffey? I would find it hard to believe that it would be one of the outfielders. Dye and Quentin are the teams best hitters right now, and the defensive discrepancy between Swisher and Griffey is too great.

Do you sit Jim Thome and trade his .259 average and 19 homers for Griff's .245 and 15 homers? The only logical move would be to sit Paul Konerko and insert Thome at first. The issue of defense comes up again in this scenario, as it has been quite some time since Thome last played first base.

From the Twins perspective Griffey is not a huge threat against their offense, even with his addition the Twins still hold the edge in every offensive category except home runs. However, the veteran influence that Junior adds is certainly a boost to the team, though they do not lack a strong veteran presence.

The only downside of this deal for the Twins comes from their loss of red-hot Alexi Casilla to injury. They have just lost one major weapon in their offense and the White Sox have added a marginal upgrade to theirs.

Palms do not need to start sweating in Minnesota though if we are to believe an AL executive quoted in this article on Sports Illustrated.com: "[Griffey] can't play, this is a huge mistake."

With time still left before the trade deadline, and an entire month of waiver deals left, certainly the Twins can pick up one more piece to complete their puzzle and make a strong run to the playoffs.