Your dearly beloved contributing author assumes you've already read this and this from Sox Machine and Life In the Cell respectively.  If you haven't, stop sucking at life.

What Did We Get?

A left handed platoon bat.  The interesting stuff isn't in proving he can't handle LHP anymore.  That's known.  So what else is there?  For one, there's BP's weighted mean projection against RHP:

• .274/.365/.513

And, of course, I checked out the pitch f/x data.  A fun little spreadsheet can be found here.  The critical thing to note is that the tool data only runs up until May 28.  To see how he did during this stretch, I checked out baseball musings.  Bottom line: .280/.364/.417.  From the pitch f/x data, we see the same.  Aside from struggling with changeups (he'll fit right in!), he took walks and RHP generally did their best to pitch around him.  The biggest problem was the lack of power.  He's rebounded pretty well.  Since May 29, he's posted a .245/.386/.509 line against RHP. He rarely whiffed on fastballs, which leads me to believe it was just a rough patch power wise.  No peripherals were out of place.  In other words, the BP projection looks good.

What Did We Lose?

Choose Your Own GOB related caption!

• We lost more than we'll never know.
  
• TAKE THIS PILL AND LOVE US AGAIN.
• Oh I see what you did there.
  

Brandon McCarthy proves to be the gift that keeps on giving.  Thanks to Brandon and Aaron Cunningham, we had enough "prospects" to make this deal happen.  Gone forever from our waking Sox lives are Nick Magic and Danny Richar.  The former is a demi-god around these parts.  His random good starts will be missed.  His relief skills will not. In summary:

Crime:Our Chances To Win::The Bat Signal:Nick Masset

As for Danny Richar, I had pretty much given up on his chances of being very good or even average.  He had some pop, decent wheels but for the life of him could not hit enough line drives to bring those secondary skills into play.  Add to that a relatively meh defensive reputation and he might have found himself labeled The Second Best Second Baseman In Charlotte if someone had cared enough to do so.  Chris Getz is less toolsy, but he can actually hit.  Gimme some of that!

The Million Dollar Question

Where's Griffey going to play?  Eventually, it should and must be first base.  He does nothing well in the field at this point, serving as a serious hindrance even in right.  A possible alternative would be to move Quentin to RF.  Q has the arm and the range for it.  As long as his instincts and ball-routes don't impede his natural talents, this probably works for me.  But seriously, Mr. Junior Sir, why the hell do you care where you're playing?  This is the best team you've been on in a long time and you're back in the Real League.  You win this side of things, the whole "World Series" bit comes a lot easier. 

Whatever the case, this is imminently solvable.  If any of the parties in question care about winning more than they care about anything else, Griffey will end up where he should.  The responses I've seen so far to the trade have been a little baffling and a little shrill.  Let's keep in mind who we're dealing with.  This is the Kenny and Ozzie show.  For all the circus feel of the place, the one thing that neither them will put up with is insurrection from the proletariat.  Jon Rauch?  Sean Tracey?  Hell, Frank Effin' Thomas lost out to Kenny and Ozzie.  You perform, however defined by those two, or you're gone.

So Is This A Good Trade?

Hells yes.

 

[Mark Gonzales]:

12:02 pm: Ken Griffey Jr. is one of only six players to hit at least 600 home runs and has been named to 13 All-Star teams. But the Sox are banking the 38-year-old Griffey has enough production left to help them to the post-season.

The Whte Sox acquisition of the Cincinnati slugger is moving closer to reality.

FOXSports.com, which first reported the trade, and Associated Press are reporting that Griffey approved the deal and it's now in the hands of the Commissioner's office.

The Reds apparently have agreed to pick up a substantial portion of Griffey's salary. He will earn $12.5 million this season, with a $16.5 million team option and $4 million buyout. It's rare that the Commissioner's Office rejects deals involving more than $1 million exchanged. CBSSports.com is reporting that Cincinnati would pay the remaining $4 million due on Griffey's contract this season.

A scouting source said the Sox will move reliever Nick Masset and second baseman Danny Richar to the Reds for Griffey and an undisclosed amount of cash. Masset and Richar are on the 40-man roster.

The source added that the Griffey deal was fueled by the struggles of Paul Konerko, who is batting .214 and has only three extra base hits since coming off the disabled list July 8. Konerko has a full no-trade clause.

WGN-TV says Griffey will play center, I don't know how accurate is this.

*****

Jim and Jeeves take a deeper look on Griffey.

*****

It's official. Here's the press release.

It appears that the White Sox have placed Juan Uribe on some form of waivers (Updated language to satisfy Larry), though we shouldn't expect any confirmation of such until he has been claimed or passed through them completely, as they are supposed to be confidential. By rule, the White Sox are not allowed to comment on the situation. So, we can't be sure what Uribe's status is, leaving us to do what we do best; speculate.

First, lets answer what being placed on waivers means for the Uribe situation. Mark Gonzalez and Joe Cowley both cite a 72-hour period during which teams can place a claim on Uribe, allowing them to pick up Uribe and his entire salary. Other resources list a 48 hour window, but note that Saturday and Sunday don't count. So, combining those two, Uribe could be in limbo until Monday.

In the probable event that no team places a claim on Uribe, he becomes a free agent and the White Sox are still on the hook for his $4.5MM salary. The only way the Sox avoid having to pay him is if an angel of a team -- I'm looking your direction Baltimore -- comes along and places a claim, picking up the full $4.5MM in the process.

How did we get here?

When the Sox signed Uribe to his current 1-year deal in lieu of picking up his $5MM option, I called it "the best of a myraid of poor solutions" available on the free-agent market. I had no idea at the time that David Eckstein would only require a 1-year deal, or that Adam Everett could be had for $2.5MM. I went on to call the deal "far from an optimal situation, [which] gives the Sox freedom to continue to look for trades and doesn't lock them into a poor long-term situation."

Ten days later, the Sox completed the Garland for Cabrera trade, effectively making Uribe an overpriced backup. And a month after that they signed the lightly-pursued Cuban defector Alexei Ramirez, whose hot spring might have given Uribe the final push out the door.

Ramirez was in the lineup in center field for the second time this spring, and had an impressive day at the plate. He walked twice, upping his spring total to 3, and hit a leafoff homerun off Ubaldo Jimenez after an extended at bat. It was a little bit rougher outing for Ramirez in the field, as he missed the cutoff man twice and nearly missed on another occasion. He was 50/50 on difficult to field balls in the gap, once taking a nice route to make a routine play look exactly that, but later faltering on a long run to a ball at the wall ultimately having the ball glance off his backhand attempt.

Just yesterday, Joe Cowley wrote of two contentious morning meetings. One can only assume there was a third this morning before Uribe was placed on waivers. It's just another case, like the Hunter-to-Rowand-to-Swisher situation before it, in which it looks like the White Sox front office has no concrete plan on how to build a team.

We applaud Kenny Williams for his ability to admit he made a mistake in signing Uribe by placing him on waivers before the season even begins. But we'd be a lot happier if he would just make the right decision in his first attempt next time.

Who's on second?

So now that Uribe, the previous leader in the competition for second base, is on the outs, who plays second? These are the options as I see them.

• Alexei Ramirez -- The aforementioned Cuban has impressed with his bat this spring, but second is supposedly his "rawest" of positions.
• Danny Richar -- He arrived late to camp with visa issues, and when he did show up complained of a injured back. He was a late scratch from Wednesday's game, and had a MRI to inspect the back injury.
• Pablo Ozuna -- The Secret Weapon has exceeded my dubiously low expectations for him this spring. I expected him to be complete waste of space following his return from a broken leg last season, but he's appeared healthy from the very start of spring. I did note that he was unable to beat out a ball in the hole in Monday's game, which could signal that the loss of speed I had feared has arrived.
• Trade -- There have been some unsubstantiated rumors of Brian Roberts (purely because the Cubs want him) and Mark Ellis (because Oakland is selling off anyone over age 26), but I can't see the Sox making a major trade between now and Opening Day that doesn't include Joe Crede.

I'd give Ramirez the inside track to be the opening day starter, with Richar probably headed to Charlotte or the DL. Ozuna has served as a passable backup for the last 3 seasons, but shouldn't be considered for a starting role.

Alexei Ramirez made his center field debut on Monday, which seems to indicate that the Sox are considering keeping him on the big league roster in a super-utility role. According to Ken Rosenthal, Kenny Williams "has asked the White Sox's coaches to draw up plans detailing how many at-bats Ramirez would get in different scenarios."

I've been impressed with Ramirez this spring. I didn't expect too much after he dropped out of the DWL and failed to draw much interest from other major league clubs. He's surpassed some of my expectations, but he's still got some work to do before he's an everyday major leaguer. Right now, I'd call him a utility player with potential.

Ramirez' emergence may land the Sox in a bit of a roster crunch. They plan on carrying 12 pitchers, which leaves only 4 bench spots for position players. Pablo Ozuna and Toby Hall would seem to have two of them locked up. Brian Anderson has had a great spring, and looks like he'll take the 4th outfield spot, with Jerry Owens as the everyday "leadoff man." If Ramirez fills the remaining slot as a super-utility man, Danny Richar, Carlos Quentin, and possibly even Josh Fields could end up in Charlotte.

• I mention that Josh Fields could end up in Charlotte because my own unofficial Joe Crede trade date has come and gone with the only serious suitor for Crede backing off their initial interest in part because of Crede's poor showing this spring. I'm actually starting to believe that Crede could end up being the Sox opening day 3B, with Fields in the minors.
• Anderson may be writing his ticket out of town with his hot play. If Ramirez is viewed as a 4th outfielder, the Sox could ship Anderson out to a team interested in overrating spring performance. The Cubs are said to have at least some interest.
• I eventually did make it to Miller's Pub on Saturday. I was out and about, running late, and didn't log-in to catch any of the warnings. Got there around 4. Fought the crowd to get in, fought the crowd to get out. Left by 4:10.

  The day wasn't a total loss awash among the drunken green masses, however. I did have a nice blue line date with a cute, mousy, redhead Minnesotan. Nothing will come of it, but the Cheat's still got it.

• I made a South Side Sox NCAA Tournament group over at ESPN.

  Group: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=55286 (South Side Sox)
  Password: SSSwagger

• Scouting DLS' mechanics
• Sports Illustrated will soon have its entire archive online for FREE.