It's official. Ken Griffey Jr. is on his way to Chicago

Surprise! There appeared to be no deals in the works for the White Sox, but general manager Ken Williams made the deal that would bring in outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. from the Reds. Cincinnati will receive right-handed reliever Nick Masset and Minor League second baseman Danny Richar, which seems to be okay with some of the Cincinnati fans.

Jr. will turn 39 in November, and he had ultimate veto power over the trade being a veteran of 20 years, but apparently he approved the deal. It is the final year, of a nine year $116.5 milliion deal for Jr.

Where will Jr. play? Obviously he plays center field, and the White Sox use both Nick Swisher, and Brian Anderson in that postion. Although Swisher's defense tends to be better at first base, so they could end up leaving Jr. in center, moving Swisher to first, which would put Paul Konerko on the bench for the time being.

Konerko is only batting .214, with 9 homers and 35 RBIs, and has been struggling for the better part of the season. He may still be playing through an injured right thumb and a strained left oblique.

Swisher is currently hitting .230, with 15 homers and 50 RBIs, so he is doing a little better than Konerko, but also struggling at the plate none-the-less.

Jim Thome hits in the DH spot for the Sox, and is batting .256 now after hitting a nice .329 for the month of July. Thome has 19 homers and 59 RBIs, so you would expect him to stay where he is for the year.

The other two outfielders are doing very well for the Sox so far. Carlos Quentin plays left field, and so far in his first year with the Sox he is batting .279, and that has been going down as he swings with more power. Quentin leads the league in homers right now with 28, to go along with his 83 RBIs. Jermaine Dye plays right field, and his average continues to climb, but is at .311 right now, and he has hit 24 homers and has 65 RBIs. Both of those two are hot right now and could contend for the MVP this year.

It's possible that the White Sox may also be looking to get Huston Street from the Oakland A's, but that may mean giving up someone like, Aaron Poreda, their top pitching prospect. Will they get him?

Will the addition of Jr. to the ball club help the White Sox beat out the Minnesota Twins for the division?