By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There indeed was a deal agreed upon that would have sent Ken Griffey Jr. to San Diego for Phil Nevin.

But Reds general manager Jim Bowden was offering a player he isn't authorized to trade, and San Diego GM Kevin Towers was offering a player with a no-trade clause.

Nevin wouldn't waive that clause.

Nevin told the Associated Press Thursday that he told Towers he wants to stay in San Diego.

"I let them know that's where I want to be," Nevin said by cell phone from Las Vegas, where he was golfing with Padres manager Bruce Bochy. "I just don't really want to talk about it, honestly. I'm staying in San Diego and we'll just take it from there. Those are things that are supposed to be left between the teams."

Bowden hasn't commented on player personnel issues this offseason.

But he said through a spokesman Thursday that the deal is off.

"We have no deal with San Diego," Bowden said. "We're not going to have a deal with San Diego. There are no ongoing talks."

Previously, when talk of trading Griffey came up, Bowden said he would not trade Griffey as long as he was general manager of the Reds.

Bowden was quoted in Thursday's Enquirer as saying, "We have not had trade talks with the Padres."

Bowden Thursday wanted it clarified that he did not deny talks, only that there hadn't been a trade completed.

Griffey has a partial no-trade clause in his contract. A Reds source said there's an "understanding" that Griffey will not be traded anywhere without his approval because he signed with the Reds for considerably less than market value when he was traded here in February 2000.

A source said Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg, was not informed that Griffey was being shopped until Thursday - the day after word of the proposed deal leaked, and weeks after talks involving Griffey began.

Griffey is coming off two injury-plagued seasons. He will make $12 million next season. Trading him for Nevin, the Reds would have saved $7 million in 2003 and freed up $55 million over the life of Griffey's contract.