Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The commissioner's office will investigate whether the Cincinnati Reds tampered last month when manager Bob Boone talked to San Diego's Phil Nevin over a possible trade.

San Diego and Cincinnati worked out a tentative deal that would have sent Ken Griffey Jr. to the Padres for Nevin, and Boone talked to Nevin in an effort to convince him to accept the trade. Nevin, however, used his no-trade clause to squash the proposed swap.

"It's something we're looking into," Sandy Alderson, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said Sunday. "Someone in the commissioner's office will talk to the Reds. I don't consider this major."

Alderson said that the most that is likely to happen is that a letter would be sent to Cincinnati. No penalty beyond that is likely.