Comments on: Griffey trade to non-Mariners team rumored

By: scott19

scott19 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:17:27 +0000

That’s an improvement over what we’ve had in Seattle, but is that something that’s really praiseworthy in general?

Prolly not...but then again, he did manage to luck into a WS championship. So, he must doing something right.

By: joser

joser — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:16:43 +0000

And yet, his recent trades have worked out better than the M’s recent trades.

Way to set a high bar. The Padres have a better record than the M’s so far this year, but that doesn’t make them a good team.

By: gwangung

gwangung — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:11:59 +0000

OK, he’s erratic.

That’s an improvement over what we’ve had in Seattle, but is that something that’s really praiseworthy in general?

By: Tek Jansen

Tek Jansen — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:13:45 +0000

DMZ’s use of “erratic” to describe Kenny Williams is correct. He (KW) makes smart, shrewd moves, and then he makes absolute blunders. The M’s moves, especially the big ones, are quite consistent in how they help damage the team’s chances of winning.

By: currcoug

currcoug — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:47:35 +0000

I agree with the general sentiment that Williams makes more good bets than bad ones. The opposite is certainly true of Bavasi and the Mariners.

For example, Williams’ bet on Matt Thornton paid off.

By: seattleslew

seattleslew — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:43:08 +0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=2148

This is what you get when Griffey’s name is clicked on over at the ESPN deadline scoreboard! Maybe he could help the M’s.

By: CMC_Stags

CMC_Stags — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:42:00 +0000

@ White Sox – August 18 – 20

By: matthew

matthew — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:37:44 +0000

Okay, so do the Mariners face the White Sox again in Seattle this year? (Edit) Looks like we play them in Chicago next month from the 18th-20th. No games in Seattle for Junior in 2008. Oh well. Could’ve been fun

By: CMC_Stags

CMC_Stags — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:27:27 +0000

As much as I'd love to see Griffey back here next year for old time's sake, I can't see how it would be worthwhile for the M's. He can't be an every day positional player anymore as he is a liability in the field. He can't be an every day DH as he can't hit lefties anymore (.689 OPS this year, .770 '05-'07). While he can still hit RH a bit (.828 OPS this year, .932 OPS '05-'07), he is clearly in the declining skill stage of his career and his ISO has declined the last 3 seasons and is likely to be around league average next year. So that leaves him as a poor positional sub, a possible DH/PH against RH pitchers, and likely not a good pinch runner either. Based on all this - besides the gate revenue Griffey would help bring in - WFB looks to be a more effective player on the 25 man roster next year than Griffey. If the price was right, maybe there is room for him on the end of the bench, but please don't spoil my memories of Griffey by making him a starter at this point of his career.

By: Squiggy

Squiggy — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:24:04 +0000

Also, as far as historical examples to, Kenny Williams also traded for Geoff Blum at the trade deadline in 2005. Geoff Blum then posted a -8.4 VORP over the next two months. Williams has done some things well, but he’s had a $100M+ payroll the last three years (including a $121M payroll this year), so his team ought to be contending fairly often.

Well, they are contending fairly often (2005, 2006, this year). If you are going to cherry-pick a bad trade example, Blum did only very minor damage, with 224 AB that year. In the playoffs, he added 2 AB, one of which resulted in a GW homerun in inning 14, game 3 of the WS. If that’s the worst trade Kenny’s done recently, I’ll take it.

He’s a lot better GM that he is given credit for, that’s all I am saying. Call it results-based analysis if you want, but there are real signs that he learns from his mistakes and adapts. That’s more than I can say for many other GM’s in the league.