Griffey Decision Not Going To Drag Out
Dave · November 5, 2009 at 8:45 pm · Filed Under Mariners
C. Trent Rosecrans, longtime sports writer in Cincinnati, passed along this story, where he basically just says that he talked to Brian Goldberg, Griffey’s agent, and he expects an announcement in a week or so. Rosecrans probably has the best relationship with Junior of any member of the media, so take this with fewer grains of salt than you usually would – this is about as close to from the source as we’re going to get.
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Um…yay?
It’s good to hear this. The sooner Griffey makes a decision, the sooner Zduriencik can move this club forward.
Well….let’s hope this is because one of the all-time greats decided not to announce his retirement during the postseason.
Should I know better? Probably. But for a week at least I hope he makes what most of us here strongly believe is the right call.
Does anyone mind if I puke?
I don’t think Griffey’s agent would be meeting with the Mariners if he intended to retire. He might do that after the meeting, but certainly not before.
Seriously. “George Kenneth Griffey jr, we, as fans, truly appreciate what you have done with this team and in the great game of Baseball. You have been a paragon in an era that needed exactly that. But honestly, it’s time to hang them up. You have had a stellar career and we all love you for that and your very generous contributions to the community. Now, please, go and be happy spending time with your wife and kids.”
Sincerely,
All baseball fans on the planet that aren’t stuck in the 90’s.
I remember during a broadcast of a game in september, there was a suggestion that the Mariners bring Griffey back as a part-time DH and a bench threat. Look at a couple of his clutch home runs this past year and you will notice that he did pinch hit fairly well. He is still a threat for opposing teams because he still has some pop (19 homers in 117 games) and he still can drive in runs. He has the presence in the clubhouse that you cannot get anywhere else and we need to realize that Ichiro, our big superstar, didnt take to anyone these past 5 years or so since Cameron, Edgar, and Boone until Griffey came into the clubhouse. He is a great late inning substitution and with the M’s not having a ton of left handed pop we could use him off the bench and against favorable right handed matchups at DH. If you get the chance, watch some of the videos of home runs and notice who the first guy in the dugout is on the top stair? it was either Griffey or Sweeney. If we have a chance at a championship I’m sure Griffey would love to be a part of it and take a reduced role. Bring him back. Announce that you will retire after the season. 2 mil, with incentives. Mariners make that up in the # of Griffey jerseys and shirts they sell anyways.
But I loved the 90’s…
And I loved the 70’s. Hopefully we’ve all gotten over, or come to terms with, our respective eras. I think that I might have. (Except for the occasional flashback that is. That particular decade was a bit rough on the psyche.)
Good point. Well…….at least………argh this sucks.
Nostalgia is the enemy of reality.
Yeah. They hated each other almost as much as Roddy Piper and Dutch Savage.
What you’re talking about is 20 at-bats spread out over the course of the season.
What you’re talking about is 20 at-bats spread out over the course of the season.
While excited about his return for purely nostalgia reasons last year, I was nervous when they brought him on because I was afraid of how he’d be used. I think I couldn’t have been happier with how he ended up being used considering the team we had.
If they do bring him back I can’t conceivably imagine Z saying “Okay, that’s it, we’ve got the DH spot taken care of.” Worst case scenario, it’s “We didn’t get the moves we wanted but we have a reasonable fall back at DH in JR”. Best case scenario “we’ve got a good pinch hit bat off the bench”.
That is, of course, assuming he’s back.
Griffey’s home numbers look great. His OPS of .930 at home led the team. (If he had not played an away game in 2009, he would have placed eighth on the AL OPS leaderboard, among players with 150+ plate appearances.)
At home, he was hitting .268/.382/.548/.930. Of course, his away numbers were atrocious: .174/.278/.306/.584.
Tim B. this was covered ad nauseum in the On bringing back Griffey comments.
To summarize, in addition to the small sample size, there’s nothing to suggest that this is a repeatable skill.
If Jr makes an announcement it’s that he’s retiring, not that he wants the Ms to make him an offer (who else would?)- that’s begging. If he’s being re-signed the team makes the announcement.
I think he’s coming back, but I don’t think he’s going to demand a full-time DH job. Call me naive, but I think he’ll be a part-timer/LH pinch hitter. In which case, the only thing we lose is the flexibility of that roster spot (which admittedly, could be unfortunate if we do the 12-pitcher thing again).
But honestly, I don’t think it will be as horrible as most of us think. In fact, I’m guessing he’s at least a mildly helpful recruiting tool for a real DH. Thome? Delgado?
Prediction: M’s resign Griffey. He struggles and/or goes down with an injury, announces retirement mid-season. M’s rake in a oil tanker-load of cash during the farewell homestand and surrounding lovefest. Roster spot opened for whoever is crushing the PCL. Weepy fans rejoice.
Wasn’t that the scenario we were discussing this spring?
Not I. Junior wanted/needed a full season back in Seattle. I think he and Z both hoped the homecoming would rejuvenate the bat. Didn’t happen, so that on-field lovefest after the last game of the season was the start of the Junior Farewell. Neither party is going to leave cash on the table but calling it quits in the offseason.
Sorry, “…BY calling it quits…”
Overvaluations. In the last eight seasons Griffey and Sweeney together have been paid about $140,000,000 (Griffey roughly $78M and Sweeney about $62M). Their combined WAR value for those seasons was about $80M, Sweeney about $62.5M and Junior about $17.1. They make bankers pay look like chump change!