Griffey: still coming
DMZ · February 13, 2009 at 1:50 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Yesterday:
We know it, you know it, Griffey knows it. There’s no need to post every rumor escalation in every thread.
This was followed by a spate of posts on the Times, PI, other places about the various states of negotiation etc etc… look, he’s coming. He’ll take the physical Monday, if he passes, they’ll have a press conference Tuesday or Wednesday. Maybe he takes the physical Tuesday. Nothing’s changed.
Got it boss. . .
In other breaking news, sun still rising in the East.
Pope still Catholic.
I don’t doubt he’s coming but there was quote scrolling on MLBN last night that Griffey said all of this Seattle talk was just “rumors”. More than likely just posturing/playing the game, but it may be causing some of this questioning.
I’m fine with bringing him back under the circumstances. What I’m not fine with is how much we’ve already heard about it and will continue to hear about it. Ugh. I love Griffey. I was obnoxiously yelling when he returned with Cincy like most of you. But man, talk about overkill! Hey Dave, DMZ? Any chance we could dig up even a last second single A non-roster invitee story or soemthing just to have a short reprieve? Just kidding, but really…
In other breaking news, sun still rising in the East.
You’re still not Chevy Chase.
Haha. Welcome to mid-February!!
It’d be nice to get this thing “official” soon so we can focus on the on-field stuff… But it’s nice to have non-steroid news in the papers.
Notes from Street’s blog-
*Olson was “painting” over the orange on his shoes from his Baltimore days…
Can’t the guy buy a new pair of black and whites?
*There are two lockers empty at the end of “regular’s row”…
Griffey gets two lockers?
And Street refers to Olson as a right-hander…this guy has a job writing why again?
but Franco is still dead.
no, duh.
Maybe Olson is like Moyer — pitches lefty, writes righty.
The two lockers question was a joke…but you’d think he’d refer to a left-handed throwing pitcher as a lefty or left-hander…
AT least this wasn’t as drawn out and painful as the Bedard trade.
When Junior was a Mariner he had two lockers as part of his contract. I am sure that is what Street was referencing.
Not as painful, for sure (we’re not trading Triunfel or something). It’s way more drawn out, whether you count it from the point the first “let’s get Griffey” stories appeared or even from the end of the season. And it’s not over yet!
So is this just Griffey’s camp asking for $5M+ and the M’s holding the line that Abreau > Griffey and he only got $5M?
What would happen to the non-USSMariner, non-LL crowd if the M’s end up trading for Nick Johnson over the weekend? Tell Griffey that they’ll give him $1M max? Just not bother with Griffey?
Would Jim Street be able to write about the M’s passing on Griffey without having his head explode?
I don’t think there is any hardball going on with the Griffey discussions. Most likely, the holdup is Junior needing to wait until the Pebble Beach Pro Am is complete so he can take a physical…
No. Deal’s done. Deal’s been done. It’s physical and then announce it. If it’s $5m I’ll be shocked.
DMZ-
Thanks for the clarification.
Does this mean the M’s are done with significant moves until teams start cutting, trading, DFA’ing people later in Spring Training?
“At least this wasn’t as drawn out and painful as the Bedard trade.”
Just you wait. Remember we live in the days of 24-hour news cycles and hyper media. Waiting until the golf tourney is done makes sense. Otherwise I’d say he was building the hype to squeeze another couple of million out of Z man. But then, as was noted early in this saga, a lot of his Cincinnati money is deferred so he can give a hometown discount.
Grif needs two lockers, one for him, and one for the crutches he’ll likely be on by April 15th.
I think he can stay healthy as long as he stays out of the outfield. The more walks he draws and liners he tags over the RF fence, the less running, and the less chance for injury.
FWIW, I just talked to my son who is a junior at Purdue.
I asked if he heard about Griffey coming back to the M’s and he said “Yeah, I’m excited!”
That’s going to be the reaction of most of the casual fans, so no sense fighting it.
I’m just waiting to find out what the contract amount is.
If Griffey gets $3 million or more, I will be disappointed.
I don’t think the M’s should pay more than $1-2 million.
The contract likely includes a Lazy-Boy recliner for Kenny to throne on before, during and after the games..
Fields is coming too – they just signed him.
And Silva is slimmer and feels GREAT! In fact, he feels SO GOOD he could eat a HORSE! (Unless he has already, of course.)
Fields has his own post now.
One of the local TV channels (KING5? dunno) was claiming his contract is going to have incentives based on attendance. I’m not sure that’s even allowed by the union rules, but… whatever. I’ve certainly never heard of a contract like that, and it sounds like the kind of craziness you expect from TV sports “journalists” playing a game of Telephone in a bar down in Peoria once the tequila really gets going. But if there is any kind of odd incentives in the deal, they may need more time just for the lawyers. (I mean, how would that work — if you’re Griffey, and people stop showing up in August because the team is “teh suck,” couldn’t you claim it was outside your control? Couldn’t you sue the team for not spending enough on marketing? I’d love to see the legal boilerplate they’d cook up for all the contingencies).
Well, if you count it from the first “let’s get Griffey†stories, it’s now been going on for six or seven years. And it may not be painful in the sharp, stabbing way that the Adam Jones trade was, but it was still painful in a slow, grinding, liver cancer sort of way.
Bears still in woods, defecating.
I think everyone is a little excited to have the Kid back home, even if people here a nitpicking about contract size and so on.
I just think at this point we need to all support the first Mariner player (and I doubt ‘Gar will get in for a while) to eventually be inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
On a side note …
I think the MLB should make Junior their knight in shining armor as he was the only beacon of light in a period of steroid darkness. Junior is / always was pure.
First 40 year old MVP?
How many players have had that said about them only to disappoint their believers?
Nice Friday night. Watch a movie with my kids, get them off to bed, shoes off, sit down with a beer, get ready to do some reading at my favorite source of Mariner information…and the second thing I read is an attack on my religious faith.
Please take it somewhere else, bookbook.
Sorry, I just got back.
DMZ –
I couldn’t agree w/ your statement more, although my comment would be that Junior was OBVIOUSLY not juiced.
So you might be thinking: No one thought A-Rod juiced … to that I would say I have always wondered how A-Rod got so damn big when he left Seattle. Before pic. After Pic. I know that’s a Yankees pic but he looks bionic at the plate now. I have always believed he started juicing.
Random side point/question: Why did he even feel the need to juice after his legendary 96 season at age 20? That was arguably one of the best seasons ever put up by a shortstop.
Now to my Junior points:
1) Junior never really became overly bulky … he always stayed like Bonds in his Pirate days … I guess hes gotten ‘fat’ recently but he never looked like Popeye.
2) Junior hit his home runs in a natural way. None of them where crushed into the stratosphere like that 535 ft McGwire blast in the kingdom (I believe in ’97). His sweet swing (maybe the best baseball has ever seen) was built for the Kingdom and that porch in right.
3) The knock on Junior has always been that he never trained. They said everything always came easy for him … maybe one of the greatest natural athletes ever … so when his body caught up to his age he started getting injured and fat.
I don’t know if this 06 article clears his name, but its a good look into some dark times w/ Bonds.
To me, Griffey (consensus best hitter of the 90’s with the big hurt coming in second) needs to be recognized for what he is: Maybe one of the only lights in the steroid tainted years of baseball.
Another question: Will our ’01 season be discredited now?