Griffey chooses Mariners

[mattlanta]

Ken Griffey Jr. is returning to Seattle.

The future Hall of Famer informed the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday that he's returning to the city where he carved out a Hall of Fame career as a perennial All-Star in the 1990s.

Two baseball sources said that Griffey made his decision after two days of debating between Atlanta, which is close to his home in Orlando, Fla., and Seattle, where he's been a fan favorite since breaking in with the Mariners as a 19-year-old phenom in 1989.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3917214

Wow. Tricked again...

[LOL_Hawks]

There must be some sort of fraternity inside of sports that has a rule of "You must give Atlanta sports fans a gutpunch every once in a while." Happened with the Falcons in 07, it's happened for the Hawks since the turn of the century, Waddell is the personification of that for the Thrashers, and this offseason has been it for the Braves. Burnett, Furcal, and now Griffey.

I know Griffey's help wouldn't be too much...but wow, ANOTHER gut punch. F-ck that dude.

[uga2006]

Griffey is a punk. He was all about staying close to his family. Dude is a punk!

[Admin]

Man this is just crazy how often this seems to happen to Atlanta teams lately.

[TroyMcClure]

Man this is just crazy how often this seems to happen to Atlanta teams lately.

It's Terence Moore's fault. He has wanted Griffey to come here for 15 years and he just couldn't wait one more day to write about it. Did you see that the AJC headline said GRIFFEY TO BE A BRAVE above the corresponding article? My guess is Griifey saw that and thought maybe there would be a little too much pressure here. He's 39. It's understandable. When the choice was the team he will go into the Hall of Fame with or us, this could well have been the tipping point. Judging by Griff's comments, that appears to be the case. I'm not mad at him. Terence Moore on the other hand...

[DrReality]

This was more of a feel good signing than the real substance of it. No major loss.

[mattlanta]

It's Terence Moore's fault. He has wanted Griffey to come here for 15 years and he just couldn't wait one more day to write about it. Did you see that the AJC headline said GRIFFEY TO BE A BRAVE above the corresponding article? My guess is Griifey saw that and thought maybe there would be a little too much pressure here. He's 39. It's understandable. When the choice was the team he will go into the Hall of Fame with or us, this could well have been the tipping point. Judging by Griff's comments, that appears to be the case. I'm not mad at him. Terence Moore on the other hand...

LOL. Good post.

[MrRyda]

Something's fishy in the Braves front office.

Burnett? Nope.

Peavy? Nope.

Furcal? Done deal...nope.

Griffey? Gonna be a br...nope.

[mattlanta]

Something's fishy in the Braves front office.

Burnett? Nope.

Peavy? Nope.

Furcal? Done deal...nope.

Griffey? Gonna be a br...nope.

Griffey would not have been that big of a break for the Braves' organization. I would rather have Garret Anderson than Griffey. The only thing Griffey has over him IMO is his ability to sell jerseys. Although I would have loved to have Griffey play here, what can you do about it?

And the Peavy trade deals are different. We were the ones who backed out of it.

[frosgrim]

It's Terence Moore's fault. He has wanted Griffey to come here for 15 years and he just couldn't wait one more day to write about it. Did you see that the AJC headline said GRIFFEY TO BE A BRAVE above the corresponding article? My guess is Griifey saw that and thought maybe there would be a little too much pressure here. He's 39. It's understandable. When the choice was the team he will go into the Hall of Fame with or us, this could well have been the tipping point. Judging by Griff's comments, that appears to be the case. I'm not mad at him. Terence Moore on the other hand...

Any player that lets a columnist decide where he's playing is weak-willed and not worh having on the team, IMO.

I was excited by the prospect of Griffey, but if the TM piece really did sway Griffey, then I have no use for Ken Griffey Jr as an Atlanta Brave.

The next question is where to go next?

G. Anderson?

Swisher?

Nady?

Ludwick?

Ankiel?

All of the above have plenty of issues as players. Out of the set Nady is the best, but the cost in prospects is probably too high. You can almost put the rest into a bag and draw the name as there just isn't that much difference between them as overall players.

I suppose Anderson actually would come out on top since he's a FA and wouldn't cost a prospect.

[mattlanta]

Atlanta general manager Frank Wren told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick that the Braves are more likely to go with their young outfielders this season rather than continue to pursue a veteran bat through trade or free agency.

"I think we are going to be open-minded and look at our kids and give them a chance," Wren said in an e-mail.

From ESPN Insider

And Keith Law from ESPN says this about Griffey:

"The Mariners' agreement with Ken Griffey Jr. is a nostalgia signing that does very little to push the franchise forward and carries some risk of retarding their recovery from five years of mismanagement by the previous baseball regime. [...]

What's most troubling is that this appears not to be a baseball move, but a marketing one. It's a cynical, insulting ploy to try to get fans into the park -- "Hey, they've heard of this guy! They won't know he's not half the player he used to be!" -- and worse, it's misguided. Fans who want to see Griffey play again will go … once. One past-prime player isn't going to get large numbers of fans to go to the park on a regular basis; the only thing that can do that is winning, and Griffey is worth maybe a win to the Mariners in 2009, with the potential that he reduces future win totals if he takes playing time away from younger players."

Edited February 19, 2009 by Libid21