Braves should try again to get Griffey
Great idea, except that (a) the Braves already have three All-Star outfielders, and (b) Griffey makes a boatload of money and the Braves aren’t going to take his salary.
His answer to (a) is that the Braves could move Griffey or Chipper to first base. Except that neither has ever played the position before. Remember Ken Caminiti? His answer to (b) is to trade Javy Lopez in the deal for Griffey. Leaving aside whether the Reds would have any interest in Javy, Junior still makes about $2 million more.
88% of the vote on the poll on the right says NO. TM is really dumb.
As usual, Moore’s argument contains a few major flaws. First, he talks of moving Chipper or Griffey to first without mentioning that the Braves already have a quality player there in Robert Fick (given Griffey’s recent injury history, I’m not sure Fick’s not the better option at this point). Since we’re wishcasting here anyway, wouldn’t it make more sense to move Chipper back to third?
Second, everyone knows that Griffey told the Mariners that they had to trade him, and that they had to trade him to Cincinnati. I can’t imagine the Braves ever had a serious shot of getting Griffey.
Also, I don’t think the Reds would take Javy. They’ve already got Jason LaRue, and he’s the kind of all-glove, no-hit catcher that reminds Bob Boone of himself.
Moore’s a total joke. He’s basically sunken to the level of trying to rebuild the image of every “misunderstood” black athlete in the country.
I would personally like for the Braves to have Griffey in the right deal, but not at the expense of a rejuvenated Javy and free-agents-to-be Fick and Sheffield, who almost certainly would have to be cut loose after the season in order to pay Griffey’s salary.
Terrance Moore makes me long for commentary from the likes of Rob Dibble and Rick Sutcliff. I mean seriously, how does this man have a job for such a large newspaper??
Given his recent injury problems, trading for Junior’s $12.5 million salary (through 2008) seems like a very bad idea. Of course, so did trading for Mike Hampton’s mega-contract. And as Creg pointed out, it hurts the chances of resigning Sheffield (or signing Vladimer and Sheff, which I dream of).
It seems with a struggling Mike Hampton, it makes more sense to go after a strong left-handed pitcher to firm up the starting rotation. Who are some potential candidates and who do you see the Braves trading (in addition to Javy) to get a quality pitcher?