Griffey picks Braves over Mariners | ajc.com
Of course, this is always subject to the Furcal Rule (I don’t believe it until I see a press release or a picture with a jersey) but I like it. He’s cheap, and he can still pound righties.
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Oh how I wish it was 1995…
Ballin.
Is it too much to wish that he has 152 HR’s left in him. (That would move a certain name from the top.)
I like it. He’s an upgrade for the outfield and a nice revenue source for the Braves as well.
This looks good to me
I’m happy with this move. Much better plan that the thoughts of Andruw from earlier. Let’s hope there’s enough left in Jr.
Now, if we can just have Francouer’s body dumped somewhere in the Hudson river (sorry, seem to be on a “Sopranos” kick today) we can improve the outfield even further just by NOT having Jeffy out there.
This really gets my goat:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/
ESPN’s continuing steroid obssession, and the Griffey story isn’t even a LINK on the front page. I’m so sick and tired of ESPN and their insane obssession with all things steroids.
When are they going to get that most of us just want to talk about the 2009 season and not steroids. I find it so damned boring and I have NO INTEREST. None. Zero. Zilch.
SHUT UP, ESPN!!!!!!!!!
(childish enthusiasm)
I have always wanted to see Griff in a Braves uniform. Favorite team, favorite player. How soon can I buy the jersey?
(/childish enthusiasm)
Weird…I had forgotten what it felt like to not be engrossed in how good a fantasy player someone is or what their OPS or fielding range is. I have always been a fan of his, and always been a fan of the Braves, and today makes me smile.
Bowman (& others) saying Griffey hasn’t made his decision, yet.
By now…hardly surprising news–Griffey should be a fun pick-up
I really hope that we don’t drop Blanco–he is a decent 4th outfielder and costs next to nothing….
Griffey denies report he chose Braves
This MLB.com report says he’ll make his choice later today or early tomorrow morning.
Wonder if Griffey’s agent is showing the Braves’ term sheet to the Mariners right now….
Remember–we are talking about the Mariners…
The Furcal Rule still applies.
I’m with Michael, I’ve been daydreaming about this one since ’92.
@8: ESPN’s all about sensationalism, the Yanks and Sawx, and making themselves the story, so I don’t fault you for being frustrated with their coverage. However, the steroids issue shouldn’t just be swept under the rug… in the grand scheme of things it is slightly more important than the return of the Griffeys to the ATL.
2009 World Series here we come!
ARod really nees a PR guy. He started off his statment with how nervous he was and the whole statment was about how he was some sort of victim.
I hope Griffey wears number 7
SI’s Jon Heyman is reporting Griffey is telling friends he’ll be a Brave.
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/51021
I think we have a great shot now at winning the World Series in 1993.
If Griffey ends up tonight in a Mariners uniform, is this now more on Wren or the morons at the AJC.
If Griffey pulls a Furcal, I’m just done. Emotionally done.
We are 100% Lowe and Kawakami signed? Right?
“Furcal Rule” should be added to the glossary.
Gadfly, I already disagree with you wholeheartedly about Francouer. You seem to be his LAST defender on here.
So it’s not surprising we’d disagree about HGH and steroids. I for one have never cared that much about this story. It’s something ESPN has overblown for several years and most Baseball fans, are not interested.
Everytime I run at the gym and I have my earphones plugged into “Around the Horn” or “PTI” or “SportsCenter” and they start talking about steroids, I switch to music or CNN.
I have some old pepsi trading cards from dairy queen, circa 1992 with the three griffeys (ken, ken and craig) wearing pepsi uniforms, and they look like braves uniforms.
Event though I believe that this time little Fran Wren will get his man, I agree with Remy–‘Furcal Rule’ should be added to the glossary….
Francouer has defenders? Still?
Alex,
There’s your first mistake, you addressed him by name in responding to his garbage. Your second mistake is easy to correct. Take the earphones out of the treadmill and plug them into your ipod.
@25. Defender. Singular.
Hey Stu,
Remind you of anyone?
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/153499/
I want Francouer to do well, don’t get me wrong. I would rather win with Francouer than someone else. I am all for the “local kid does well” thing, but the way he carried him self and the comments he made durring the year were just assinine.
He needs a PR guy about as bad as A-Rod.
Everyone here wants Francoeur to be good. It’s just that one Cartman fellow who actually thinks he’s good right now.
Exactly, Dix. I wanted Francouer to be good as well, but we all wanted the same thing from Brad Komminsk and he sucked. Francouer is the new generation Komminsk. All hype, no actual ability.
The difference is that Komminsk seemed to be less of a whiner and had more class.
Francoeur easily could’ve drawn more sympathy say the way Chris Reitsma did if he just had been a decent, quiet guy. Reitsma was awful, but he was such a nice guy, I and many others felt guilty bashing him. Reitsma at least had the “quality human being” thing going for him.
Francouer is a moron. Not only does he stink at the plate and will continue to cost us actual games, the more Bobby and Wren hang onto him and play him, but he’s a whiny jerk who thinks he’s been “wronged”.
I wish Braves Journal could send a representative to Jeffy’s arbitration hearing and have them battle a fan plucked from disney wearing a #7 jersey.
I don’t see any other comments to it. DOB let Terrence Moore co-write the story. Terrence had the story 5 years ago.
@9, I already asked my wife to get me a Junior Jersey for my birthday. To quote Dieter from Sprockets, “I’m as happy as a little girl!”
We do need to give Jeffy a break on the whining front. He is only 24, not very mature, and last year was the first time in his young life that he couldn’t be the Man, and it stung. Go back to any time in your life when you might have felt that way. the only difference between him and us is that he was in the public spotlight, where every movement was recorded. Healso had the misfortune of attending the Chipper Jones School of Public Relations, where you speak your mind without thinking about the effects on those around you.
I hope for him to do well, but don’t hold out much hope. We’ll know within the first 2 weeks of the regular season, most likely.
#4 Funny Timo comment about caring about the Braves revenue – like they care about your personal balance sheet. As I have gotten older, I have taken solace in the fact that following sports has not improved my net worth one iota. Thus, I don’t care about Liberty Medias Braves revenue. Caring less about the braves revenue and spending more time about your own financial goals will help you retire earlier. It is at that point when you can spend all the time you want following the braves. Please spare the argument that more revenue equals a better product in the form of players because I am not convinced they will re-invest in the farm system, etc.
In other news – I found it interesting that Liberty Media (The braves owner) dropped a cool $530 million into XM radio today for a 15% loan and preferred stock; No problem.
Yet, according to the braves front office, they will not budge on the payroll and the team has to squabble with players on salary, wait for left overs and lose out to other suitors. Oh did i mention sirius xm could go bankrupt any day now.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_bi_ge/sirius_liberty
I have no problem with Chipper’s public statements because he’s a former MVP who regularly hits over .300 and has led the Braves to the Playoffs on several occasions.
Chipper has earned the right to speak his mind and to be blunt, I generally agree with what he says. When Chipper spoke out about the Smoltz situation, he was speaking for the majority of Braves fans and the majority of us on BravesJournal.
Jeff Francouer has not earned that right. Age 24 is not an excuse for stupid comments and whining, when you haven’t played well. I refuse to cut the guy a break. He stinks on the field and then whines about it. What exactly is to defend? Now he wants a huge raise in arbitration.
He’s a dope and a fool. He doesn’t deserve a break or a Major League uniform and I won’t even acknowledge him as a Brave. From now, he’s “that loaf in right field”.
Here’s what Atlanta needs to do with Francoeur.
Have Tommy Hanson pitch a game where Francoeur gets to be every hitter, like a whiffle ball game. If Jeff gets a hit, there’s a ghost man on first, etc.
If Francoeur doesn’t score 5 runs he gets cut.
Rip,
Yeah, I found that Liberty/Sirius deal hilarious, too.
They cry “poor mouth” and can’t chase more expensive and quality players like even an Adam Dunn or Will Ohman (and neither of those guys would have cost us Manny money) but yet they can smile like snake oil salesmen as they do the Sirius deal.
Like our friend Cary said this morning, the head of Liberty looks like an EVIL Game show host.
Please, Arthur Blank, buy the Braves already and stop this evil, faceless, corporation in the west from owning my team.
34—Save the lecture. We care about increased revenue to the extent that it increases team payroll. Nobody’s pulling for Griffey to help Liberty’s Board of Directers earn more bonus money.
Chipper was whining about things long before he became an MVP. That doesn’t mean he gets to drive to WAAAHHmbulance. There’s children watching (Jeffy, others) who will act just like him, regardless of whether they have won anything or not.
Funny, you haven’t heard an outcry from Chipper about the rumored contract terms offered to Tom Glavine that starts at $1 million with incentives.
I’m sorry that Frank Wren didn’t consult Chipper about personnel decisions that have turned out to be somewhat positive for the Braves at this point of the offseason.
Arthur Blank’s gotta be hurting right now relatively speaking. With real estate as bad as it is no one is putting money into their houses because that money isn’t promising any gains in home value in the short term like it used to. A lot of people can’t even afford their homes let alone home improvements. The Home Depot is laying off a ton of employees.
I’m sure Blanks net worth is still heavily dependent on the insane number of HD shares he holds, and right now, those are a lot less valuable than they have been before. If Blank wasn’t really serious about buying the Braves when he was peaking financially I seriously doubt he’s going to be looking at us right now.
I don’t believe that Liberty has ever claimed financial hardship is keeping the Braves from pursuing free agents. Actually, I think it’s laughable to think that the Liberty execs are micromanaging the budget at the Will Ohman scale. I think they set a budget and hand it to McGuirk, Schuerholz, and Wren.
I’m actually pretty happy with them as owners. They don’t seem to be cutting the budget, and they don’t butt in and make baseball decisions the way some bad owners do.
Individual owners, like Arthur Blank tend to be the ones who step in and make those bad baseball decisions more than corporate owners do. They’re also the ones who make bad financial decisions that happen to be good/fun baseball decisions like “Let’s buy a championship this year.”
Unrelated: does anyone else find the comments from Areopagus over at DOB’s blog fascinating? I can’t quite tell what to make of them. Is this a hyper-educated person with all day to write craziness that baffles everyone, a complete lunatic who has chosen the DOB comments as his forum for raving, or a computer randomly synthesizing Nietzsche and Braves news. Some of the comments are brilliantly funny, and I find myself strangely drawn in . . .
I’m with you, Jay. I love them.
I kinda want to collect them all and publish them in a crazy coffee-table book.
I don’t normally read comments at other blogs… but… wow. Did he just call for Wren’s assassination?
Is that the 1:26 pm comment? I love the way that one ends:
“After having read this post, you may think that I am ethically opposed to Frank Wren’s apothegms. Nevertheless, you should always remember that it would be a work of supererogation to provide information to as many individuals as possible at a time when every week there comes more news of venal cavemen following Wren’s orders to marginalize us based on our genders, race and religion.”
I don’t normally read comments at other blogs… but… wow. Did he just call for Wren’s assassination?
Wow. You don’t see many people quoting John Wilkes Booth. In context with Frank Wren and Braves baseball too.
I think Mac meant the 1:50 PM post here.
“To quote 19th century stage actor John Wilkes Booth:
“With every man’s hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for….and yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat.”
My comments about Wren are met with the same disingenuous outrage.“
I believe those comments have gone WAY, WAY, WAY above Frank Wren’s head.
Sic semper tyrannis . . .
I wish baseball games would start already.
I just go the humor in Griffey wearing number 7.
I recall Griffey Sr wore 22??
Dare he take #13 OR does he buy out one of the guys out with 23, 33? That would be cold to take 17 from hubbard.
Which player on the braves would you most like to succomb to giving up their jersey number for the kid?
He must have gotten a Famous Quotes A Day Calendar and a Word A Day Calendar from his mom. He probably has them both on an oversized desk in his mother’s basement with an oversized chair.
Griffey – #30 (from Jeff Bennett for a dozen autographed bats) or 24 from Josh Anderson for the same.
@42
Kind of reminds me of Ignatius from “A Confederacy of Dunces”
It’d be cool if the guy was legit and not just another poseur.
I kinda liked this entry in DOB’s blog:
“Had one player mention to me that he thought the Braves should give the young guys a shot in LF rather than sign Griffey. And I’m thinking, are you kidding?”
I’m almost afraid to know who that player is.
Ububba, I’m guessing it was Brandon Jones or maybe Blanco.
@55
Might it be the Dean of the Outfield himself???
Smitty,
Is there a reason we’re drafting so soon? A lot of guys still don’t have teams. There’s a lot of time till the season starts. I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I wouldn’t mind putting if off a couple weeks.
At least until more of the relevant free agents (Hudson, Cabrera, Pudge, Crede, Manny, J. Cruz, etc.) sign, and maybe the rosters become a little clearer/injury statuses known?
I tried Fantasy Football for a couple of years and found that it skewed my fan experience enough that I really didn’t like it.
Is Fantasy Baseball any different?
hankonly,
Yeah, I quit the baseball roto leagues many years ago. The “fan experience” was part of the reason. The other was the amount of time invested.
I was in a league that had a pretty juicy payoff in the end, so the incentive was awesome. But I realized that I can’t be waking up in the middle of the night thinking, “Who’s going to take Tuffy Rhodes off my hands?”
Fantasy Baseball is a bit different than Football in that you can kind of check out for long periods of time. For example, you only really need to worry about your team once a week and you can follow stats more casually.
In football, all the action happens at once, you constantly have to keep up to date on injuries, who’s starting against who, bye weeks, etc. When I did fantasy football I hated it, and it ruined sundays for me so I quit. Also, when I’d watch a game in which my players were playing, I’d get upset over stupid things. Like when on 3rd and goal from the 1 the team passes for a TD instead of handing off to my running back for a touchdown. I couldnt enjoy the game because things like that annoyed me. In baseball it doesn’t really play out that way. Your player either succeeds or he doesn’t (unless the manager doesn’t bring your closer into a save situation but that’s more rare).
Fantasy baseball enhances the enjoyment of the season for me also because it makes me care and pay attention to games I otherwise would ignore like a Sunday afternoon game between the Tigers and Indians. MLB.tv is great if you’re in a FBB league you like.
All Time Braves franchise outfielders: Ruth, Aaron, Griffey. Maybe Mays, Bonds,Ott. Ruth, Dimaggio, Mantle could compete? Put me down as someone who will buy more tickets if Griffey’s on the team.
If Griffey ends up tonight in a Mariners uniform, is this now more on Wren or the morons at the AJC.
The morons at the AJC. Specifically Terrence Moore. Moore has strong sources from his days with the Big Red Machine. If he’s reporting Junior as a Brave before Junior is a Brave, he’s likely passing on casual commentary from Senior.
All Time Braves franchise outfielders: Ruth, Aaron, Griffey. Maybe Mays, Bonds,Ott. Ruth, Dimaggio, Mantle could compete?
Are you serious? Mays, Bonds and Ott played the majority of their HOF careers in Giant uniforms. Ditto Ruth, Dimaggio, Mantle and the Yankees. Aside from Aaron, neither of your “great Braves outfielders” played a significant portion of their careers in Milwaukee or Atlanta. Ruth was a shell of his former self when he signed on with the Braves, which can also be said for Griffey, Jr if this signing holds up. It’s not even close.
Ill push back the draft a few weeks.
We should invite Areopagus here. I would love to see him and Stu go at it.
New draft time March 21 11:00 am EST
five slots left
Thanks Smitty.
I’m curious to see what round (if any) Frenchy goes in.
If Gadfly’s in the league, I think he goes in the first. It’s like betting on the Washington Generals – come on man, they’re due!
On Areopagus:
It seems to me that this is someone who has a large vocabulary (no doubt assisted by outside means) and a lot of time on his or her hands. He’s playing with the fact that a baseball blog like DOB’s encourages a community of people to discuss ad infinitum the most minute details of the Braves while combining it with the reality that people tend to lend inflated credence to those who demonstrate a certain level of education (the so-called “expert fallacy”).
How else could you explain the overblown rhetoric and cartoonish overreactions coupled with an obsessive preoccupation with Antiquity culture and reliance on historical quotes? It’s a joke. It’s wonderful, though; it cracks me up. Some people are taking trolling to a level above that of crass baiting to one of almost… I dunno… performance art.
I’m going on record to say that while this is a nice move for ticket sales–though in Atlanta, who knows?–it really makes little difference to the team’s chances of winning the division. Griffey’s splits against righties are solid, I don’t deny it, but I still think defense matters a whole lot more than folks here are admitting, and in the end he’ll provide something approaching league average production (all told). Of course, that represents a massive upgrade from last year, and hey, it’s cool to have a future Hall of Famer on the team.
I really like Blanco and I’m going to be annoyed if he’s dumped. He’s got his limitations, but he makes your team better. If you have to expose two guys to waivers, do it out of Carlyle, Lerew, this Luis Valdez cat, Sammons, Jeff Ridgway. Odds are, they’ll clear waivers, Blanco won’t.
His OBP is .115 higher than his average. If he has any progression as a hitter, it’s not unrealistic to him to have a .400 OBP this year. Plus, he’s a solid defender. We know he has no power, but you just don’t let guys like that go.
Perimeter Perez,
I think you hit the nail on the head in comparing Areopagus to performance art. The other thing I kept thinking was, “this is what it would be like if The Decemberists were angry Braves fans.”
@72
Ha!
@72
What a great compliment.
Ethan–I couldn’t agree with you more about Blanco. If the Braves drop Blanco and keep Ridgeway, then little Fran Wren will have outdone himself….
With respect to Aeropagus–I like KC’s response….
If we could bring 4 Seam back–then Aeropagus might find an engaging interlocuter…
I say sign Griffey and trade KJ , Diaz and Boyer to St Louis for Ludwick .. let Francour play CF if Griffey cant .. outfield of Ludwick, Francour and Griffey .. lineup below:
Bats
1. Escobar (R) – SS
2. Griffey (L) – CF , RF
3. C Jones (S) – 3B
4. Ludwick (R) – LF
5. McCann (L) – C
6. Francour(R) – RF,CF
7. Kotchman(L) – 1B
8. Prado (R) – 2B
@34 rip. I appreciate you don’t care about the Braves financials. And that’s quite alright with me. In my view, it is part of baseball and the team I root for, so I do take interest in it. Ted Turner didn’t (have to) care if the Braves were profitable but Liberty Media does. This has nothing to do with my personal finances and I couldn’t care less if the Braves or Liberty cared about it. But thanks for worrying about me.
Over the next few weeks WSBGM’s will be breaking down each of the NL East teams’ rosters. First on the docket is the infield (outfield, rotation, and bullpen to follow). There’s a poll to vote on the best NL East infield following the breakdown of each teams’ players.
Link: http://pabaseball.blogspot.com/2009/02/nl-east-infields.html
Give it a link if you like it…thanks.
Mark Bradley cautions, interestingly, that a rental future Hall of Famer comes with a little more baggage than other players. Griffey’s fame and preeminence within the game makes him harder to bench, harder to treat as a fragile 39-year old with vastly diminished skills. He’ll draw media attention and be his own spotlight.
That doesn’t mean he absolutely isn’t worth it, of course. He still hits righties, he’d be cheap as hell, and he would make our team better. But it’s a point worth remembering and factoring into his price.
I continue to fret over a lack of power from 1B (I would give my left anything for Pujols).
Can JR play 1B?
So, we finally avoided arbitration with KJ. I wish we’d gotten a long-term deal done, but I’ll take this.
Braves sign Kelly Johnson to 2.825 million deal for 2009.
And now there is one…
Jeffy would be MORTALLY INSULTED if he was paid only $2.85 million in 2009.
New poll.
Which comps will matter the most in Francoeur’s arb? Will it be other arbitration awards? Do the salaries of KJ and Kotchman offer a reasonable benchmark?
I think KJ and Kotchman set the bar for Frenchy and he absolutely loses his case.
Does any player ever lose an arbitation case?
The owners usually win.
@82.
I was kind of hoping for the same, but knew it probably wouldn’t happen. This is a big year for KJ. If he does well though, (.280, .380, .480) I’d hope they could get something like 4 years 30 MM before next season. Salaries of 6MM, 7MM, 8MM, 9MM and an option year at 10MM, or something like that. Would buy out two FA years.
3 months ago, I would have given anyone here 10:1 odds that if there was one player who would have gone to arbitration, it would have been Francoeur.
I understand the concept of getting what you can when you can, but I think he would have helped his image a lot by taking the Braves offer (extremely generous IMO) and just doing everything he could this year to help establish his value for next year.
I don’t think anyone here begrudges him his millions if his numbers backed it up; however, they didn’t. Prove that you’re worth it first Frenchy
What is the impact in further negotiations of signing KJ to a one year deal? Is there any rule that would prevent us from signing him to an extension before the end of the season?
Ryan Ludwick in 2008: .299/.375/.591, 37 homeruns.
2009 salary? 3.7 million.
No way Francoeur wins and gets paid 3.95 million.
RE: Poll
Voted for Frenchy. Hampton’s worn me down over the years.
I “saw” Twilight with the girlfriend and fell asleep halfway through. Don’t get it at all, but I’m just putting it down under the “things that don’t make sense about girls” category.
It’s right next to them still being mad even after you agree to do something cause they want you to “want” to do it? (latest fight we had)
Anyway, that list has been written off a long time ago.
Fun link of the day!
http://web1.ncaa.org/coachesTest/exec/practiceexam?division=1
It is the NCAA recruiting test. Good luck
My sister’s obsessed with “Twilight.” She even wants to move to Washington state. I think I’ll go stick my head in a microwave.
I don’t see many movies. I’ve never seen “Twilight” and don’t know at all what it is about.
I agree with Alex Remington. If the Braves fall into the trap of thinking that Junior is still the HOF from his younger days, that’s a recipe for a disaster. At this point, he is a nice platoon player, akin to Mickey Mantle if he had come back after 1968, still potentially productive if used correctly. If he plays LF, I can’t see how his defense can be so bad as to offset his potential production against righthanded pitchers. It’s a good deal if kept in perspective, but Junior is not going to lead the Braves to the Promised Land. I think Alex is correct that there is some potential for problems if Junior is unable to accept his diminished status. This may be one of the trickest jobs Bobby Cox has had in his career. I will say that, for all the jibes we take at Bobby’s tactical ability, there is probably no other manager I would pick to handle this situation.
Chief Nocahoma derided the idea that Griffey would platoon with Matt Diaz. But why would you want a 39 year old, with clearly diminished skills who can no longer hit lefties playing every day just because of his name?
The Braves are probably a better team now than last year and might be a playoff contender assuming they stay healthy, but I think their return to glory lies in the future with the advent of the next wave of young players.
Ethan, if you want irrationality, just wait until you get married. 🙂
ESPN needs to report on more things like this and less of 24/7 A-Roid.
Awesome story.
Ethan @ 97
Good read.
It was a great story but predictably some of the comments soured it. There are people that simply can’t imagine that sportsmanship can be more important than winning.
I’m not going to worry about the possibility of playing time drama until it happens. We’ve already signaled prior to signing Junior that we’re planning on platooning him, so he arrives knowing the deal. If it’s a problem for him, I imagine he’d have signed elsewhere. Signing here indicates to me that he’s aware of the diminishing of his skills, and has planned accordingly.
High School is supposed to get you ready for college though, and anyone who is taught that sportsmanship is more important than winning is going to be grossly unprepared for their SEC college lives. That coach has done all his players a disservice.
Sean gets paid.
Great news. It’s always nice when the good guys win.
A little bitter?
You really think Atlanta cares? Do you believe Braves fans appreciate your legacy? You think the city that couldn’t sell out playoff games when the Braves were winning every National League East title cares about your 600 home runs? Think they’re going to embrace you the way Seattle would?
In Seattle, you’d be a hero. In Atlanta, you’d be a one-year mercenary
It’s the fallback for every braves basher, but still…ouch.
Well, he hasn’t signed anywhere yet. And frankly, given our luck, there’s at least 50-50 chance he comes back today and says he’s signing with the Mariners. Maybe even 60-40. I mean, he just flatly refuted the report and there hasn’t been a peep since. I do not like the looks of this at all.
My response:
You think that the city that couldn’t even hold onto their basketball team really has the wherewithal to care about the homecoming of their once-beloved, now long-forgotten hero? Instead of sniping at Ken Griffey, shouldn’t you have focused on firing Bill Bavasi three years ago, before he had a chance to mortgage literally all of your future and turn your once-great team into one of the laughingstocks of baseball?
Ahh, I’m finished now. If you’re looking for another feel-good human interest story, check this one out.
@104,
That is one of the stupidet columns ever. It’s really crazy for the Mariners to even consider signing Junior. They are a bad team that needs to move on. Griffey isn’t going to help. At least the Braves have some hope of winning and Griffey can be a part of that.
#101 – I’ll disagree with that
Nick, go read DOB’s new blog. He’s still pretty convincing that Griffey will be here
It rains 9 months of the year in Seattle.
I’m with csg.
Griffey would be nice, but I still don’t see why he’s better/more preferable to Edmonds, who I think can still play CF in a pinch.
Not everyone goes to the SEC, though. Some people actually go to college for an education.
@97
I read that story, and I thought it was really cool. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, a couple missed free throws were not a big deal at all. But it was cool to see the respect that one team had for another player. Good stuff.
Ah,it never gets old having sports towns just as shitty as ours pile on us for being a bad sports town. I don’t know why New York sportswriters find it necessary to do it, but at least they’re not sitting in the middle of a horrible sports town while doing it. But Seattle??? Look around you, you fool! I look forward to the same article from sports writers from Houston, Milwaukee and Phoenix over the next three weeks, as well.
@112
Point for Marc
Not everyone goes to the SEC, though. Some people actually go to college for an education.
Some people actually go to one of the premier universities in the nation…in the SEC.
Guys, Dix is obviously joking and mocking the conference. You should keep his take-shots-at-the-SEC agenda in mind when reading each and every one of his posts.
Edit: deleted in the event Stu is correct.
mlbtr said what I was thinking on the Griffey thing:
“It’s about time we wrap this thing up, in my opinion.”
This is just silly (though admittedly it almost HAS to be about A-Rod taking all the press air out of the room yesterday so we all had to wait on it).
I’m not nearly as worried about drama regarding playing time with the potential acquisition of a declining HOFer as I am about the drama regarding playing time in RF (which has precedent).
I’m shocked that anyone took that bait. I didn’t even disguise it.
Haha, the sarcasm in Dix’s post was just subtle enough to spark controversy.
Ya know, I haven’t been one of the top contributors in quite some time. Here’s to changing that.
Hampton gets a new nickname. Just call him “TD”.
Go Braves.
The steroids issue is news. Just because someone tires of it doesn’t relieve that point. It’s gonna get covered & it should get covered.
But give ESPN some time & I’m sure it’ll find a way to co-brand it.
Braves suing Hampton’s insurance company:
http://tinyurl.com/cowo6a
114–Seattle is a great city–but the Mariners have been and probably remain a god awful mess. To those who may get down on the Braves’front office (as I do) my advice is to look at the Mariners’ management and realize that the grass–or in their case the turf–can really be greener….
Yea but Mariners fans aren’t entitled to a winning baseball team every year like Atlanta fans are.
“Totally disabled”?
Is that like total body failure?
c shorter @119,
I hope that Francoeur’s whining and sense of entitlement have pushed Bobby Cox to “the Gryboski point” and he will work Jr. some in RF in the spring and make the platoon the other way.
Id like to take Griffey and Bedard from them. We can send them Lerew and Glavine. Fair enough???
2010 – Huddy, Bedard, Lowe, JJ, Hanson
I can dream
Can we trade a francouer for ANY player on Mario Super Sluggers? I’m willing to trade for Petey Piranha or for Yoshi. However, the Yoshi trade would outweigh and Francouer plate production.
That’s be asking too much, Mikey@OU. Even Jr. Troopa could out-hit Francoeur and he is a baby still in an eggshell.
“the Gryboski point” – LOL
That’s funny right there.
It’s also a good point. Cox just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that would put up with that attitude for a second, much less encourage it.
Another part of the mystery that is Atlanta’s right field …
Here we go:
Braves: Griffey Jr. Leaning Towards Seattle
Stu / Stephen,
Mike Minor was projected as one of the 1st 4 college pitchers to go in the 2009 draft by Bryan Smith at B-Pro yesterday.
Braves suing Hamptons Insurance Co.
http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/02/18/braves_hampton.html
Oh for God’s sake….
Just to be clear, I wasn’t attempting to bash Seattle as a city. I’m sure it’s perfectly nice. Just as a sports town. Because as a sports town, it sucks.
I told you guys.
Just say no to Garret Anderson.
Whether or not Griffey comes to Atlanta, I see pure idiocy in the Atlanta sports media. After all that’s happenned this offseason, they jump the gun on reporting this?
If two-thirds of our outfield ends up being Francoeur and G. Anderson…
I’ll just say I don’t think Mac will be all rainbows and sunshine
And I’m not trying to begrudge DOB for doing his job, but I’m pretty sure that story coming out yesterday didn’t help any.
Edit: And incidentally, Wednesday morning is up. Can we just make a damn decision and get on with it please? This is getting ridiculous.
DOB’s blog seems to hint Griffey will still end up in Atlanta. Chipper is convinced too.
Chipper also said he expects Hanson to be a staff ace very soon.
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2009/02/18/waiting-for-griffeys-arrival/
140—Amen.
135—Of course he was. 🙂
I think that was posted before this latest turn, Rob.
It was an hour ago, I think.
O.
M.
G.
If this blows up, it won’t matter whether this was Wren’s fault or not – he’ll be crucified.
Anyone have a hammer?
This is another one of those things where it seems like it wasn’t his fault mostly, but that would be four this offseason. Anyone who doesn’t notice the pattern is nuts.
I feel like griffey made both teams think he would be signing with them, now he’s using a potential fan and media backlash to leverage a larger contract offer.
I feel like Chuck Dowdle is probably less reliable than DOB, and people (coughNickcough) should probably wait to see how this plays out before ranting about inept management. That’s what I feel like.
Really cool chart at baseball think factory that shows the ability of a starter to hold a lead. Smoltz doesn’t fare too well here, but Maddux does. Here’s the link:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/primate_studies/discussion/leads_lost_by_top_starters_1954_2008/
Sorry, I’m not savvy enough to shorten that.
I just don’t understand why Griffey would want to go back to Seattle. He hasn’t been there for years, the team is awful, and it’s far away from his family. The only reason I can see that he would go there is so he can feel he is the prodigal son returning and be worshipped. In Atlanta, he would simply be a piece–and a platooned piece at that–while in Seattle, he can be a hero. It just makes no sense to me otherwise.
153–I agree, which is ultimately why I still believe that little Frank Wren will win this one….
135–Thanks Parish–its still a long way to June….
A) wasn’t sure if Dix was kidding or not (I plead lack of sleep and hectic schedule today… can I do that?) and opted for the safety of “don’t agree with the asshole view even if it’s a joke”.
B) I hope this one doesn’t blow up too, not because it would be the worst thing for the product we put on the field, but because we’re already looking like bumpkin management to the rest of baseball (UNLESS that sets us up to trick somebody into taking Frenchy off our hands for somebody we actually could use for a few years).
I am going to take a nap. If Griffey signs with the Mariners…. Sheesh.
Something is clearly happening, one way or the other. DOB was scheduled to live blog from 11-2 today, and he was scheduled to have Charlie Morton on at 1, and there has been no sign of DOB yet.
This has nothing to do with DOB, Terence Moore or Chuck Dowdle.
This is about Ken Griffey, Jr. It’s his decision. If he changes his mind, it would suck for us, but that’s the way it goes. We can’t kidnap him & force him to platoon in LF with Matt Diaz.
BTW, Seattle is a great town.
I don’t think any of this is Wren’s fault. I think it’s due to very irresponsible and idiotic “journalists” at AJC who want to be the first to report something. Way to go, jackasses. You were the first to report that there is a free-agent OF and the Braves are looking to sign an OF.
I don’t know we could even say it’s “About” Griffey if he and his camp have denied that he had made a decision yet but it was reported by Bowman and DOB that they thought it would happen or had happened or was on the verge of happening. Unlike Furcal the Braves FO hasn’t said “we’ve got him!” yet… so if Griffey decides on Seattle it won’t really be him screwing the Braves in the way that Furcal did.
I grew up near seattle, but my dad was a huge braves fan. I’ve always rooted for both teams, so I won’t be too disappointed if Griffey signs with seattle. That said, I am hoping he signs with Atlanta. And as someoene said earlier, people complaining about the braves FO should really follow seattle’s post Pat Gillick era.
anyone see the new poll at AJC?
“What role should Griffey play on the Braves?”
1. Platoon LF with Diaz
2. Backup CF
aaaaand…. that’s it. Those are the options.
Shouldn’t there be a GLARING third option regarding the third OF spot? … just saying
I don’t know what worse, hopping between two or three websites hoping for the griffey news to resolve itself, watching the A-Rod saga on ESPN or watching “9 innings from ground zero” on MLB net. sigh
Ithaca, I just read a good novel by a friend of mine (classmate at a writing class) set in Seattle: “The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” by Jamie Ford. It’s somewhere in the Amy Tan sort of literary… No idea if that’s up your alley or not, but the Seattle ties might be something you’d find interesting if it is.
The lack of Griffey decision is killing my productivity today (usually it’s my ADD and bad attitude that does that).
I’m just doing the reload MLBTR, AJC, Twitter, and here thing (plus Woot.com because there’s a woot-off today)
Charlie Morton is on DOB’s blog now… no news on Griffey
MLBTR has link to:
http://markbowman.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/02/still_no_griffey_update.html
Apparently Braves hope for an answer this afternoon… sheesh.
DOB’s blog makes me really appreciate this place. All the “fire Cox” people and some guy ranting about the “North American Union” over there now. Plus the load times suck.
I can understand the Griffey thing, I cant understand whats holding up Glavine. We are now apparently offering between $4-5m. He cant be holding out for more $$$ can he? If he is, move on
It’s not the job of the writers at the AJC to make sure the Braves front office looks good. Their job is to report news and, clearly, the rumors about Griffey are news. the idea that the stories themselves are responsible for Griffey changing his mind, like Schrodinger’s cat, is sort of silly. Having said that, there is certainly an issue in journalism about the dysfunctional competition to be first to break a story. But it’s up to the Braves to keep the lid on these things, not the writers. If they didn’t report these things, people would be complaining about that too.
But, other than that, I don’t see how you can put this on Wren. It’s clearly more difficult now to control the news, with the internet and all, than it was in Scheurholz’s day. Wren is doing what he can to improve the team but, as Ububba says, you can’t force people to play in Atlanta. I think the issue with Griffey, if there is one, is similar to the one with Furcal; Furchal didn’t want to play second base and Griffey may not want to platoon. Maybe Wren is guilty of being too honest with these guys. I also think if this was the Braves of the 90s or early 2000s, who were basically a shoe-in for the playoffs, it would be more compelling for a Griffey. Still, as I said before, it makes no sense for Griffey to want to go back to Seattle or for Seattle to want him.
mlbtr is saying Griffey has already passed a physical for both teams?? so what is he playing on both teams this year? that’ll be impressive. Im getting the feeling that he could be playing the Braves, Chipper, and Wren for a better offer from Seatle. Doesnt sound like something he would do, but if he’s calling and trying to come here, whats the delay? Said decision should come today or tomorrow. Screw it, Im done till there’s a press conference
I was thinking earlier that he’s trying to play both teams against eachother to increase his contract. But I think its more like that old Mary Wells song “Two Lovers.” He likes and seemingly has sentimental and emotional ties to both clubs. This is likely his last season, so I’m sure he wants to weigh his options carefully.
Also, Jeter’s press conference just took place. Maybe griffey and his new team are waiting for some of this Arod nonsense to blow over before making the news offcial, as John Heyman reported yesterday on the MLB network.
“Shouldn’t there be a GLARING third option regarding the third OF spot? … just saying”
Great point; I am constantly stunned that every time public sentiment seems to be waning over JF’s terrible seasons, an article shows up in the AJC about hard he is going to try and how good a shape he is in. And the spring training photo in the AJC last week of a player signing autographs was none other than…JF. I guess he is the only Brave who signs.
I think JF’s agent has, somehow, put a couple of the Braves beat writers in his pocket; the agent couldn’t ask for a more pliant PR machine for his client than the AJC.
Why dont we sign Tim Tebow to play RF? The sheer force of his will would be sufficient to attract fly balls into his bare hand and to repell pitched balls into the stratosphere.
After all, no one works harder or is in better shape and that’s all that matters right?
175 — I bet he could play DB at Clemson,too.
But he wears jean shorts.
@116,
Stu,
I always exempt Vanderbilt from my comments about the academic quality of the SEC. 🙂 Actually, Vandy has more in common academically with the Pac 10 than with the rest of the SEC.
Athletically too…
“We’re No. 2!”
Marc,
As I’ve said for several years, I think it would make a lot of sense for Vanderbilt to switch conferences with Clemson or Florida State. The ACC puts more emphasis on academics and on basketball, both of which suit VU. The SEC puts less emphasis on academics and more on football, both of which suit Clemson and Florida State.
Won’t ever happen, of course, but it really is silly for us to be in a conference whose mission runs almost completely against ours.
That said, I’d much rather stick it out in the SEC than drop to some non-BCS conference. I like trying to compete athletically against the big boys.
(Wouldn’t the SAT Conference be fun, non-logistically speaking? Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane, Wake Forest…Notre Dame? Baylor?)
Love that idea. Notre Dame might actually win that conference.
Name one team in that list Notre Dame can beat…
They’d be in the mix, for sure, ububba. ‘Course, even we were better than they were in each of the past two seasons, and I don’t expect that to change in ’09…
Didn’t they beat Stanford last year?
i’d pick Duke to win that conference. but actually, Wake would be the favorite.
I’m really not sure why Griffey’s acting like he’s being courted by major market teams here. I really don’t think that either team is likely to get into a bidding war. When was the last time we got in a bidding war with anybody? And if he’s actually holding up the Mariners, saying he’ll grace them with his regal presence if they throw a little bit more money on the pot, there’s a one-fingered answer for that. The Mariners really don’t need him and seem to be basically doing this as a favor to Griffey and their fans. If I were them, I’d just as soon get on with the rebuilding, frankly.
In the end, this is ridiculous and a decision has to be made. If you really wanna go back to Seattle, tell your family that you’re going back for a year and that’s that. If being near your family is the most important thing, sign with us. I can see how it might be a difficult decision, but this is getting ridiculous. Surely you know what you’re gonna do after three days. Step up.
could it be the Mac jinx? there seems to be a pattern developing with players changing their minds. maybe we should just be quiet until we see them hugging Frank Wren while wearing a Braves jersey. of course, Jr. might end up here yet, but i’m not holding my breath…………or getting too excited about his slow, injury-prone presence either.
Bowman’s theory is, apparently, that Griffey doesn’t want to offend the Seattle FO and fans and the leak in AJC about his decision before HE had announced it made him a bit skittish in regards to how to handle telling Seattle no… or Bowman is full of it and just speculating like the rest of us.
For those of you not familiar with BP’s Team Health reports, they basically have a program that they feed the stats of previous seasons to indicate how much of an injury risk a player is, simplified to red (high risk), yellow and green (low risk).
We have the obvious red lights on Chipper, Jurrjens, yellows on McCann, Diaz, Soriano etc. and then you get this:
“How bad was Francoeur’s collapse last season? Bad enough for the system to think that he was injured and should be yellow. The problem is, he wasn’t hurt, and never has been during his three full seasons in the bigs.”
That will be another arrow in their quiver at the arb table.
“See, he even plays hurt. If he was hurt.”
@190 and 191,
I can certainly criticize Francoeur a plenty. However, BP and you guys are wrong. Francoeur did hurt his ankle early in the year. he hobbled on it most of the season. Some time late in the season the hobble stopped. The TV crew said he got new orthotics in his shoe.
I CERTAINLY think the hurt ankle could have and did affect his fielding. It reasonably could have affected his hitting.
However, I am not saying that without the injury he was even an average player. Only that the “suckitude” went from extreme to overwhelming as a result of that.
You shouldn’t be playing if your injury renders you the worst starting outfielder in the MLB. You should be sitting, and a healthy player should be playing. Even if that healthy player would also be the worst MLB outfielder.
The Braves front office really needs to keep the lid on things. I know the Griffey thing was “from a friend,” but I am sure the front office could have helped squash the rumor. If we don’t land Griffey now, then Wren, DOB and a few others have a lot of crow to eat and quick.
If Griffey goes to Seattle, it won’t be because of any press leak. It’ll be because he wants to play there instead of Atlanta.
@195
Sure, but this will be the THIRD (maybe fourth if you count “no way Smoltz leaves”) time this off season a guy was “all but here.” I don’t think many Braves fans could live with another rejection
guess what??? we got furcalled
Griffey back to Seatle per MLBTR
Not a credible source.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/400612_griffey20.html
will seattle reporter suffice? damn, this sucks.
That’s a weird story, though. Do you read any quotes from Griffey that actually say he made a decision? All of his quotes seem ambivalent. Not to say it’s not true.
ESPN a better source?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3917214
well its not really, but everyone has it
New post. There are no words.
Griffey would have been a huge minus in the field. He’s better off going somewhere he can DH and the Braves are better off without him.