junior griffey
Those who say the Reds are better with Griffey in the lineup have it half right. Griffey in centerfield will not improve them. It might make them worse. Griffey in center weakens them defensively. Ryan Freel gets to more balls and will lay out his body more. The Reds will be better offensively with Griffey out there, but since when has offense been a problem? Instead of winning 9-8, they'll win 11-8. He was comeback player of the year last year, and the team still finished 73-89 and 27 games out.
The pitching is, again, suspect. Better defense will help that some. That means Griffey in left, Dunn at first and Freel in center as often as his body will allow. Don't bet on that happening, though. Griffey won't agree to it. Whether you think he has earned the right to dictate where he will play doesn't matter. He will dictate it, and no one will challenge him. Lots of players over the years have moved for the good of the team. It's going to be interesting to see if Griffey will the next. Live big.
posted by Paul Daugherty at 8:42 AM
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Post a Comment*"Since when has offense been the problem"
Ahhhh, might since this past week, where 5 of the last seven games the Reds have failed to score more than 3 runs.
And comeback player of the year has nothing to do with a teams record. If anything it should speak volumes that he was able to win the award while playing for a crappy team. Historically it has been difficult to gain recognition while playing for a bad team.
When healthy, Griffey is better in center than Freel. If defense is that big of a concern, then Dunn should be the one we are worried about. Moving Dunn to first creates as much as a liability as having him in left.
"When healthy,"
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that's like me saying, "When I'm hitting my driver dead-center off the tee-box everytime, I can shoot in the high 70's".
why is this town filled w/ so many Griffey apologists? I find it ironic and humorous that the "Comeback POY" didn't play the last month & a half due to..... (drumroll).... another injury!! everyone's giving him a free-pass because he's not one of the roid-boys - but that still doesn't mean he's not a whiney tenderfoot.
they would be better off just cutting their losses completely at this point than trying to move griffy around.
he's a 36 yr old outfielder who can't stay healthy with a $9+ million annual salary for the next 4 years.
take whatever you can for him. anything. i'm sure steinbrenner would bite.
Paul, you are preaching to the choir....
The offense is going to have its fits and starts thru the year. Pitching and Defense are the constants that a team needs to compete.
That said, the team is better defensively with Jr. in left and Freel/McCracken in CF. Also, the team is better offensively with Jr, Dunn and Freel/McCracken than Dunn, Jr, and Hatteberg or Dunn Freel Hatteberg.
Once again, an overpaid oft injured athlete is going to dictate to a team the way things run???? Junior, give us a break.
I don't understand baseball owners.
You pay someone $9+ million a year to tell them what to do. MLB pays "stars" for the star to tell the owners what is permissible.
Stick Griff in Center Field until he Breaks, were a better team with him on both sides of the ball. Later Al
I like Ken Griffey Jr. I understand that the Reds signed him with a paycut from the Mariners. But the day this happened I bemoaned the fact that the Reds really can't afford him. In today's baseball, a small-market team can't fork over those kind of dollars to one player. You have to spread it around and hope that your farm system gives you something worthwhile so that you can compete with a mixture of home -grown talent and the occaisional mid-range free agent.
Prior to Griffey's arrival, the Reds were fairly competitive (a lot of people forget that) with players a lot of fans hadn't heard of. Since he has shown up, the Reds have struggled year in and year out--this is not directly attributalbe to Griffey, but is an indirect effect of his salary.
I recall a housecleaning the Reds did about 5 years ago when they dumped Gabe White, Hal Morris, and a host of other solid starters to dump salary--yet they kept Griffey. In hindsight, doing the reverse would have served the team better--send the big ticket player to the AL, where he could DH, and free up salary for some good pitching. The Reds didn't do that and have paid the price ever since.
The sad fact of the matter is that until MLB does something about their free-agency situation, baseball will suffer in small markets. Put a salary cap on the players! Something to make the other teams competitive--and quit expanding! We have about 6 teams too many now!--this dilutes the talent pool to the point where the pitching around the league is so mediocre that all the recent batting titles and home-run records have become suspect.
Do we really need 2 teams in Florida?
Finally, I have to point out that Jr.'s injuries since he has been a Red have made him an inefficient expediture. A mid-salary every-day performer would be a much better investment for the Reds than somebody who has played 2/3 of the time since he has been with the club. This isn't Griffey's fault, but it is his history as a Red.
Make the smart move and trade Jr. to the AL for pitching. You won't regret it.
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