Monday, March 08, 2004
The Return of Junior
The Times is really into Ken Griffey this weekend with a story from Larry Stone on what went wrong with Junior, followed up today by Bob Finnigan trying to work a trade for Junior.
This rumor took on more life, according to Larry Larue, when Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg was seen chatting with M's president Chuck Armstrong during the M's 16-5 shellacking of the Padres yesterday.
I will say that without question, I would love to see Ken Griffey return to the Mariners. That said, I would not want to see us trade Randy Winn, or take on more than half of his remaining 5-yr, $66.5 million dollar contract. He is obviously a severe injury risk, and USS Mariner broke that down pretty well today.
But what would happen if we brought Junior in without trading Winn? The Reds don't need a centerfielder, they need pitching, and lots of it, and we seem to have a surplus. Lets say we could trade Clint Nageotte, Rett Johnson and Chris Snelling for Junior and they handle the $30M deferred, should we do it? Ibanez(893 vs. Right) / Winn(878 vs. left) would move into a platoon role in left field, with either able to help spell Edgar, Olerud, Junior and Ichiro on their days off (by moving Ibanez to 1B). If Junior gets hurt, we're back to where we are today, and we spend $7M per season for 5 years for a guy who bats 200 ABs per year, and puts fannies in the seats. If he doesn't get hurt we have a middle of the lineup that has Edgar, Boone, and Junior, and gives us the best outfield defense in the majors once again.
I can see why M's management is at least thinking about it.
So long, Norm
My dream of having Norm Charlton return to the bullpen is officially over. Good hunting to you, Norm!
M's on TV today!
Happily, I'm wearing my Seattle Mariners t-shirt today, its 75 degrees outside, and starting in about 45 minutes, I'll get to see the M's play the Angels on TV in my company workout room. I plan on using the stairmaster for at least the first 3-4 innings. ESPN at 11am PST... I just hope my legs can take it.
This rumor took on more life, according to Larry Larue, when Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg was seen chatting with M's president Chuck Armstrong during the M's 16-5 shellacking of the Padres yesterday.
I will say that without question, I would love to see Ken Griffey return to the Mariners. That said, I would not want to see us trade Randy Winn, or take on more than half of his remaining 5-yr, $66.5 million dollar contract. He is obviously a severe injury risk, and USS Mariner broke that down pretty well today.
But what would happen if we brought Junior in without trading Winn? The Reds don't need a centerfielder, they need pitching, and lots of it, and we seem to have a surplus. Lets say we could trade Clint Nageotte, Rett Johnson and Chris Snelling for Junior and they handle the $30M deferred, should we do it? Ibanez(893 vs. Right) / Winn(878 vs. left) would move into a platoon role in left field, with either able to help spell Edgar, Olerud, Junior and Ichiro on their days off (by moving Ibanez to 1B). If Junior gets hurt, we're back to where we are today, and we spend $7M per season for 5 years for a guy who bats 200 ABs per year, and puts fannies in the seats. If he doesn't get hurt we have a middle of the lineup that has Edgar, Boone, and Junior, and gives us the best outfield defense in the majors once again.
I can see why M's management is at least thinking about it.
So long, Norm
My dream of having Norm Charlton return to the bullpen is officially over. Good hunting to you, Norm!
M's on TV today!
Happily, I'm wearing my Seattle Mariners t-shirt today, its 75 degrees outside, and starting in about 45 minutes, I'll get to see the M's play the Angels on TV in my company workout room. I plan on using the stairmaster for at least the first 3-4 innings. ESPN at 11am PST... I just hope my legs can take it.
