Griffey playing situation likely to end ugly
I've already discussed my fear with Griffey- he wants to play the field and the management team will feel forced to play him more than they should. The pressure will come from multiple angles.
1) Griffey will let everyone know he prefers to play the field. Every 0-4 game will have a quote from Baker the next morning along the lines of "I'm used to playing every day" and "hard to come off the bench cold and stay loose" and every other anti-DH cliche you can come up with. Plus, don't forget Atlanta was ready to sign him to play the field. This will get mentioned at least 4 million times during the season.
2) Fans who want to see him play the outfield. Expect at least 500 quotes from kids about this.
3) Seattle Times. Story after story this summer will keep feeding one and two. It sells papers and creates controversy while the team continues along its rebuilding plan.
I just really fear this ends poorly. I hope I'm wrong and Don and Jack sit Griffey down and explain the best way to hit his incentives is to be a DH. If Griffey lets his ego get in the way and makes a big stink about it, things gets ugly fast.
What we should hope for-
* Griffey hits great early as a DH. Pray he hits a home run every time he steps to the plate as a DH.
* Griffey looks terrible in the field and feels terrible the next day physically. This will put an end to the madness.
Otherwise it will only be the inevitable injury that leads to Griffey sitting on the bench this year when his team takes the field.
I've already discussed my fear with Griffey- he wants to play the field and the management team will feel forced to play him more than they should. The pressure will come from multiple angles.
1) Griffey will let everyone know he prefers to play the field. Every 0-4 game will have a quote from Baker the next morning along the lines of "I'm used to playing every day" and "hard to come off the bench cold and stay loose" and every other anti-DH cliche you can come up with. Plus, don't forget Atlanta was ready to sign him to play the field. This will get mentioned at least 4 million times during the season.
2) Fans who want to see him play the outfield. Expect at least 500 quotes from kids about this.
3) Seattle Times. Story after story this summer will keep feeding one and two. It sells papers and creates controversy while the team continues along its rebuilding plan.
I just really fear this ends poorly. I hope I'm wrong and Don and Jack sit Griffey down and explain the best way to hit his incentives is to be a DH. If Griffey lets his ego get in the way and makes a big stink about it, things gets ugly fast.
What we should hope for-
* Griffey hits great early as a DH. Pray he hits a home run every time he steps to the plate as a DH.
* Griffey looks terrible in the field and feels terrible the next day physically. This will put an end to the madness.
Otherwise it will only be the inevitable injury that leads to Griffey sitting on the bench this year when his team takes the field.
posted by Tom at
2:39 PM
