Griffey, Mariners Ready to Compete in 2010

Ken Griffey Jr. has put his arthroscopic knee surgery from three months ago behind him and is getting ready for Spring Training.  Griffey, no DH for the Seattle Mariners, spent much of last season in pain due to bone spurs but says he feels much better now that the surgery is over.  "The Kid" tells the general manager that he'll be "ripped" for the season.   Is Griffey's renewed interest due to concerns that old age is catching up and he may only have a few seasons left or perhaps it is due to the Mariners added key guys this off-season to help Griffey get that elusive ring.  Whatever the reason, the Mariners look to be a force in the AL West this season.  Whether they are or not, I for one and happy that Grif will be back and perhaps we could see glimmers of the past.

This off season, the Mariners have added guys like Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins, and Milton Bradley.  Think what you will of Bradley, in the right situation he can still be a great addition to the team.  Of course, with Ichiro and Griffey returning, the Mariners could once again be relevant. 

MLB.com story

Corruption in Baseball Affects Dawson's Hall Induction

The Hall of Fame announced yesterday that Andre Dawson will be wearing an Expo hat in the Hall.  Although Dawson himself claimed to prefer to be inducted as a Cub but that won't be the case.  Since rumors spead that players that played for multiple teams were being offered "incentives" to wear their teams hat in the Hall, the HOF decided to change its policy regarding hat selection.  Before 2001, a player could choose the hat they prefered to wear in the Hall.  The new rule has already affected players like Gary Carter who would have chose to wear a Mets hat but instead is inducted as an Expo and Wade Boggs who won a championship with the Yankees in 1996 and therefore would have liked to be inducted as a Yankee.  Boggs however, played eleven years in Boston where he put up some of his best numbers and as a result, the Hall chose the Red Sox for him.  Andre Dawson is now the next victim of the rule change.  Dawson spent eleven seasons with the Montreal Expo and posted alot of great numbers there.  However, I think we all remember Dawson as a Chicago Cub where he had his best season (1987) and played with guys like Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston, Mark Grace and even pre-PEDs Sammy Sosa.  Maybe the guys at the HOF need to revisit the issue and use some common sense before making such a rule change.

Damon Return Unlikely (Red Sox perspective)

Benedict Arnold, I mean, Johnny Damon is unlikely to return to the Yankees according to Brian Cashman.  Cashman states that Damon's asking price is not within the salary range that the Yankees are willing to offer the one-time beloved Red Sox turned traitor.  For more about this story check out MLB.com at http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100126&content_id=7972524&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Fisk Condemns McGwire and Clemens

Carlton Fisk spoke out about Mark McGwire’s comments that steroids did not help him hit home runs. Fisk points out that they are called ‘performance enhancers’ for a reason. Although Fisk claims that this isn’t new news to him, the forum is now available for him to speak out. Carlton claims that Catching ‘took a toll on me’ and that steroids would have made his daily life easier but he chose not to because of the integrity of the game.
Fisk also blasts former Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens for his use of steroids saying “The reason he got let go from the Red Sox was because he was starting to breakdown. Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards.”
This is where the Hall of Fame will have to do some serious thinking. Fisk’s comments point out that while PEDs may not help you hit per se, it does. PEDs get you back on the field and help you physically as well as mentally.

Link to Story on Extra Bases Blog

Thank You Junior

In an era where all the numbers appear to be tainted, one man has done it the right way. One man has held on to the integrity of the game. One man played clean even though many of his opponents did not. For that, I say “Thank You Ken Griffey Jr.”

How quickly we forget that before Big Mac and Sammy brought us the thrill of the 98 season and before Barry Bonds’ head doubled in size, ‘the kid’ was already hitting homeruns with the most beautiful swing you have ever seen. Before the infamous 98 season, Junior had already hit 40 or more homeruns in a season 4 times. This got me to thinking, “what could have been?”

Griffey missed most of the 95, 01, 02, 03 and 04 seasons due to injuries. Obviously, injuries are part of the game and there is nothing you can do about it, but I wanted to know where he would stand had he not been injured. I removed his stats from those 5 seasons and then took an average of the rest of his career. Then I projected those numbers over 5 more seasons to see where he would be today. Through 21 seasons, Grif would have scored 1964 Runs (9th), 3276 Hits (12th), 613 Doubles (11th), 743 Home Runs (3rd), 2178 RBIs (3rd) and have a .291 average. Sure, he wouldn’t be first on any of the lists. However, the guys ahead of him all played more than 21 seasons (except for the Babe who played 21) and all have many more ABs. Hank Aaron played 23 seasons and had over 4200 more at-bats. Babe Ruth had 370 more at-bats and Barry Bonds played 22 seasons (although he missed most of the 2005 season) and had over 1850 more at-bats. So, since we still aren’t comparing apples to apples, I decided to take it one step farther and figure out, on average, how many at-bats between homeruns. There was no comparison. Griffey hits a home run ever 10.8 at-bats. The next closest was the Babe at one every 11.7 at-bats followed by Bonds (12.9 at-bats) and Aaron (16.3 at-bats). I decided to check today’s stars against these numbers as well. The closest is Albert Pujols with a home run every 14 at-bats followed by Alex Rodriguez (14.2) and Manny Ramirez (14.6).

Ultimately, Griffey was/is the greatest player of my generation and arguably ever. But, we’ll never know. Many people would never have know it either because Griffey did it with class and little fan fare. We all missed out on one of the greatest the game has ever seen. So once again, I say “Thank You Griffey, Jr.”

McGwire Admits Steroid Use

Nearly five years after not speaking at the congressional hearings, Mark McGwire has come clean about his use of steroids during his playing career including the 1998 season in which he broke the single season homerun record. My first thought, after disappointment, was ‘why now?’ Why after all these years would he now come clean? Is it because of the bad results he has seen regarding his Hall of Fame voting? Is it because he has been hired as a hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals and doesn’t want the distraction all season for the team? Is it because of the rumors that he wants to suit up as a pinch hitter for the Cardinals this season and knows that he will be constantly hounded by media and fans?

My personal opinion is that he sees how everyone seems to have given Andy Pettit a free pass because he came clean and did not deny using steroids to help him recover more quickly. McGwire is the first of the ‘Steroid Era’ players to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. I think that he believes that if he comes clean now, suits up as a pinch hitter for the Cardinals which would then delay his Hall eligibility for another 5 years, that time will heal the wounds he has created and better his chance of getting in.

Whatever his reasoning is, I have mixed feelings. The 1998 season may have been the greatest season of baseball in my life. I look back fondly on that season. I had the opportunity to see Big Mac in Cincinnati when he was sitting on 60 homeruns and could have tied or gone ahead of Maris’ record. My seats were not good. I sat in the red seats behind home plate. I felt like I was 1000 feet above the field but I was there. McGwire only played part of the game as it was the last game of the series and the Cardinals were heading back to St. Louis the next day. The whole stadium cheered, Cardinal fans and Reds fans alike. Mark hit a line drive down the left field line that stayed in the park by only a few feet. McGwire would leave Cincy still on 60 but broke the record in the next couple of days in front of his home field fans. Everyone loved Mark McGwire. He was this likeable, wholesome guy that really seemed to enjoy playing the game of baseball.

Now I’m stuck here thinking about the greatest season that I have ever witnessed and my morals and thoughts on the game I love. I despise Barry Bonds and in no way would ever want him to get elected to the Hall of Fame. Is that to say then that no steroid user should ever be elected? that list stopped at Roger Clemens or Rafael Palmeiro or even Sammy Sosa then I’d be all for it. But, when you look at the career that Alex Rodriguez is having, how could you possibly not vote him into the Hall of Fame? Also, does this mean you keep the guys out that have tested positive but every guy the ‘got away’ with it can get in? How can you say that one guys record doesn’t count but another guys does even though he played in the same era but never failed a test? The only solution I know, is that you have to let them in, perhaps under higher standards, and note that they played during a period know as the “Steroid Era.”

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Japan-MLB Series; World Baseball Classic

Bud Selig tells his Japanese counterpart, Ryozo Kato, that he would be interested in talking about a series that would match the World Series Champions against the champions of the Japanese Baseball League. I’m all for deciding who a ‘World’ champion is, but isn’t that the reason for the World Baseball Classic? Is it still a ‘world’ champion if you are only including the US and Japan? What about Korea and the Caribbean countries? Instead of adding another level when you already have guys complaining about the length of the season, why not just tweak the WBC to determine a true champion. Every four years the world gets together and determines a ‘world’ champion in soccer in the World Cup, let’s figure out a way to do this for baseball.

‘Hawk” Heads to Hall; Voting Problems

Andrew Dawson aka “the Hawk” finally has earned his bid to the Hall of Fame. While listening to Mike and Mike this morning, Greenberg brought up a good point. What changed from last year to this year? Why is it that Dawson wasn’t good enough last year but now he is? I suppose I understand the whole first year ballot thing, but this was Dawson’s ninth attempt. Are the voters basing their votes on whether the guy deserves to be in or are they basing it on who else is eligible that year? Last year the voters voted in Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, Andre couldn’t go in with these guys?

Since I’m on the topic of voting, are we voting for the Hall of Fame or the Hall of Mediocrity? Of course Dawson deserves to get in but guys like David Segui, Pat Hentgen and Kevin Appier received a vote and Eric Karros and Ellis Burks received 2 votes. Now these guys were good players, but they’re no hall of famers. Karros, Burks and Segui all had a hall of fame type season but one season does not make a HOFer. Perhaps we need to reevaluate who is voting and how they are voting.

Back to the cream of this year’s crop. In my opinion, Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar should have both been inducted and I’m sure they will be eventually. What a Mark McGwire? Sure his name has been linked to steroids but he has never tested positive. When he was taking Andro, it was not illegal in MLB and he and Sammy Sosa single handedly revived baseball after the lockout. How about Barry Larking? I’ve heard him referred to as Derek Jeter before Derek Jeter. Larkin’s only problem was injuries. He was a fixture in Cincinnati in the 80s and 90s and was a 12-time all-star. How about Tim Raines? Raines was feared as a leadoff hitter and a terror on the base path. He is 5th all-time in stolen bases and was a 7-time all-star.

Beltre Signs With Boston

After a long courtship, the Red Sox have signed free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre to a one year deal with a player option for a second year. Beltre spent last season in Seattle but had a down year statistically. Adrian improves the defense on a team that was near the bottom defensively last season. With the acquisition, Kevin Youkilis can remain at first where he has become accustomed. It’s early still but the Sox lineup is shaping up something like this: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Martinez, Youkilis, Ortiz, Drew followed by Cameron, Scutaro and Beltre in some order. That sounds pretty nice to me. Let me know when it is March!