This article from the Tacoma Times indicates that Ken Griffey, Jr.’s days as a Mariner are numbered. Aside from his awful start at the plate and the fact that he can’t play the field because of his sore and gimpy knees, he’s apparently not been the force in the clubhouse he was last year.
In fact, the article reports an anecdote that Griffey was not used as a pinch hitter in a recent game, because he was asleep in the clubhouse in the late innings.
I’ve long felt that keeping old guys with little left to contribute on the field around because of their supposed great influence in the clubhouse is way overrated. Better to have someone on the bench who can actually help you win some ballgames out on the field with a timely hit, a great defensive play, or scoring the run from second on a short hit to the outfield.
The Mariners decided to bring back Griffey in November 2009 for a $2.35 million 2010 (according to Cot’s baseball contracts ). I thought it was a mistake at the time .
In December 2009, the M’s acquired Milton Bradley with the hope that having Griffey around as an older brother figure would get Miltie to straighten up and fly right. A fool’s errand, I thought.
It didn’t work out that way, of course, and there were a lot of reasons at the end of the 2009 season to think that neither move would.
At this point, the M’s would probably be best served by the old two-for-one (to paraphrase Dodgers’ announcer Vin Scully) and dump both Griffey and Milton Bradley in one fell swoop.
The Mariners are dead last in the AL at 12-19, but it’s only early May, and they’re only 5.5 games back. It would be a good time to do a little house-cleaning and make a fresh start of it with 130 games still left to play.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com