The Frinklin and Fred Show

It can’t be 5 years already?

Art Thiel had a nice piece in this morning’s PI regarding the 5-year anniversary of the Griffey Trade. This makes me feel old, since I distinctly remembering this was only a couple years ago. Oh well, time flies when you’re losing Hall of Famers. Like every Mariner fan from the 90’s, Junior will always be an M somewhere in my head, and I can remember the early days, when he was the Only Reason to see a game. I won’t say Junior was my idol, because he seemed more than that. You could relate to Edgar, a gritty guy who had to work twice as hard as anyone else. You could relate to Dan Wilson or Jay Buhner, everyman-types who just happened to play baseball. Ken Griffey was different. It seemed so easy to him, so natural. He’s only a few years older than I, and my little league days were over when he came up, but I still tried to imitate his easy, loping swing when I headed to a batting cage. It was hopeless of course, chunky unathletic kids can’t do such things.

So, it’s been five years, admittedly exciting ones, since he left. And I can remember, whenever he went to get a new contract, and somebody would talk about him leaving, he would always mention that his father told him that no team would treat his as well as his first team. That struck me when he demanded a trade, and I wondered if he remembered it as well. The Reds though, they have treated him well. Its just everything else that hasn’t. Junior’s post-M career has been unbelievably star-crossed. It isn’t a question if he’ll be the player he was before. No, the question is if he’ll ever be a player again. He’s only played in 462 games in the four seasons since the trade. He’s been wracked with injuries, and at 35, the slope is going down.

I’d still want him back though. At this point, its totally impossible for me to be objective about Ken Griffey, Jr. I know his contract is awful at this point. I know he’d probably have to play left in Safeco. I know he might not fit in the clubhouse. But I don’t care. If the opportunity arose, I would want the M’s to bring him back.

Which means its good I ain’t Bill Bavasi.