Sad Day

I am sad to say that Ken Griffey Jr. will be returning in 2010 as a professional baseball player for the Seattle Mariners as a full-time DH. Griffey Jr. signed a 1yr deal that will bring his .214 batting average back to Safeco Field.

The move by Griffey Jr. is a move most pro athletes do when their careers are drawing to an end. Letting go is one of the toughest and almost impossible decisions athletes have to make in their lives. After an entire life of batting practice, shagging fly balls, and joking around with teammates, it seems The Kid can't let go. Even after his sad and over the hill 2009 numbers, he knew that the Mariners would bring him back if he requested. So he did.

On the business side, this is a decent decision. Bring back a legend, a future hall of famer, and a winning smile and you have a recipe for financial success. People will flock to see him, buy up every jersey and promotional item, people will buy up outfield seats hoping they will catch his final HR ball, but most importantly, people will spend money, big money, which will help the Mariners.

As a long time fan of The Kid, who the hell isn't, I just can't take another season of Mendoza line averages, sluggish swings, and the 0-4 with 3K nights. It hurts. It really hurts. In 2009 it was okay for him to have a terrible year because I thought he was going to retire so I accepted his 2009 year. For all the bad at-bats he had, I didn't give a rats ass about them because when he connected and hit one of his 19 home runs, it was all worth it.

Time stops for no one and it seems like someone is trying to at least slow it down for just one more year. I wish he just retired so we can move on and place him with the other greats of the game. In Cooperstown.

Griffey in Toronto

Now that the free agent season is kind of over with the big dudes signing, well with the Yankees, I think the Jays and their "amazing" GM need to start shopping. As I mentioned earlier this month, they don't have to go out and sign players to $150million contracts, we all know they can not afford to do that. Just go out and throw some 1yr contracts around that are filled with incentives.

Dudes like Giambi, Smoltz, Baldelli, and Saito are out of the picture so looking at the guys who are left, what about Griffey? He's old and he's kind of washed up but if you give him a bat and a DH spot he can still provide some pop especially in a hitters park like SkyDome.

What do you think JP? How about signing Griffey to a 1yr contract with a club option for a 2nd and lace the shit out of the contract with incentives. Yes he's old and yes we have a turf field but all he has to do is walk to the batters box and swing a bat. He can provide a left handed bat to separate Wells and Rios, yes I would have preferred Giambi but that is over with, so come on JP go out and get it done.

If all fails, think of all the revenue the Jays will get from selling Griffey merchandise.