How Long Do You Keep The Man Down?

[5DOLLAR-BLEACHERBUM]

First of all, the word you're looking for is "aberration".

Second of all, we had a trade worked out to send him to the White Sox last year that got nixed by ownership. So not being able to give him away is not "a fact"--it's completely wrong. The "fact" is that his offensive capabilities mean he is still a tradeable commodity. The differing value is what we can expect in return, but at this point I'd be happy with a pair of prospects--one legit, one not so--to get him off the field.

off the field, come on. You cant tell me that we are not a better team with Griffey in the line up. Cant you all just let him be, he wants to be here which is rare these days, but since we are winning games right now and hes not playing we want to trade him away. I would move griffey to first base before i ever considered trading him. I want to see him retire in a reds uniform no matter how sooner or later that is. I like to think if it were not for injuries that the man chasing the all time home run record would have been a Red and he would have done it the right way.

[registerthis]

off the field, come on. You cant tell me that we are not a better team with Griffey in the line up.

In the lineup? Sure. On the field? No, we're not. We're a far, far better team with Freel in CF than we are with Junior.

Cant you all just let him be, he wants to be here which is rare these days, but since we are winning games right now and hes not playing we want to trade him away.

No, I'd want to trade him regardless of what we were doing, and regardless of whether he was in the lineup or not. As nice of a story as Griffey wanting to be here is, the Reds have a team to field and a level of competitiveness they need to reach. It is very difficult for them to do that whilst having a $12 mil/year OFer with gimpy legs and an awful injury history.

I would move griffey to first base before i ever considered trading him. I want to see him retire in a reds uniform no matter how sooner or later that is. I like to think if it were not for injuries that the man chasing the all time home run record would have been a Red and he would have done it the right way.

Sure, and if it weren't for a lack of skills I'd be playing MLB rather than watching it.

I'd move Junior to first regardless of the situation, but even if we do move him there, we should still be pursuing a trade. The "can Junior stay healthy" train left the station a long time ago, now it's simply a need to mitigate damages.

[Handofdeath]

35 HR, 92 RBI and a .370 OBP last year says otherwise.

Griffey had pretty good numbers last year but he played in only 128 games. He was not healthy for a full season...again.

[traderumor]

The way Freel has been playing CF, the defense is going to suffer again if they simply put Jr. back out there when he comes back. He has been taking away gap shots that Jr. would be picking up off the warning track. The most logical move at this point is to move Griffey to LF, Dunn to 1b, Freel and Denorfia in CF, goodbye McCracken and a reliever such as Rick White. The offense is improved, the defense is improved and the bullpen is improved. The bench is also improved with Aurilia and Hatteberg at the ready. Of course, this has been obvious around these parts for months, time for Krivsky to kill Jr. softly with his song.

[KronoRed]

You going to bring him up just to sit him on the bench?

Yes.

I'll take a good bench guy, he'll get at bats..he has no growing left to do in AAA.

[BuckU]

Yes.

I'll take a good bench guy, he'll get at bats..he has no growing left to do in AAA.

I disagree. How is 5 at bats a week better than 5 at bats a night in any scenario?

[red-in-la]

No, it's 2009.

I believe the club has to exercise an option to keep him THROUGH 2009. Either way, JR is still owe some serious coin.

In a way, I agree that he is currently pretty tough to move, unless you are paying him to play for somebody else.....besides, there is a clear way to keep the offense intact AND play JR everyday, and that is to move Dunn to 1B where he played abunch of games last year and put JR in LF.

Instead of worrying about health or contracts or trade value, you only have to have a real manager who can go and talk to the players and make them see how that makes a MUCH better team.

The question of the year is......is Narron a real manager?

[KronoRed]

I disagree. How is 5 at bats a week better than 5 at bats a night in any scenario?

Soaking up the MLB experience and all that.

I just think he's going to start to get bored down in AAA, might hurt his game

IMO

[BuckU]

Soaking up the MLB experience and all that.

I just think he's going to start to get bored down in AAA, might hurt his game

IMO

I thought that's what spring training was for, to get the big leauge experience.

Let him tear it up in AAA. It gets people talking about him and raises his potential trade value.

[registerthis]

I believe the club has to exercise an option to keep him THROUGH 2009. Either way, JR is still owe some serious coin.

he's signed through 2008, with a club option for 2009;

Ken Griffey Jr. of
9 years/$116.5M (2000-08), plus $16.5M 2009 club option

00-08:$12.5M/year, 09:$16.5M club option ($4M buyout)
$57.5M in salary deferred at 4% interest, to be paid 2009-2024, reducing contract's present-day value at time of signing to between $9.2M and $9.3M annually, according to Reds management sources
$5.5M of 2000 salary deferred
$6.5M/year of 2001-2008 salaries deferred
agent: Brian Goldberg
ML service: 17.000

[registerthis]

I thought that's what spring training was for, to get the big leauge experience.

Let him tear it up in AAA. It gets people talking about him and raises his potential trade value.

I have to agree with this. Either the guy is going to play regularly, or you try to flip him for someone who will, neither of which will be accomplished by bringing him up to the big league club to pinch hit a few times a week and get the occasional spot start. He may have nothing left to prove in AAA, but he won't prove anything by riding the pine in Cincinnati.

[KronoRed]

he's signed through 2008, with a club option for 2009;

Ken Griffey Jr. of
9 years/$116.5M (2000-08), plus $16.5M 2009 club option

00-08:$12.5M/year, 09:$16.5M club option ($4M buyout)
$57.5M in salary deferred at 4% interest, to be paid 2009-2024, reducing contract's present-day value at time of signing to between $9.2M and $9.3M annually, according to Reds management sources
$5.5M of 2000 salary deferred
$6.5M/year of 2001-2008 salaries deferred
agent: Brian Goldberg
ML service: 17.000

If I'm not mistaken the Reds have been putting the deferred part away since the start of the deal, so in 09 after the buy out JR will be completely paid for.

So..what was the point of the differed cash?

[griffeyfreak4]

See, I disagree with that. Griffey needs to come back and hit a few HRs first, sure, but assuming he can do that much the perfect time to trade him is at the trade deadline, when teams are scrambling for the pieces that will put them over the edge. You don't want to give teams an entire offseason to ponder a Junior acquisition, give them a couple of days. Dangle his offensive production numbers in front of them, entice them with the possibility of mitigating his injury risk by playing him as strictly a DH, and see who bites. GMs make some crazy moves when they're battling for playoff position. That's when the market for Junior's services will be their highest.

I don't understand this. If Griffey comes back, and he produces like Griffey can, then why would we trade him? When Griffey is producing, it will allow other guys to have opportunities to produce, and this team will be much better.

With a Griffey that's producing, and a Griffey-Dunn 1, 2 punch, then it will allow both stars to produce super-star stats, and help this team tremendously, so why trade him?

[KronoRed]

/\
Because he can't stay healthy and we have guys (Deno, Freel) who could slide in and do an adequate job.

If that money can be off the payroll then it should be done, the Reds don't have the market to pay that much for a PT player.

[redsmetz]

I don't understand this. If Griffey comes back, and he produces like Griffey can, then why would we trade him? When Griffey is producing, it will allow other guys to have opportunities to produce, and this team will be much better.

With a Griffey that's producing, and a Griffey-Dunn 1, 2 punch, then it will allow both stars to produce super-star stats, and help this team tremendously, so why trade him?

This is something I wonder. Does Griffey give Dunn excellent cover, forcing teams to pitch to Dunn? I think that might be a possibility, but perhaps there are some statistics that show otherwise. As for the outfield, I will concede that Griffey doesn't cover what he used to cover, but I think what we lose, we gain from his bat, whether through his own production or better production from Dunn - IMO.