Jack Of All Trades: Fred McGriff

[savafan]

I thought this was a pretty good article and wanted to share.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/0...d-mcgriff.html

What do you think of when you hear Fred McGriff's name? For me, the answer is Terry McGriff, whose baseball card I often pulled from a pack of Topps, Donruss or when desperate for my baseball card fix, Score. The excitement over getting the Crime Dog quickly gave way, as I wondered who, exactly, Terry McGriff was.

For others, McGriff's name brings to mind the blissfully consistent first baseman who hit 30 home runs ten times (and hit 28, 27 and 27 in three others).

But for a surprising number of teams, McGriff conjured up the phrase: trade him.

[OesterPoster]

Saw that earlier today, and I couldn't believe how many people commented before mentioning Tom Emanski.

[macro]

What do I think of when I hear Fred McGriff's name? Oddly, it's this:



No, I'm not kidding.

[hebroncougar]

Crime dog was one of my favorite players back in the day.

[dman]

Fred McGriff sure was a difference maker when Atlanta picked him up.

[redsmetz]

Funny thing, every trade McGriff was involved in had him either traded for or with players who at some point played for the Reds (other players were involved who were not Reds, so they're not named).

Traded to Blue Jays, with Dave Collins & Mike Morgan, for Dale Murray
Traded to Padres with Tony Fernandez
Traded to Braves for Melvin Nieves
Traded to Cubs for Manny Aybar

Curious, no?

[Jpup]

Fred McGriff should be in the Hall of Fame. He was a great player.

[15fan]

McGriff was a very good player.

But he's not a HoFer.

[Hoosier Red]

Funny thing, every trade McGriff was involved in had him either traded for or with players who at some point played for the Reds (other players were involved who were not Reds, so they're not named).

Traded to Blue Jays, with Dave Collins & Mike Morgan, for Dale Murray
Traded to Padres with Tony Fernandez
Traded to Braves for Melvin Nieves
Traded to Cubs for Manny Aybar

Curious, no?

That's really interesting Metz. Also aside from his trade to the Cubs, it always appears to have been a good trade for the acquiring team. The Blue Jays also got some talent back, (Alomar in particular) but pretty much every team that traded for him got exactly what they were looking for.

[RedsBaron]

Fred McGriff should be in the Hall of Fame. He was a great player.

Fred McGriff is the very definition of a borderline Hall of Fame candidate. His Hall of Fame Monitor score is 100; the average HOF Monitor score of a member of the Hall of Fame is exactly 100.
Arguments for the induction of McGriff include that he is a two time HR champion with a career line of .284 BA, .377 OBP and .509 SPCT, along with 493 HRs and 1550 RBI. He was a five time all star. Arguments against include that he was just "very good" and not a "no-doubter" for the HOF.
McGriff's HOF candidacy was severely harmed by the 1994 lock out/strike which wiped out the last third of the season. He already had 34 HRs and 94 RBI to go with a .318 BA, and appeared on his way to his very best season. Since he only fell 7 HRs short of 500 for his career, it is fair to assume that but for the lock out/strike he would have finished with more than 500 career HRs had the 1994 season been completed.
There is also the PEDs issue. While we probably will never know for sure about any player, I have never heard any rumors that McGriff used PEDs. His career numbers would be much more impressive if they were not compared with guys who clearly did juice.

[15fan]

McGriff certainly didn't bulk up like a lot of guys during the era. I'd be shocked if he was a PED guy.

And I really liked the follow-through on his swing. The curly Q finish with his bat made his swing one of the easier to identify swings in all of baseball.

Down the road, I could see him being a guy voted in by the Veteran's Committee.