Dewey Defeats Truman

by
February 19, 2009

Remember those headlines in the AJC the other day talking about how Griffey was coming to Atlanta? Yeah, not so much:

A little more than nine years to the day after he left, Ken Griffey Jr. is back with the Mariners.

The Seattle P-I learned Wednesday afternoon that Griffey, after a brief flirtation with the Atlanta Braves, opted to take the Mariners offer of an incentive-laden one-year contract for 2009. The Mariners announced the move later Wednesday night.

I’m not sure if I should be happy that the Braves didn’t sign an old, immobile and likely to be hurt outfielder or if I should be concerned at how poor Frank Wren has been at closing deals this winter. I mean, sure, let Griffey go, but some day a good deal is going to be on the table Frank, and that’s one you’ll have to get done.


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TLA
15 years ago

My thoughts exactly. 

I would add that, even though it probably doesn’t hurt the Braves, this does not bode well for Wren. 

Although he has done ok on the trade market (Good: Kotchman (Acquiring Teixeira in the first place was a botched trade), Gorkys Hernandez and Jair Jurrjens; Not so good: Kotsay for Joey Devine), he oversaw their worst season since 1990.  Now, maybe he’s not totally responsible for that season, but its not like he came from outside the organization.  Before becoming the GM, he was Assistant GM. 

From a PR perspective, this offseason has been a disaster and it may kill Wren from a goodwill perspective.  The problems that the Braves have though seem to stem from the Teixeira aquisition.  I’m cool if you want to trade Elvis and Salty, but they would have been better off getting young pitching or a legitimate young corner outfield bat.  Not some guy that they had no hope of resigning. 

With that said, I’m of the opinion that the Braves are better off without Burnett, Furcal and Griffey.  All that those guys would have done is create expectations that are not commensurate with their performance and take up space on the DL.

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Aaron Moreno
15 years ago

Agreed, the failed signings are good for the Braves, but bad for Wren.

Way to give up on 2009, Seattle.

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