Junior and the Duke

Jason Michael Barker

Thanks to that four-lettered sports network over yonder, this "Ken Griffey Jr. is not a leader" thing just... won't... die. But hey, can you blame them? It's early in spring training and so far the top stories are things like Jeff Kent's car washing mishap, Mark McLemore being unable to buy that cool new flat screen television he really wanted, and the Yankees apparently thinking that Andy Pettitte's son is the devil incarnate.

Before moving on to more interesting news, a few words about Griffey from someone who followed the Mariners very closely while #24 patrolled centerfield in the Kingdome. Simply put, for all the wonderful things he's capable of on the field, Ken Griffey Jr. has never been a rah-rah sort of leader in the clubhouse.

That's not a knock on Griffey -- it's just who he is. If the Reds thought they were getting that sort of leader to replace Greg Vaughn when they acquired Griffey before the 2000 season, they were kidding themselves. He wasn't a leader in Seattle, and he wasn't going to magically become one in Cincinnati.

As for the comments made by Pokey Reese and Dmitri Young -- if those two were so concerned about players showing up late for practice, skipping stretching or not "knowing how things were done," perhaps they should have said something to the offending parties themselves. Of course, it must have been hard for Reese to command respect while hitting a paltry .224, but I wasn't in the clubhouse.

Then there's former Cincy coach Ron Oester, who apparently thinks Griffey should have been shagging more flies in the outfield while trying to rehab an injured hamstring. Either that or Oester is still bitter than he didn't get the Reds' managerial job a few years back, but I'm not one to judge.

I'm not one who will sit here and defend Griffey forever, because he isn't perfect and has certainly done some silly things in his career. But just as a player can go from overrated to underrated in a short period of time, Griffey has gone from being baseball's most beloved player a few years ago to suddenly being one of its biggest villains. As with all things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I have no ill will towards Ken Griffey Jr. Nothing would make me happier -- well, other than my Mariners winning the World Series -- than to see him bounce back from two "off" years and pick right up where he left off in his Hall of Fame career, because when he's healthy there are few players in the game more exciting to watch.

Elsewhere in Florida -- well, Boston, sort of -- the Red Sox finally did the inevitable and fired general manager Dan Duquette. Duquette wasn't a bad GM for the most part, it was just that nobody seemed to like him, from the fans to the media to former manager Jimy Williams. As he didn't seem to need other people, that seemed to suit Duquette just fine.

If you recall, it was Williams' refusal to use the parts Duquette gave him that ultimately led to Williams' firing last year even as the Red Sox were contending for the American League wild card. Williams has landed on his feet in Houston, while it remains to be seen where and if Duquette will land. I suspect it will be harder for him, given the reputation he has in baseball. It's not as if no teams could use his services, but perhaps he'd be better off in some sort of advisory role that doesn't come with the GM spotlight.

And speaking of advisory roles, these same Red Sox hired former Texas GM Doug Melvin as a "consultant" Monday. Personally, I think interim GM Mike Port should be looking over his shoulder, because isn't the new ownership more likely to pick a relatively big-name successor like Melvin than a no-name like Port?

You'd think the same thing would go for manager Joe Kerrigan, who is probably at his best as a pitching coach. Lurking in the wings is Felipe Alou, who has probably been rumored to be up for Boston's managerial job at least half a dozen times. I'm inclined to believe Kerrigan will be given at least a chance to show he can win with the current group of Red Sox, because firing him during spring training would be pretty odd timing.

All bets are off if (once?) the Sox start the season 5-17, though, so be on the lookout.

Finally, the list of players with different birthdays continues to grow. If you aren't checking out the list over at BaseballAmerica.com on a daily basis, you really should be -- it's something of a baseball soap opera.

For example, the Rangers recently discovered that infield prospect Marcus Agramonte was a full six years older than they thought so rather than lie to the media and say it wasn't a big deal, they simply released him. A similar thing happened a few weeks ago to outfielder Miguel Richardson, who the Mariners released after learning he was 28, not 22. Some of the more notable major leaguers to join the list recently include Esteban Yan (a year younger, it turns out), Jesus Colome, Felix Heredia and Timo Perez, so you know Sammy Sosa and Pedro Martinez are just around the corner.

about the author

Once upon a time, there was Jason Michael Barker. Offer to complete this story at jmb@strikethree.com, but whatever you do, don't include the line "National League MVP Rey Ordonez."

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