Baseballhead:
BS or Not?

Michael Cox

G'evening, and welcome to yet another episode of the longest-running show on Broadway, Baseballhead, where we know Gorgo attacked England, not Japan, no matter what the Kia people tell us.

I vaguely remember writing something last week about the imminent departure of Ken Griffey Jr. from Seattle, but my memory is hazy because I was working on the Guinness record for the tiredest person in history. Someday I hope to couple that with the Guinness record for getting the most free rounds of Guinness, but that's a whole 'nother story entirely.

But today, with a full week to sort out the whole mess, I think I've been able to form an even-handed perspective on the whole situation. After spending a week reading Usenet posts and other columnists doting on Junior for this selfless move for the love of his family, I've gotta shake my head.

I want to believe that Griffey is asking for a trade for all the "right" reasons. I want to think that time with his son is the most important thing in his life right now. The thing is, I'd have a much easier time believing it if only he at least lived in a city with a baseball team.

The moment I realized there was a bit of legerdemain going on was when I read the statement, "it's too rainy in Seattle to do anything with Trey." There are millions of people who do not feel that the Pacific Northwest is "too rainy" to devote quality time with their families. Most of those people even live here. However, many might agree that it can be too moist for golf.

Then, there was the heart-tugging finale, when Griffey invoked the late Payne Stewart as the reason he needs to be closer to home. The problem is that in the next breath, Junior says he wants to be able to fly home and back more than he does now. When his plane veered off course, Stewart was making just about the same kind of trip Griffey will be making make on a regular basis if he plays anywhere but Tampa, Miami or Atlanta.

I don't want to belabor this train of thought, both because Griffey honestly may feel that he's doing right by his family, and because Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon does such an excellent job on this same topic.

Just give me a second to explore the darkest element of all this -- I wouldn't be surprised if the Mariners' front office egged Junior on into playing up the family angle, thinking it would absolve the team of any blame.

Item: With not much happening immediately after the World Series, America's finest columnists spent their time either synopsizing Jim Gray yet again or anticipating Griffey's move, while exactly five sentences were written on the wire about the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks' upset win over the Chunichi Dragons in the Japan Series. (Of course, we provided probably the greatest amount of coverage anywhere in the States, yet I'm still disappointed that we couldn't have done more.)

I'm not sure why the second-most-important baseball championship in the world rates fewer sentences than Australia's winning an "Intercontinental Cup" game. I don't know about you, but even on a late-night time-delayed basis I would have loved to watch the Japan Series. If ESPN2 can cover the AAA World Series (and all 200 or so fans in attendance at its neutral-site home) in prime time, you would think they could displace "Cross-Country Inline Skating Digest" just once for a condensed version of the final game. I'm not asking to pre-empt the "X-Games Greatest Stunt Vert Wipeouts" or anything here...

Item: The general managers of MLB (and apparently their 20-man entourages as well) have begun meeting in sunny Laguna Beach, where apparently some are much, much more eager to do deals than others. The Dodgers, that is, who not only prized Shawn Green from the Blue Jays, but made him the second-richest man in baseball.

This deal has two separate components: First, the Dodgers are morons, and second, the Jays are too.

Of course, we suspected the first part this past season, so it's not necessarily surprising that they'd basically shove an immense contract at the first relatively young, relatively talented guy who is willing to sign. The thing is, without that $14M-per-year addition, it wasn't a bad deal for the Dodgers, who get Green for the currently-overpaid Raul Mondesi. I'd be willing to believe that Fox just wants to raise the salary bar so high that the Braves and Yanks might have to break up, but I don't think they're that smart. Green is good, but nowhere near that good.

Now, the Blue Jays' part of the deal is a whole other animal. I can accept that they wanted to get some sort of value for Green. However, Mondesi isn't exactly a bargain himself, and the Jays even exercised both his option years as a part of the deal, making him an $11M man for the next four seasons. Geez, for a bit more they could have kept Green, for crying out loud.

I thought I had inadvertently gotten the same page twice when I looked at Green's and Mondesi's stats, with the advantage to the slightly younger (27 tomorrow) and not currently declining Green. I can't speak to the minor leaguer going to L.A., but Pedro Borbon has been actually a relatively decent middle reliever, although he'll be 32 next week, so I'll say the Jays are the less insane party in this deal, but only slightly.

If you see a Mike Maddux-for-Paul Spoljaric trade, run. Run for your lives.

about the author

Michael Cox was going to make that Maddux-for-Spoljaric trade in his fantasy league, but then he remembered that he doesn't play fantasy baseball, only gives advice on it to others. Should you put Ozzie Guillen on waviers? Ask mc@strikethree.com.