The Wheel of Cheese

Griffey, who has been a poster-child for ages in Seattle, rejoined his old club before the start of the 2009 season and today's events indicate he will be playing at least one more season with the Mariners. Coming into last year, Griffey had World Series aspirations for his team, and although I give him credit for setting the bar high, he had a very sub par year, batting .214 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs and the Mariners finished 85-77, 3rd in the AL West.

Well, flash forward to 2010, because once again, Griffey, at age 39 is back for another season and he apparantly has the feeling he can bring the Mariners to the fall classic. Hate to crush your dreams Mr.Griffey, but your playing for the Seattle Mariners, a team who has failed to make the playoffs since 2001. Even in the late 90's when the Mariners were a mildly descent ball club, the team choked in the postseason (see 2001 when the Mariners went 116-46 in the regular season and went 4-6 in the postseason) and never made that final step to the World Series.

What hurts even more is that Seattle front office is getting reshuffled (yeah, they finally hired a new GM), and unless the Mariners reach into their pockets and sign some free agents who won't be busts (ala Richie Sexson), Ken Griffey Jr. will be watching the playoffs from the comfort of his home, rather than celebrating a championship of sorts on the field as the current roster for the Mariners would get crushed by the Yankees, Red Sox or Angels.

In closing, I will tip my hat to Griffey for coming back to the majors for another season. He is one of the few players who I have respect for having natural talent and accomplishing so much without the help of a steroid needle or illegal substance. He may get a bad rap here and there for being a brat towards the media, but in all due respect, almost every professional athlete is that way to a degree.