I really want a porcupine slingshot.

This is how I see it though. It’s obvious GMZ knows what he’s doing. If he brings in Griffey, he’s going to play in a capacity that wouldn’t ruin the team. Griffey would be better than Sexson or Vidro, he just wouldn’t be as valuable as some other options out there. The projections have him offensively as essentially in between Lopez and Beltre. More succinctly, I don’t want us to sign Griffey but he’s much better than other options we could have out there.

But so far, I’m pleased with everything. Whether we get Griffey or not, it will be the right move. I hope that my confidence in Z is not misplaced, but it’s gotten to the point that that’s how I feel….

Also I loved the analogy you used.

because that would smart.

this is exactly the right way to think about the potential Griffey signing.

I blame a lot of this on a lingering fear that the FO would turn into the old FO. Where we would see Griffey made an everyday starter. Even if he sucked or was injured would be re-upped for 2010, to do it all over again.

There aren’t too many signings right now that would make a huge impact on the team. Too bad we could not have just traded for Swisher. A trade like that would have stopped all this talk.

Geez, Spring Training, WCB or something has to start soon. I think it is driving some people mad waiting for baseball to return.

And in this case, I don’t think Griffey should be that bad. He won’t be a Swisher or Abreu, but what we do know is that he is a guarantee, since Armstrong and co. will make salary room for Griffey without second thought, while they won’t do the same for Swisher or Abreu.

Also, I just really want to see Griffey play for the M’s. I already got tickets to the Mariners this season.

I don’t really want to sign him, but I would enjoy each of the small amount of home runs he hit for us immensely, because hey, he’s Griffey. I think it’s clear that Junior is the backup plan for us behind Abreu. I can’t see us taking Anderson over Junior, and Dunn doesn’t seem like a remote possibility, so if it’s Abreu, awesome, and if it’s Griffey, not as awesome, but I’ll still enjoy seeing him play in Mariner blue one last time.

with bringing Griffey in has to do with the nostalgic baggage he brings in. I’ll be pretty please if Wakamatsu can put out the most optimum team on the field each day without worrying about making sure Griffey plays as many games as possible to please the fans.

leading me to the ’97 team. Holy fuck how the hell did they not do better than they did. Pretty much an entire lineup that was average or better for their position and three solid starters. Woody Woodward could not find pitching to save his life.

As someone who, despite major mocking from friends, remains steadfastly excited in hopes of Griffey’s swan song return to the M’s (and reasonably optimistic with what numbers he’d put up if managed properly, and if reasonably healthy), I see one major potential risk that allows me to accept that signing him could very well do more harm than good.

He’d almost be too much the center of attention for everyone (coaches included). The younger players wouldn’t get a chance to shine as easily since they’d have a majorly uphill battle trying to take spotlight away from Griffey. In some ways, though, I’ve thought that that might actually help the young guys by taking some of the pressure OFF of them. But, really, part of growing into a major-league player is taking on the cloak of pressure and learning to excel in spite of it.

As has been mentioned several times, too, Griffey’s a link to the past and looking backwards is not what this team needs. They need to look forward and move towards the future and change. Let some different guys grab the spotlight.

Again, though, it could just as easily take some negative pressure off some of these younger players and allow them to just play to their abilities and get more comfortable in the league.

And, yeah, count me in as someone who believes it would help a lot of people pay more attention to the Mariners this year, at the minimum, and potentially could fill even a few series’ worth of games. That helps everyone, really. MLB baseball, fundamentally, is a game and a source of mere entertainment. Even the more casual fans that I’ve talked about Griffey with realize that he’s definitely not the player he was in the early 90s. I get the sense that even THEY don’t expect him to come in and play gold-glove defense and hit 40-50 bombs. Not everyone, of course, but certainly the majority of non-blog-educated fans that I’ve talked with recognize that he’s old and slow and not even close to the player he was with us the first go-around.

There’s certainly serious risk involved, but you can’t say there’s no upside either.