A lot of people are looking for reasons to get pissed off at Junior right now. I get it. But if that's the angle you're going to take, you should probably try to limit it to performance-based reasons, because, for one thing, it's not like there isn't enough there, and for another, we don't really know much about anything else. Drayer chimes in with a new take on the most famous nap in Seattle history:
Don Wakamatsu has joked about Junior sleeping in the clubhouse in the past. He has also then turned serious and said that he has a sleep issue. This is nothing new. I have asked Junior about this and he said that yes, this is true. It has been a problem for years. As a result, he naps. It is not uncommon to see him asleep on a training table before a game. Ichiro even commented on this in my interview with him this winter.
You should read the whole thing, and you should pay particular attention to the end. Falling asleep in the clubhouse looks bad. It looks really bad, and this is a lousy time for Junior to be getting negative attention. But it's something he's always done, and it's never been much of an issue. Nor should it have been. The truth of the matter is that Major League baseball players don't spend all of their time on the top step cheering for their teammates. They do their own things, and it isn't fair for any of us on the outside to question their commitment, because we don't know. We don't know if a guy in the clubhouse is avoiding the game or getting himself prepared, just like we don't know if a guy in the dugout is paying close attention or looking at chicks.
In his career as a pinch-hitter, Griffey has posted an .882 OPS.