Ken Griffey Jr. is another example of the power of the lefty walk in Safeco Field. Absolutely everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for Junior, including his .225 BABIP. He is hitting in the worst-case scenario -- providing the worst offensive season we could have predicted.

And in that worst-case scenario, he is improving the team, because he is its 3rd-best hitter. That is just how important the walk is, in Safeco Field.

If you are GM'ing in Safeco Field, two things should be important to you, contextually: 1) get strikeout pitchers. 2) get hitters who walk. Preferably lefthanded.

Bill James once said, "for baseball fans not to notice that strikeout pitchers tend to be more effective and healthy, would be like basketball fans not noticing that NBA players tend to be tall." Strikeouts are EVERYTHING in pitcher selection and development -- in terms of one Golden Principle that trumps the others. Brandon Morrow is a guy worth investing time in. Strikeouts are the reason.

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=== SOB, SNIFF Dept. ===

Am sorry to say that the day has arrived. D-O-V has concluded that Junior isn't going to heat up this summer. D-O-V remembers John Olerud's dropoff: the year he lost it, 2003 then 2004, Olerud:

1) Had just as good an eye ratio as ever

2) Made contact just as frequently as ever

3) Started hitting the ball to the warning track approximately every AB

Analyze John Olerud's great 2002 season, vs. the 2003-04 seasons in which he became a liability, and you'll see that everything is in alignment in his stats except one thing: 30 of his doubles and homers were outfield fly balls that were caught. He just got less physically strong.

........................

Junior is doing exactly the same thing.

His eye ratio is terrific. His contact rate is terrific. When he gets chin music, he leans back gracefully and easily, having read the pitch almost before it left the pitcher's hand.

The only problem is that when he hits the ball, there isn't much juice left any more. That's the circle of life, Simba.

Junior's BABIP probably isn't much of an accident. He's covering the pitch and then it is a medium fly-ball out. Junior never did 'roid or work out in Raauuuulllll fashion, and at 39 he looks like most of his power is gone.

The eye confirms what the sabermetrics indicate. Watch Junior and you'll see him work the count aggressively and professionally, get his pitch, cover it, and then .... routine fly ball out or hard two-hopper into the shift.

.........................

Junior can still do a little better. It wouldn't surprise me for him to have a month in which he hits six home runs.

And you'd better believe that he is earning 5 times his paycheck, in terms of what he did for the winning culture that is being installed. I'm not sure why it is so controversial to give Junior credit for this, but he is one huge reason why 24 players are busting their tails, as opposed to threatening "I'm about to throw somebody against a wall here."

Junior is, in fact, teaching this generation of M's to love the game, to play hard, and to play together. His walks and occasional home runs are also helping, a little.

But hopefully he will agree to share some of his AB's, when Clement and Carp are ready to go. His best role, this year AND NEXT, would be as 250-AB lefty off the bench. I'd love to see it.

Love ya man,
Dr D