Ajzed maintains, reasonably,
One of the interesting parts of this story to me that no one seems to want to talk about is why it was that it was young players who broke the story. It seems very possible to me that they weren't telling a humerous anecdote; they were ratting him out. For younger players, he's a millionare holding up service time and MLB paychecks for the wives and children of their frinds in AAA. There is a lot of compitition on a baseball team that doesn't have to do with wins and losses. If a guy I worked with was loafing around and living off past success that I was not a part of, I'd be pretty eager to oust him as well.
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If that's who broke the story, that's a good catch Ajzed. :golfclap: If that characterization is at all accurate, then you do have an important clubhouse factor showing itself here.
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Junior is with the M's because they projected him to hit RHP's for a fair amount of power, and because he has an obvious value in getting teammates' heads in the right places. Notably Bradley's.
In fact on the Safeco monitor Bradley gives his favorite-ever player as Griffey :- ) and Bradley is, right now, in the novel position of apologizing and attending psychological treatment so that he can become a functioning part of a real team. The Mariners' relationship with Bradley is, in fact, unprecedentedly positive.
We net rats, gazing at our monitors from behind horn-rimmed glasses ;- ) tend to pooh-pooh this leadership factor. The men doing battle, the men in uniform, do not.
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=== Jose Can You See? Nope ===
Jose Canseco was a good example of the fact that a team's best player cannot be a "loser." In 1988, Canseco was perhaps the game's very best player, winning the MVP with a 170 OPS+. By 1990-92 he was still a tremendous player, but his arrogance, laziness, and entitlement -- "it's about the show, not about the wins" -- were pervading the A's clubhouse.
The A's took their cues from Canseco, and a 100-win team finished only 84-78 by 1991. Tony Larussa powerflushed Canseco to Texas at the All-Star break. The A's immediately won 13-of-15; they finished with 96 wins, +7 over Pythag, and returned to the ALCS.
Canseco later complained, bitterly, "All they care about in Oakland is winning."
A championship team, with rare exceptions, will feature great players who are winners, not losers. This is part of Zduriencik's chemistry equation.
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=== Day Late and a Dollar Short? ===
It might turn out that age 40 was the year that Griffey needed to retire. Should the Mariners have anticipated this? No, not really.
As with all HOF'ers, Griffey was going to get to show on the field that he couldn't play any more. The HOF'er has never lived* who was forced into retirement while he was still good!
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If Junior were 'ratted out' by younger players, that wouldn't be the first time that have-nots resented the special rules enjoyed by the haves in the clubhouse. HOF'ers don't play by the same rules that everybody else has to, and of course most players are, at one time or another, annoyed by that.
So, I agree with you -- as an aging HOF'ers on-field travails become more gruesome, the scrubeenies tend to feel more emboldened to gripe about his silver-spoon life. A 12-19 record would further empowers the gripers, of course.
Possibly this syndrome has become the case even in Seattle, which has become a model clubhouse and front office.
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People get annoyed that Junior doesn't "know when it's time to leave." Warriors never know when it's time to retreat. Their wiring is to go attack the challenge, to refuse to lose, to face underdog scenarios and prevail. It's not Junior's job to tell himself when he's done; it's the GM's job to tell him when.
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You had one ugly season from Edgar; you'll have one with Ichiro; you'll have one with Ackley after his eighteen years of .405 averages. It's just the nature of the beast.
HOF'ers don't leave the game one year early, here or anywhere. They leave the game one year late.
In Seattle, though, he might leave the game only two months late :- )
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