I may read too much into things like this, but that's what my real job entails:
"If Griff didn't think we had an opportunity to win this year, he wouldn't have come back," Wakamatsu said before the Mariners' 4-2 loss to Detroit. "So it's a matter of how his knee feels. We had a little bit in spring training where it flared up, but we feel like we have a handle on that."
This strikes me as laying down the foundation for Chuck Armstrong to negotiate a trip to the 60-day DL to make sure we get that knee right. Then a September return so that the civic leaders of Anahiem and Oakland and Arlington can give him some lovely parting gifts, but he's not taking anyone's roster spot.
Miraculously enough, the knee will "not be right" at almost the exact time that Michael Saunders is looking comfortable with his stroke in Tacoma. Or Carp.
That's what I think anyway.
I think they're leaving some room for the club to DL Griffey whenever they feel it will help...either after they trade for a masher or when Bradley starts hurting too much to play the outfield (already getting warning signs of that with his tight calf thing costing him a game yesterday), or when a prospect is hot and ready to get tested in the show. Whichever comes first.
It is difficult to watch him struggle, whether it is his age or his "knee", but he is a remaining black hole in the middle of the lineup. Your 60 day solution could be a good one. We have generally Petagined Sweeney, benching him for the most part after his hot spring. He's now cooled to the point where we now should be investing playing time in the kids, and MB needs more time at DH also.
Carp is not knocking the door down for PT at DH...the real pressure is Saunders/Carrera/Langerhans/etc pushing for LF time while Bradley needs to DH more to save his legs and stay in the line-up on a more regular basis. We really can't afford to have Bradley get hurt just to keep Griffey happy with his PT while he hits the mendoza line.
In glancing at the Tacoma stats -- Josh Wilson continues to take the sum total of all SABR knowledge ... and shovel it. He's hitting .350/.341/.525/ (.866) -- with zero walks and 7 Ks. I gave up on the other Wilson twin because NOBODY can get by with 1:5 BB/K ratios -- it's an automatic death sentence - right?!?
Carp's not on fire - but is still second on the team in Total Bases (19), behind Wilson.
Halman is keeping the great northwest nice and cool to the tune of 17 Ks in 45 PAs.
Want a "tell" that the club is planning a LF shift? Zeke, Halman and Saunders are playing musical OF. Now, why would you want EVERY guy in AAA bouncing between all three OF slots on a daily basis? I'm thinking - it's because you're planning for the day when one of them takes over as the #4 OF in the majors -- capable (and familiar) with handling the defensive aspect of all three slots.
I had to fight to keep myself from using more suggestive language that Doc would have scolded me for. LOL Z *loves* multi-position utility. He's taught it to everyone he can get away with teaching it to. Tui, Figgins, Lopez, Hannahan, Jo. Wilson, Garko (before he got DFA'ed), etc etc. He wants a roster that can change at a moment's notice based on the needs of the situation (if you suddenly can acquire a left fielder in trade without blowing up the farm...you want to be able to move the other pieces around to make that work...if someone gets injured or is severely ineffective...you want a wider list of possible candidates to replace him from your farm teams or your bench).
We don't know that Z necessarily plans on changing LF or not...we do know he plans on being ready if he's forced to change LF/DH.