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Ken Griffey Jr. is in his final weeks as a professional baseball player. This would seem incontrovertible, considering that the future Hall-of-Famer has been relegated to part-time DH, and after last night's 0-4 performance, is slugging less than .400.
A major league team can't employ a .399-slugging platoon DH, no matter how good a tickler he is.
As dedicated Griffey fans who still cheer wildly whenever he comes to bat, we're starting to act on the likelihood that this is Griffey's last year--figuring out which of our rabid M's fan friends we want to attend his last game with, for example. Soon the Mariners organization will have to deal with this reality as well. If Griffey isn't coming back, will we have a "Griffey Day" to celebrate his career? A final goodbye for all the fans who grew up with The Kid?
To hear Griffey tell it, probably not. In a wide-ranging interview with C. Trent Rosecrans of CNATI.com (which includes an entertaining discourse about jheri curls), Griffey suggests that he wants the decision made on his return after the games are done. "We'll see how it is at the end of the year and we'll go from there. I'm having the time of my life."
So Griffey's end may come in the form of a statement from team management, not an ovation from his fans. Fair enough, that would be Griffey's choice. Still, if the team's already concluded not to resign him (and how could they conclude anything else?), maybe they'll give Junior the option of choosing a farewell day--one that would hopefully be much less awkward than Barry Bonds' in San Francisco last year.
When Edgar Martinez retired at the end of the 2004 season, the M's strung the farewell into two very-well-attended dates: 45,817 showed up for Edgar Martinez Day on Saturday, and 45,658 attended Edgar's actual last game on Sunday. The fans would appreciate it, and it would certainly go a long way toward helping Griffey meet those attendance-based incentives in his contract.
Whatever choice Griffey makes, we'll respect it. His career--including this sub-par season--has been pure joy, and we've all been lucky to be along for the ride.
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Also, Griffey is a damn comedy genuis:
"Griffey says he's arranging to have the Nutcracker Suite played as Adrian Beltre's theme music when he returns to the lineup."