(Full disclosure: Seattle Mariner fan from Seattle)

The Mariners have no need for an aging slugger in their present state — they’re half a dozen moves from being competitive. Griffey has relegated himself to pure sideshow status on a completely irrelevant team thousands of miles from home — absolutely stupid!

I find it hard to see why a team that won 72 games is calling a team that won 61 games Irrelevant. Both teams finished in fourth place in their division and both teams were hopelessly out of the playoffs. So why, other than the distance to family, is this move considered a sideshow and him signing for the Braves “A good move”?
I know it’s cheesy and all, but you really have to be here to understand it. Seattle LOVES this guy. Listening to Sports Radio tonight after the deal they had people calling in overjoyed, almost crying. It brought back memories of, really, the first good year in sports this city had seen since The Sonics (A Team no longer existing) won the title in ‘79. While this move may not mean wins, it will sure as hell mean a sell out for at least the first month. We probably would have only sold out opening night without him.
According to recent preseason predictions The Mariners aren’t going to do much, but The Braves won’t either. In essence neither team is going to do much this year, by expectations, calling one move a sideshow and another not, is wrong to me.

Isn’t really the question because the NL East is a much, much tougher division. The Mariners are likely going to be around as competitive with the AL West as we will be with the East. However, the big difference in value is that Griffey won’t field, which devastates his value, and will probably just DH against Righties, his specialty. Combine that with Safeco’s lefty friendly design and he fits well there at the price. For us he would have been fielding which is a bad, bad, bad idea. Besides which, the farewell tour in Seattle will be worth 10 times as many ticket sales as it would here, which is valuable for the Mariners.

I have to admit that I was in favor of getting Griffey over a guy like Swisher because both of them are average players at best and Griffey would give us more long-term flexibility. Not getting Griffey doesn’t change much, either. Let’s face it, Griffey was not the answer the team really needs for a power hitting outfielder, but was probably the best option at this point. Minimal upgrade also equates to minimal loss. Who knows what may still pop up, but from a baseball perspective, I don’t see this as a make or break issue for the team.