Three things:
1. They gave him incentive money. We did not.
2. One some level, he probably felt like he could spend less time on the DL this year by DHing his way to August.
3. They offered him the opportunity to coach after his playing career. That probably wasn’t even FW’s radar.

Terence Moore didn’t report the story. O’Brien’s name was on the article, so I’m pretty sure it was Hudson vs. O’Brien.

He came on a few minutes ago and said it was about Griffey and 40 man speculation, but mostly about Griffey. Earlier in the afternoon, before it got deleted by the glitch, he asked his audience not to ask anymore about 40 man speculation, because he heard about it from Tim Hudson. Bowman did the same speculation, but he must have gotten away with it.

I agree though, if this kind of thing drove Griffey away, we don’t need him. Most don’t want him anyway.

Dude is probably unemployed today.

But unlike anyone here, D-Fab has access and can talk to insider info, which no one else can do. Blog or not, a professional sports writer’s blog is taken as copy. Don’t forget that he breaks news on there, tests out stories on there, gives out more than his opinion.

At least from my perspective.

+1

I do.

i just watched that youtube video the other day… wher Timmy scares the living piss out of Eddie Perez

DOB posted in the comment section of his blog that Huddy was upset over both, whom DOB speculated would be cut from the 40 man roster and the Griffey details. Huddy, in my opinion, was just standing up for his team/teammates by taking DOB to task. If that’s the case I could see Huddy’s point of view over DOB’s unwillingness to admit he was wrong.

You make good points and I personally am trying to be reasonable by seeing both sides of the argument. Having said that though I think there is some credibility to the AJC article having some affect on his decision. My take is this, Griffey is still very much a hero in Seattle. He is old in baseball terms, but yet still very young with regards to life. He does have a family to feed and he knows he can still make a lot of money after baseball given his status in Seattle. The theory that he was worried about his image and relationship with Seattle and their fans being tarnished due to the fact “they” heard he was going to the Braves from the media instead of hearing it from him is somewhat believable to me. I’ll be the first one to admit this COULDN’T possibly be the ONLY reason he went to Seattle, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it had something to do with it.

You know… I’ll be honest… When I first saw this site I was a bit skeptical that there was any real stuff here. But after reading the comments by writer of the article and the ensuing comments, I’m impressed. You guys really tell it like it is. I’m now a member.

Gee, and I did this with very little investigation on my part. Think the article by Dave O’Brien could have had at least some influence on Griffey’s decision making? Maybe. Heck, I’ve been ticked off by a lot less and I’ve made life altering decisions based on it. You know, when you are 50:50 on something, sometimes it doesn’t take much to tip the balance.

I’m shocked at how many coolaid guys there are on O’Brien’s blog. It’s really pathetic defending a guy like Dave O’Brien who can’t own up to his mistakes and he has done the same mistake over and over—at least 4 times, by my last count: Peavy, Furcal, Smoltz, and Griffey. Saying each one of these guys WILL be a Brave is irresponsible. That is just the height of arrogance! And boy, that’s one thing that annoys me to no end. Hey, I admit I’m fairly arrogant myself but this isn’t about me ;-)

I agree with everyone else on this site who has said that O’Brien owes the fans more than just being a fan on a blog. He is a professional! I personally am a doctor and if I started shooting from the hip making diagnoses over the phone and writing Rx’s without any true investigation, I would find myself in trouble. It would be completely irresponsible would it not? My JOB is to help people with their eye problems and to do it right.

What is DOB’s job? Clearly, it is to distribute information to the fans in a thorough, accurate manner. You are a professional Dave who has more information about the Braves than the average Joe, and we all assume that what you say is true. When you give your opinion we have to believe it. Of course Dave’s job isn’t like mine since people aren’t going to get physically hurt from his mistakes but a professional is still a professional and he should act like it.

Sure, tabloid information is valid in this case since it appears to be part of his job. That’s what his blog mostly is about and it appears that’s what most fans seem to want, like Chipper’s smile after a comment somehow means something. But to try to predict the future by saying “Griffey will be a Brave” is wrong. Let us make our own conclusions based on your reporting DOB. Sure, go ahead and be a fan just like us and say, “Could, would, maybe…” But saying “maybe” is a huge departure from WILL BE.

For those of you who say that the blog is buried and isn’t a major player at AJC, you are 100% wrong. Dave O’Brien is paraded around on AJC’s internet sports page like he IS the authority. After every transaction, after every major development, there is a link to O’Brien’s blog, as if what HE SAYS is what the AJC says.

Frankly, I think the guy should be fired. What good is he? Anyone can be replaced you know. As some of you have said, it’s not hard to get the inside scoop on things when you parade around the clubhouse 24/7. But maybe the Atlanta Journal-Constitution likes controversy and they like to be embarrassed. Hey, negative stuff generates website hits right? I’m willing to go out on a limb to say that O’Brien’s latest goof about Griffey has generated more blog comments than all of the sports blogs combined for the last 6 months given that the website apparently went down several times from all the traffic (apparently it was also causing OTHER blogs to be affected as well!)

As for so many of you who have said he is nice, he is not nice. He routinely castigates and makes fun of his readers. I realize that it seems to be the wave of the future in the media, i.e. American Idol, but it doesn’t make it right nor does it make O’Brien a nice guy. Far from it.

Great that so many fans have come out to rip O’Brien because he deserves it. But there are so many who defend him and it’s interesting that it seems that most of them are the fans who have been on his blog the longest. Apparently their lives revolve around DOB so much they can’t stand the thought of their link to the world getting broken. In other words, I say, “Get a life.”

Sorry for the length of the post but I had a lot to say and no one was listening on DOB’s blog. Hey, my frustrations really added up! Hopefully I will have better luck here! ;-)

I believe Frenchy and Chipper’s wives (and his four boys) have. Any of the others, I’m not sure about. I would say most that work probably don’t, at least not the length of spring training, but who knows?

Good post…

It is really hard to say what things led to Griffey leaving but I have some thoughts if anyone cares to read…

• Who did what here? I mean, Griffey contacted the Braves. Was that because he was truly interested in joining the Braves or was he using the Braves as a tool to get his true destination Seattle to anti up? Really odd that the Braves got used a second time after Furcal. Sure, both guys may have truly wanted to join the team, but it is peculiar and I wouldn’t put it past baseball players who have a lot on the line money-wise and career-wise. This off season has been very slow and the economy has really killed player’s salaries (minus the Yanks) so what is to stop a player from doing what he feels is necessary? Gotta drum up interest somehow after being on the list for months and spring training is upon us.

• Did Braves management really want to improve left field with Griffey or were they really just wanting extra gate receipts? Anyone think it is odd that management has apparently abandoned any effort to go for any more free agents at this time despite the fact that Jim Edmonds is available? The two guys are nearly identical in age, stats, power, average, and even how they bat. Sure Griffey has the name so was that the real reason they inquired about the guy? Jim Edmonds is not going to bring in any more people to the park just because he’s Jim Edmonds—except for maybe his mother. ;-) Is it possible that they could get the same production from their in-house guys? Maybe, and that’s apparently what they are going to do in spring training—assess where they are at. I’m assuming that if they can’t identify a guy before the start of the season, they will consider a trade. My prediction: They won’t find one.

• Okay, it is possible Braves management is a bit gun shy right now? How many times has Wren gotten blizted here? I mean talk about sacking the quarterback 30 yards behind the line more than once in the same game! Geez, at least we made up for it with a few touchdowns with Lowe, et. al. The Braves have traditionally acquired their talent through trades so their strategy this off season was a bit unusual. Frankly, it is very difficult to get decent returns from FA’s anyway given that 1-they are old (typically over 30), 2-they are costly (because of years of service which doesn’t mean squat but this is baseball and that’s how it works). Technically speaking, the Braves only made one big FA acquisition this year (Lowe) and it is unusual for a team to acquire more than one in the same off season (Yanks). David Ross was not a big acquisition. Please. He is decent but he is not going to have a big impact like Lowe. Kawakami came from Japan so I’m not sure how to classify his acquisition.