He can't do this anymore

Hey- did you hear Ken Griffey, Jr. is back with the Seattle Mariners?  I bet he’ll make a great coach!  Wait, what’s that?  They brought him back to play?  Ok- now that’s depressing.

No offense to The Kid, who was one of my childhood heroes (so I can just imagine what he means to people my age who grew up Mariners fans), but it’s pretty cruel that this is where the Mariners have decided to put their efforts this off-season.  A year ago, Seattle was a darkhorse potential playoff team.  A year later, they’ve crumbled like Erik Bedard’s labrum.  Now they are an easy pick to finish in last place in one of baseball’s worst divisions.

After unfairly losing their basketball team (which now has one of the best young cores in the NBA), and suffering through an awful football season, the loyal fans of Seattle deserved better.  They traded JJ Putz, one of their few All-Star caliber players for an Aaron Heilman pu-pu platter of “prospects”.  Then, instead of going after some of the legitimate players on the market, they went after Griffey.  Orlando Hudson, a pretty good second baseman was just signed yesterday for cheap.  Manny Ramirez is STILL out there.  But the Mariners go out and get a publicity stunt instead of building a baseball team.  In doing so, the Mariners became the guy who still hangs around in the town he went to high school…depressing.

There are now three teams in baseball not worth watching this year: The Nationals, The Pirates, and The Mariners.  At least the first two cities don’t rely on their baseball team to be the main sports attraction in town.  Redskins and Steelers fans are more interested in the 5th round pick of the NFL Draft that who the opening day starting pitchers for the Nats or Pirates are going to be.  All Seattle really has right now is the Mariners, and the Mariners front office let down their fans by looking towards the past instead of looking to the future.

I wonder what Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez are doing these days…