Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Still good to have Griffey
Getting Ken Griffey Jr. still makes sense, but having him sure makes people nervous.
The Cincinnati Reds have so much invested in their center fielder — financially and emotionally — that his injuries are inherently catastrophic.
When Junior went down Sunday afternoon, felled by a freak tear of his patella tendon, Joe Nuxhall's tone went from fun to funereal in mid-syllable.
It was as if all the air had abruptly escaped the city's baseball balloon. It was as if a season of limited promise instantly was rendered irrelevant. It was as if Cincinnati's small-market coup — signing baseball's biggest star to a below-market contract — had become its albatross.
Professional baseball's oldest outpost promptly flew into full-blown panic.
Junior can never hit enough home runs to camouflage bad pitching or fulfill all the fantasies spawned by his signing.
He still inspires awe
But on balance, he is still breathtaking. Even now, after a contentious spring and Sunday's agonizing setback, Ken Griffey Jr. is still the one Reds player you'd pay to see play. If his knee heals properly, he may yet justify his $116.5 million contract.
“When there's an injury, it's so huge and magnified, and then all of a sudden the player gets healthy and everything is different,” Reds general manager Jim Bowden said Tuesday. “What we've seen with Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds is that they can play for many years at a (high) level, if they want to.”
Bowden's faith in Griffey's long-term future led him to rewrite the franchise's gameplan in the wake of a startling 96-win season in 1999. With Carl Lindner's blessing/prodding, Bowden committed the Reds to a course that created a dangerously stratified payroll.
With so much invested in Griffey and Barry Larkin, the Reds have been compelled to skimp on starting pitching and depth. When Griffey and Larkin are hurt, the Reds are easily mistaken for a Triple-A team.
When Griffey gets hurt in the sixth game of the season, a certain amount of panic is probably appropriate, particularly after last year's hamstring problems. Yet if his leg ailments do not prove chronic, these short-term blips should not greatly detract from his long-term value.
Griffey's Reds contract runs through 2008 with an option for 2009. While trade rumors persist — Keith Olbermann was fanning the back-to-Seattle flames Tuesday — Junior probably is here for the long haul.
He's still ahead in HR race
If he does not play another game this year, he will still reach his 33rd birthday with more home runs (461) than Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth or Barry Bonds had at the same age. If he can get his legs to cooperate, Junior may yet lay waste to the pillars of power.
“When you're trying to break home run records, games played is real important,” Bowden said. “But he got off to such a successful start that he's still sitting there with the potential of doing those things with these injuries.”
Each time Griffey lands on the disabled list, that potential diminishes. Each time he steps to the plate, though, anticipation grows.
On balance, you still want him.
E-mail tsullivan@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/sullivan.
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SULLIVAN: Still good to have Griffey
