Kuzul

Is there a Dr. Jack Kevorkian for baseball?

Someone you go to if you want a career euthanized?

I have a candidate for Doctor Death, but bear with me first.

I’m getting flashbacks, and they aren’t good.

I’ve been remembering Willie Mays lately, but not in the way you’d think I would remember him.

The Mays memory that keeps coming to my mind these days is not the one of him running down Vic Wertz’s drive in the vastness of the Polo Grounds in the 1954 World Series—the one where he gets shot out of a cannon, catches Wertz’s rocket with his back to home plate, and spins 360 degrees while throwing the ball back to the infield.

No, not that one.

I’m having flashbacks of Mays in the 1973 World Series—a 42-year-old has been who, if he was hellbent on showing up at the Fall Classic, should have done so as a paying customer.

Mays was with the New York Mets in ’73, some 22 years after debuting as a big leaguer with the New York Giants. He was brought back in a 1972 trade largely to sell tickets at Shea Stadium.

Mays couldn’t play anymore by the time he returned to New York. The Say Hey Kid was the Say What? Kid.

Never was that more apparent than in the ’73 World Series, in one of the games in Oakland. Mays was patrolling center field, his old haunts, when a routine fly ball was driven to his right.

Mays, far removed from his days as the best center fielder on Earth, played the ball like he was standing on a water bed.

It was sad, seeing Willie Mays stumble around center field—once his domain—under the biggest spotlight of the year.

Fast forward 37 years, almost, to 2010. More sadness.

Call Kevorkian. Strap Ken Griffey Jr.’s career to the machine and put it out of its misery.

Junior is a senior now. He’s 40 years old and is Ken Griffey Jr. in name only. If it wasn’t for a birth certificate, I wouldn’t believe it.

He’s fading fast, in this last go-round with the Seattle Mariners, the team he put on the map.

Griffey hasn’t been a force at the plate for several years. He still has the stance and the sweet upper-cut swing—except that while the swing looks good it is late in arrival.

Junior is hitting .208 in 77 at-bats with the Mariners, with no home runs and two doubles—and 14 strikeouts.

Now there are reports that Griffey wasn’t available for a recent pinch-hitting opportunity because he was napping in the clubhouse.

“He was sitting in his chair, fast asleep,” an anonymous player said about Griffey, who had retired to the clubhouse in the fifth inning to grab a jacket. Two innings later he was discovered in his chair, snoozing.

That ought to be the final straw. And by the looks of it, it will be.

Reports are surfacing that the Mariners are close to cutting Griffey. It would be the highest-profile mercy killing since they shot Old Yeller.

Griffey can’t play. Just like Mays couldn’t play and had no business being in uniform during the 1973 World Series. The falling asleep thing is the exclamation point.

Griffey is coming off more offseason knee surgery, and he was on the decline even before that.

It doesn’t look like he’ll retire, so the Mariners will have to retire him themselves.

Mike Schmidt did it right, though painfully for him.

Schmidt got off to a rotten start in 1989 with the Phillies, at the age 39. By the end of May, Schmidt was hitting just .203 with six home runs.

A press conference was called, just like that.

Through tears, Schmidt said he couldn’t do it anymore. His presence on the roster was doing more harm than good. He was quitting, just like that.

Schmidt is the exception; normally someone from the front office has to tap these guys on the shoulder, nod for them to come into the office, and the news is delivered.

“We’re going in a different direction.”

That, unfortunately, appears to be what the Mariners are preparing to do. The end of Junior’s career, they say, could come any day now.

Griffey was the modern-day Mickey Mantle, who played much of his career on one good leg. If injuries hadn’t ravaged him, Griffey might have hit 800 home runs. No joke.

He’s got a bum leg again, but that’s not all that’s wrong with Ken Griffey Jr. He won’t, or can’t, pull the trigger on his own firing.

He can’t play anymore. Everyone seems to know that but him.

Ain’t that usually the way?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

We see it in every sport, a once great player hangs on too long, refusing to accept that his time has passed. It’s hard to watch our heroes become mere mortals right before our eyes, and many fans seem to take it personally.

It’s no great mystery why it happens. All these athletes know is the game they have dedicated their lives to, given their blood, sweat, and tears for.

Could you walk away if you were in their shoes?

Regardless, this article isn’t about the choices that face these players, it’s about shining light on once great ball players who are now, sadly, shells of their former all-star selves.

Begin Slideshow

Ken Griffey, Jr.’s baseball career is about to come to an end, probably within the next month, according to this column in the Tacoma News Tribune . According to the column, Griffey, 40, who is hitting .208, with no home runs and five RBI in 23 games this season as the left-handed-hitting DH for the Seattle Mariners, will be asked to retire or will be released after he apparently could not be used as a pinch hitter in a game last week because he was sleeping in the clubhouse.

“He was asleep in the clubhouse,” one player said. “He’d gone back about the fifth inning to get a jacket and didn’t come back. I went back in about the seventh inning—and he was in his chair, sound asleep.”

The other player, who knows Griffey a little better, tried to rationalize. “He doesn’t sleep well at night, he’s away from his family, he’s comfortable in the clubhouse,” he said. They could have awakened him…”

It’s hardly a capital offense, but it’s a telling piece of anecdotal evidence. This isn’t the Griffey of 2009.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

You know how they like to say that some players eat, drink and sleep baseball?

Well, it looks like Ken Griffey, Jr. took the sleeping part a bit too literally.

According to a report from the Tacoma News Tribune , Griffey missed an opportunity to pinch hit at a game last week because he was sleeping in the clubhouse.

So Junior was asleep at the wheel of the SS Mariner ship gone astray? More bad news in a season that, so far, has failed to live up to Seattle fans expectations.

Maybe it’s time to quit calling him “The Kid.” Griffey is, after all, 40-years-old. In fact, maybe it’s just time that he quit, period.

It’s always kind of sad when you see the great players not knowing when it’s time to say goodbye. Memories of an aging Willie Mays playing for the Mets as a shadow of his former self are painful. Likewise, watching Griffey was tough enough lately, and now this.

While wondering why they didn’t simply wake him up, this whole thing could have been avoided if players like Griffey knew when it was time to call it a career.

Well, easier said than done —it’s a difficult thing for a former star player to accept. All his life, he’s been told how great he was. Now he’s being told that he just can’t do it anymore.

The truth can be a wicked stepmother at times.

Griffey is batting .205/.265/.234 this season with only two extra-base hits and zero home runs for a last-place Mariners club that is in a tough position with a guy who started his career with the team, playing tremendously from 1989-1999.

It would be so much easier if he would retire. Instead, they may have to release him.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu refused to divulge Griffey’s transgressions.

Look, I don’t care how great a player the man once was, you send a bad message to your players by covering up for him.  Meanwhile, the reason shouldn’t matter either. It was reported that a teammate claims that Griffey hasn’t been sleeping well at home.

Perhaps he has too much money stuffed under his mattress?

Griffey has made about $100 million in this game, so it certainly shouldn’t be money keeping him away from retirement.

As for the M’s, it’s hard to fathom why you would want a guy like him around at all. He’s not hitting and even his famed positive clubhouse persona has now taken a hit.

I mean, he’s not exactly setting a good example for the younger players, is he?

All good things come to an end, and the Griffey express seems to be at the end of the line. 

Someone please nudge him, so he doesn’t miss the last stop.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

This article from the Tacoma Times indicates that Ken Griffey, Jr.’s days as a Mariner are numbered.  Aside from his awful start at the plate and the fact that he can’t play the field because of his sore and gimpy knees, he’s apparently not been the force in the clubhouse he was last year. 

In fact, the article reports an anecdote that Griffey was not used as a pinch hitter in a recent game, because he was asleep in the clubhouse in the late innings.

I’ve long felt that keeping old guys with little left to contribute on the field around because of their supposed great influence in the clubhouse is way overrated.  Better to have someone on the bench who can actually help you win some ballgames out on the field with a timely hit, a great defensive play, or scoring the run from second on a short hit to the outfield.

The Mariners decided to bring back Griffey in November 2009 for a $2.35 million 2010 (according to Cot’s baseball contracts ).  I thought it was a mistake at the time .

In December 2009, the M’s acquired Milton Bradley with the hope that having Griffey around as an older brother figure would get Miltie to straighten up and fly right.  A fool’s errand, I thought.

It didn’t work out that way, of course, and there were a lot of reasons at the end of the 2009 season to think that neither move would. 

At this point, the M’s would probably be best served by the old two-for-one (to paraphrase Dodgers’ announcer Vin Scully) and dump both Griffey and Milton Bradley in one fell swoop.

The Mariners are dead last in the AL at 12-19, but it’s only early May, and they’re only 5.5 games back.  It would be a good time to do a little house-cleaning and make a fresh start of it with 130 games still left to play.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

After watching the Mariners blow game after game, it came as no surprise their hitting was amiss again Sunday.  Doug Fister’s great showing was all for nothing, and Ichiro’s stolen home run forgotten.

What is not forgotten is that as we enter May 3rd of this young season, the Mariners are batting .236 as a team. Let me repeat that: the batting average of the Mariners is at less than a clip of one in every four. This from a team which sports the player with the best average of the last decade (Ichiro), a lifetime .290 free-agent pickup (Figgins), and the fifth-best home run hitter of all time in Ken Griffey, Jr.  This, to go along with only a team-average .311 on-base percentage, just does not cut it.

What’s the answer? The Mariners could go many routes to try and rectify their problems as they did this past offseason. A possible solution is trading one of their top pitchers for some hitting, or trying to bring along Michael Saunders or one of their other minor league prospects. Both of these choices are acceptable within the confines of the Mariners’ outlook.  I have a more basic and easier solution: free agency.

Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede, Elijah Dukes, Gary Sheffield, heck, even Barry Bonds is available. Yes, that Barry Bonds. I know I am among the one percent of people who would actually take a 44-year-old steroid junkie but consider this.

He would be their best player.

At the least he would be able to help mend their dismal .311 OBP.  Elijah Dukes and Jermaine Dye would be great choices for solidifying the fourth outfielder position and would also be great fits for the Mariners’ clubhouse. If they can get the Mariners’ voodoo to work upon Milton Bradley, they can get it to work on anyone.

In the offseason, Jack Zduriencik did what he planned to do: get better defensively and fill all his holes in the lineup.  I give him full respect and admiration for signing Felix Hernandez’ big deal, his gutsy ability to trade away Carlos Silva for Milton Bradley, and then his turn around to pick up Cliff Lee and Brandon League for the lost talent in Brandon Marrow. The problem is like with Russell Branyan last year, he pinned his batting hopes on an unproven or over the hill player. 

This year it happened to be the first basemen again, with Casey Kotchman. Kotchman actually leads the Mariners in home runs and RBIs, which is not saying much considering the team has only hit five home runs and driven in 82 RBIs over the course of the first 25 games.  His average stands at a pathetic .226, and he has failed to hit in the clutch numerous times. Kotchman is a great utility or backup player; however, he is not at the level of being a starter. It is as simple as that. 

The Mariners are a significantly better team than they were when lead by Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre only two years ago. They have good chemistry and are actually trying to win games. That is why it is time for them to reach out for the likes of one of these free agents. My choice is Joe Crede, allowing Lopez to go to shortstop, and putting Wilson in a utility position just to give a little more pop from the infield. Right now it is anyone’s guess what Jack Z. will do, but Mariner faithful can just hope the bats will come alive soon.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Four runs. That’s how many The Mariners managed to push across the plate in a three-game series that saw them get swept by the rival Texas Rangers. The lack of offense wasted not only a spectacular Seattle debut by Cliff Lee, but also another gem by surprise of the year thus far, Doug Fister.

Not that this is the first time this year that Seattle’s offense has let down a spectacular pitching performance. In fact, it seems to be an everyday occurrence at this point in the season.

Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez are the only two in the lineup making any kind of consistent contact, hitting .320, and .317 respectively. After that, the next highest average on the team is .243, by light-hitting shortstop Jack Wilson. As a team, they have just nine home runs all together, and have gone one week since their last long ball.

Newcomers Milton Bradley and Chone Figgins have got off to horribly slow starts. Bradley hitting just .224 with 2 home runs, and Figgins at a dismal .209 clip. Mike Sweeney and Ken Griffey Jr. just look old out there. It pains me to say this about my hero, but Griffey simply does not have it any more. His bat is slow, and his knees are gone. It’s sad, but it’s true.

Seattle has the pitching to make a run, and a deep run at that. However they cannot do it without run support. So the question is how do they fix this?

I don’t want to sound like I’m panicking, I know it’s early, but they must act fast. If they wait till the trade deadline to do something, I fear it’ll be too late.

First, release Mike Sweeney and Eric Byrnes. I know everybody loves Sweeney, and Byrnes is a hard-nosed guy, but they simply are not getting it done. Go after Jermaine Dye or Carlos Delgado to fill the DH slot. Everybody knows they can still hit, and a shift to the DH role will keep them fresh.

Second, Figgins must get on track. If he can get on and they can put some offense in the middle of the lineup, they will score runs. I have faith that he will get his knocks, but it’s got to come soon.

Third, they got to relax. When you’re in a slump, you tend to try and force it, try and make something happen rather than just letting it come. It’s obvious to me that a lot of the Mariners hitters are doing this right now. They have to relax, remember what got them there, and above all else, have fun. It’s a game. Go play it.

The Mariners have the ability to go a long way this year. They must address the offensive problems however if they expect to climb to the top of the tough AL West. Pitching alone will not be enough. It’s time to move, no time to waste. Free agents, trades, minor leagues, it doesn’t matter, something must be done.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com