Griffey Rumor

[YASNY]

i don't car what happens we just better start playing better because i am officially worried that this team might blow it. Getting ken grif would be a nice spark for this team and that is what we need to have, i say the sox should just pick up the whole contract  and make it happen. because i don't see this team having another shot to make it to the big show anytime soon its been long enough. just make it happen!

 

At times, I have the same outlook. Yet, at times, I know that would be one hellacious gamble to take. If we claimed KGJ off of waivers and took on his entire contract, we could be totally screwed for the next few years if he broke down. It's a tough call to make.

[southsideirish71]

At times, I have the same outlook.  Yet, at times, I know that would be one hellacious gamble to take.  If we claimed KGJ off of waivers and took on his entire contract, we could be totally screwed for the next few years if he broke down.  It's a tough call to make.

 

 

I have a question though, doesnt insurance cover when a player goes on the DL for a long time.

 

I have no idea of if it does or doesnt, just asking the question.

[Kyyle23]

Another thing that could happen is if the Sox make the WS and Griffey is largely responsible, then he becomes a very valuable commodity after the season. They could unload him in the off-season to a team that practices in Florida, get some prospects(maybe even a Major leaguer) and everyone ends up happy.

 

Alot of "ifs" in that statement, but we have nothing but "ifs" right now.

[WilliamTell]

Yeah I can see both sides. The Reds want to unload his contract and I don't blame them, but the Sox don't want to pick up a great deal of it because it's too risky.

[southsider2k5]

I have a question though, doesnt insurance cover when a player goes on the DL for a long time.

 

I have no idea of if it does or doesnt, just asking the question.

 

Some players contracts are not insurable. For others the cost of the insurance isn't worth it.

[Kalapse]

One big factor in this is that we don't have a #1 SP prospect. McCarthy is not projected to be a #1, more of a #2 or even #3. Not to mention the fact that he's on the 40. Sean Tracey is the next highest pitching prospect and he's in AA, hell a lot of people think he'll eventually move to the pen, so he's not that #1. Everyone else we have is still a ways away from the Majors. I'd imagine they'd want someone close to the bigs not an A ball pitcher.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Will someone open and post this? Is this an old story? Thx

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/4805238

[Kalapse]

Will someone open and post this? Is this an old story?  Thx

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/4805238

It's from the trib. More of an opinion piece from Dave van Dyck:

 

ChicagoSports.Com

 

/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-050823soxgriffey,1,1101829.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Griffey stuck at Reds' light

The Cincinnati slugger's chances of being dealt to the White Sox are fading

By Dave van Dyck

Tribune staff reporter

 

August 23, 2005, 11:16 PM CDT

 

WASHINGTON -- It was plain to see that the "C" on his uniform still stands for Cincinnati, not Chicago.

 

"I'm a Red—that's it," Ken Griffey Jr. reiterated Tuesday. "Till the organization tells me otherwise."

 

Yes, he is still a Red, even though White Sox general manager Ken Williams has worked overtime trying to find a way to bring Griffey's bat to the South Side.

 

And it doesn't appear Griffey's organization will be telling him anything otherwise by Sept. 1, when playoff rosters must be cemented.

 

So Griffey was still playing for a team whose goal is to play well enough to catch the Cubs for fourth place in the National League Central, not a team trying to catch the Cardinals for the best record in baseball.

 

When informed before the Reds beat the Nationals 6-2 Tuesday night that Williams still wanted him and chants of "We want Griffey!" had coursed through U.S. Cellular Field, he barely altered what has become a cue-card script.

 

"It's always nice that somebody wants you," he said. "That's always flattering, but for right now I've got to go out there and play hard for these guys."

 

Being a veteran of 10 years in the majors and five with the same team, Griffey has the right to veto any trade, though he has cleared waivers and therefore can be dealt. Would he agree to a trade to the Sox?

 

"I don't have to worry about that," he said. "When I cross that bridge, I cross it. Right now I've got to worry about the other 24 guys in [the clubhouse]."

 

One major-league source said the Sox had been told in roundabout ways that Griffey would indeed accept a trade to the South Side, even though spring training in Arizona would be far from his home in Orlando.

 

That includes the Sox's insistence on uniformity in team dress, even during batting practice, and even though he would not be strictly a center fielder. Griffey wears an earring and sometimes takes batting practice with his baseball cap backward.

 

But he also wants a World Series ring, which is not in the foreseeable future in Cincinnati. And, at 35, his chances are dwindling unless he is traded.

 

"That's why everybody plays this game," he said. "As a kid, you didn't talk about how much money you would make. You talked about hitting a home run in the All-Star Game or that 3-and-2 walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series.

 

"You want to be in that [championship] parade, that nice convertible ride down the street waving at everybody."

 

Would it be better if he left Cincinnati to pursue his goal?

 

"I don't know; it hasn't happened," he said. "Nobody's asked me anything. If you want to ask the front office that question, that's fine. It's my job to go out and play baseball. Until the front office comes down to talk to me, I'll think about what's going on in here."

 

A state of denial

 

That front office, most notably Chief Operating Officer John Allen and Chief Executive Officer Carl Lindner, have strongly denied the persistent Sox rumors.

 

It has been reported that general manager Dan O'Brien and Allen had worked out a deal with the Sox but that Lindner vetoed it.

 

Lindner owns 49 percent of the Reds. The other 51 percent is for sale, and a group in northern Kentucky supposedly is interested. The word around Cincinnati is that the prospective buyers won't invest unless Griffey is part of what they own, perhaps explaining Lindner's reluctance.

 

One other insider insisted Lindner's vetoing the supposed deal might have had as much to do with the Sox insisting the Reds pay 60 percent of the $40 million still owed Griffey and offering three players in return that did not include a No. 1-type pitcher.

 

No matter the case, Griffey says no one has talked to him.

 

"The last time I had a heart-to-heart with our GM was August of last year," he said. "That's the last time that we sat down and talked about things that he and I wanted to talk about.

 

"I just take it day-to-day. One day the organization may want to make a change. It may be with me, it may be somebody else. It's nothing I have control over. They can talk to whoever they want. I just have the decision on whether I want to go or not. And I'll cross that bridge when I cross it."

 

He certainly isn't burning any of those bridges, but that is understandable being a native of Cincinnati and having forced a trade there from Seattle in 2000. And he is proving that he is not only agile on the baseball field but can still dance around tough questions as well.

 

"Right now my priorities are to play for this organization and the 24 guys in this room," Griffey said. "When that changes, you guys will probably know before me."

 

Getting tired of it

 

Griffey clearly is beginning to grow—more likely already has grown—weary of the trade rumors.

 

Not long ago, he was able to kid about it, like the time his cell phone rang and Lindner's secretary asked him to hold.

 

"Three minutes [of holding] seemed like an hour," he said. "I thought, this is it."

 

It wasn't.

 

Just a few days ago, when the Sox rumors were rampant, Griffey told the Dayton Daily News: "See, I can't play in Chicago. Too many tickets. If I played there, it would be easier and cheaper to buy season tickets."

 

Players now have to pay federal income tax on complimentary tickets, and Griffey has a slew of relatives and friends in Chicago.

 

Griffey wasn't exactly in a jovial mood Tuesday when he was cornered by the media for nearly an hour in the cramped visitors clubhouse of RFK Stadium. The questions wandered from life in general to the hardships he has endured to how long he wanted to play the game.

 

Oh, and the inevitable questions about the trade that never was and apparently never will be, at least until the Sox greatly increase the pot.

 

"Until this organization tells me otherwise," Griffey said one more time, "I'm still a Red."

 

[email protected]

 

Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune

[LosMediasBlancas]

thx man, oh well.

[AirScott]

appearantly there was a deal done on July 31 for Griffey but it was nixed by the Reds owner. we know so little about what's going on here, but I'd bet if this deal is done, it will be last minute, and KW will be giving up a lot to get him. but I know as little as everyone else, so...

 

and another thing: why not just let the Reds totally off the hook for Griffey's contract? or have them pay some, but money should be no object in the pursuit of a World Series. I would feel let down if that could be the breaking point, just paying Griffey instead of the Reds.

Edited August 24, 2005 by AirScott

[Al Lopez Ghost (old)]

This just in.....

[mochigon]

Is it true what they say about Sox demanding Reds pay more than half of Griffey's remaining salary?

[Gene Honda Civic]

Is it true what they say about Sox demanding Reds pay more than half of Griffey's remaining salary?

21 Grams of it :wink

[JUGGERNAUT]

I've always said it's been the $$$ keeping this deal from happening. Because 57% of the money is deferred asking the Reds to pick up $15M/3yrs amounts to about 40% of the contract's remaining value. That's the simple version that doesn't take into consideration that the biggest deferred payments are in the latest years ($16.5M owed in 2024).

 

Which means you really have to break the deferred out. The White Sox asked the Reds to pick up $15M over the next 3 yrs. Griffey is owed $18M + $4M 09 buyout & about $1M left for 05 now. The rest of the $19.5M is deferred until 2023-2024. Whether you invest it in the markets or the franchise the money earned on that principal will greatly depreciate it's debt value.

 

The Reds owner was right in rejecting the trade. KGJ's value as it relates to the franchise value of the Reds exceeds that which the White Sox were willing to pay.

 

I did not know the WSox are such sticklers on team dress. When did we start thinking we were the NYY$?

[retro1983hat]

I did not know the WSox are such sticklers on team dress.  When did we start thinking we were the NYY$?

 

When Hawk announced he'd rather have Crede and Uribe over A-Rod and Jeter.

[LosMediasBlancas]

When Hawk announced he'd rather have Crede and Uribe over A-Rod and Jeter.

 

Classic Hawk non sense. Right up there with Jose Valentin being one of the best baserunners of all time.

[RockRaines]

Hey Juggs, want to know whats holding up the trade of KGJ? They arent trading him. Its hard to get someone when he is not on the block.

[Steff]

Hey Juggs, want to know whats holding up the trade of KGJ?  They arent trading him.  Its hard to get someone when he is not on the block.

 

 

 

That horse is still alive...???

 

 

 

 

[RockRaines]

That horse is still alive...??? 

Apparently there is a thread #3 that is dedicated to beating the freakin horses dead-er.

 

s*** people, it aint happening, we may have opened up a spot on our 40-man, buts its prob for someone in our org. There is nothing out there for us.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Everyone has a price but the WSox don't have a history of meeting it

 

I'm hoping it's Owens. It makes the most sense. A team rich in pitching & defense needs good base runners it can use as PR & PH late in games. Owens fits that bill.

Edited August 25, 2005 by JUGGERNAUT

[Milkman delivers]

Everyone has a price

 

[Kyyle23]

 

nice Million Dollar man reference.

[SoxFanForever]

Isn't Ted some Neo-Religious freak now?

[Kyyle23]

Isn't Ted some Neo-Religious freak now?

 

I believe he works in the Cincinatti Reds front office now.

[Milkman delivers]

Isn't Ted some Neo-Religious freak now?

 

Yes, yes he is. He's also like 300 lbs. from what I've seen from pictures. My friend met him at a movie theater. It was a complete surprise to him, but apparently he was signing autographs there.