Ken Griffey Jr. - Why Do You Play Us Like This?

Just when I started to like Ken Griffey Jr., he reverts back to his "I'm better than the team" attitude.

I started to like him again because he seemed to stay healthy (for the most part) and was never implicated in the steroid report - his numbers are real. I don't think the same can be said with some of his homerun hitting contemporaries.

But USA Today (which I read about in the Baseball Think Factory Newstand Blog) has Griffey mentioning his desire to "finish where he began" his career. But of course, he's not strong-arming the Reds! Yeah, just like he didn't strong-arm the Mariners eight years ago!

Back then, Griffey wanted out of Seattle. So the Ms had a deal in place to send him to the NY Mets - Griff refused and went public with his desire to get traded to the Reds. As if Seattle didn't have any trade leverage to begin with, they lost it all with Griffey's public spewing.

Griffey was traded to the Reds and signed a $118 million dollar contract (but he says its not about the money). Meanwhile, Seattle continued to win, make the playoffs, and even set the single-season win record. Griffey got injured again and again, and couldn't help the Reds get over the .500 mark more than once.

Now Griffey says that he'd like to finish his career where it began and play for Championship team.

How many homecomings does Griffey want? I thought it was a homecoming when he came back to Cincinnati? Now he wants one to come back to Seattle? At this pace, he'll have more home states than Hilliary Clinton (Arkansas, Illinois, New York) and George H.W. Bush (TX, ME).

How many championship teams are looking for .229 hitters who keep getting injured and are at the end of their career? The reason these teams are considered "championship" is because they don't have .229 hitters who constantly get injured, make a ton of money, and are at the end of their careers.

Hey Griff, it didn't have to be like this. You didn't have to publicly demand a trade to the Reds in your last year with Seattle. You didn't have to bankrupt the Reds by taking over $100 million from a revenue crunched team. And you didn’t have to end your Reds career by mouthing off about playing for a championship team and returning to a new home. You could have been a leader by hitting for an average higher than your weight, enjoy your “home” with the Reds and celebrate 600 career home runs.

Move on Junior, and don’t let the door hit you …