Ken Griffey Jr. Rumors: Tuesday

Well...it's better than Anderson I guess.

I wonder if they'll shop his term sheet around?

How is Griff better than Anderson?
I don't get that reasoning...
Anderson is a better fielder and hitter than Griffey. This isn't the Griffey of old people.
Few people evoke more romanticism than Griff.
I had his rookie card too, so what? He did squat last year and has little in the tank.
I cringe at the idea of him starting in the field.
Look at his range numbers for last year....

If you think that Anderson is a better hitter than Griffey...you've got issues.

guys Griffey isnt coming in to be the CF'r, he'll be platooning with Diaz in LF. Anderson or Schaefer will be in CF

I don't know if I personally would prefer Griffey or Anderson, but to say Griffey "did squat" last year isn't fair. In 327 AB's against righties he hit .272 with an OBP of .379 and an OPS of .841. That isn't bad for the price the Braves are paying.

I think Griffey is the better hitter at this point, mostly due to his ability to take a walk, which Anderson has not learned. Griffey did supposedly play with injuries last year, which may have dragged down his overall numbers. Anderson is a much better fielder though, although once again Griffey's injuries could have had an effect on his fielding abilities.

njbraves... they are referring to Garet Anderson, not Josh.

I guess the big question now is how does the middle of the order shake out? Surely you don't put Diaz in the cleanup spot against LH, but do you put Griffey in the cleanup spot against RH? Otherwise, maybe just stick McCann in there...but then on his days off what happens?

Someone on another site posted that Chipper recently said he would be willing to move to the cleanup spot if it was in the team's best interest. Does that mean Kelly Johnson moves to the 3rd hole?

Lots of questions...

Chippper's been quoted as saying that Frenchy would bat clean-up. This would be if he bats more like his 2006 or 2007 years though which we are all hoping for. That would also make the most sense with a righty to break up Jones and McCann.

Griffey in a braves uniform... with a world series patch on the sleeve

Ain't no way Anderson is the better hitter. He's sure superior on defense though.I like this signing. It's better than trading prospects to the Yankess for Swish or Nady. And btw, I sold my UpperDeck Griffey rookie for 200.00 on ebay.

Anderson has more power, better fielding and a decent OBP.

Posted by: bonzosa | February 17, 2009 at 11:12 AM

Listen man...Anderson might be the better fielder and more healthy, but you're 100% wrong when you say he has more power than Griffey. And a .327 OBP for his career is not decent...it's really, really bad.

Keith Law wrote Francoeur should have been non-tendered. And that's our cleanup hitter he's writing about!

Duh, Smoltz's Beard. Frenchy's gonna bat 4th, didn't you get the memo?

Also, we're putting cover pages on our TPS reports. I'll make sure you get that one as well.

Posted by: soupdujour | February 17, 2009 at 11:13 AM

My apologies, how could I forget. I guess all of Francouer's constant whining and complaining must have drowned out when Chipper said that.

I just got a text message from my wife reminding me to pick up milk on the way home.

Brad, you're right about that (CF). I guess if he's healthier and lighter, Griffey could slide over to CF for a game or 2, but you really don't want that either.

Both Josh Anderson and Jordan Schafer are big question marks against LHP. CF will be interesting.

I just got a text message from my wife reminding me to pick up milk on the way home.

Posted by: Brad426 | February 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM

Haha, classic.

bravo84... not sure I agree with you order, but I agree with you on not wanting to be a righty facing that. The flip side is we might be pretty vunerable to left-handed pitching, and there are a lot of them in our division.

solid signing by the Braves. not as good as a Dunn would be but still good.
_____________________________-

Agreed, but at 1/10th (ish) the price. There is a cost/benefit analysis on everything.

That order was just an idea to get some runners on base for Chipper. I'd much rather have 06-07 Frenchy in the 4 spot driving in Chipper.

ATLmcgriff, I like your thinking, but I'm of the belief it helps hitters mentally to have a set spot in the lineup, and don't like flipping Escobar and Johnson back and forth. Although Cox has shown he disagrees with me, which makes your lineup pretty realistic.

Anderson's OBP might be lower than Grifeys', but he had a higher SLG% and AVG than Griffey, and unlike Griffey, he can actually hit lefties.

I'd take Anderson......

Posted by: Hyro | February 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM

1. Who cares if his BA is higher when his OBP (the stat that really matters) is significantly lower.

2. His SLG was like .009 higher than Griffey last season, and Griffey is coming off 5 straight .480+ SLG seasons. Anderson only has one .480+ SLG season since in the last 4 seasons.

3. Griffey will only be playing against RH, so it doesn't matter who hits LH better.

This isn't rocket science people. Griffey is still a better hitter than Anderson.

admittedly and obviously not a braves fan here but do they really think Schaefer will make the team out of ST? Also Francoeur in the 4 hole?

admittedly and obviously not a braves fan here but do they really think Schaefer will make the team out of ST? Also Francoeur in the 4 hole?

Posted by: philsWSchamps | February 17, 2009 at 11:42 AM

Francouer in the cleanup spot I think is Chipper just trying to give him some positive reinforcement. However, seeing as how Francoeur is blaming everyone but himself about his season last year...I'm fully expecting him to tank again (love for him to prove me wrong).

I think the general consensus is that Schafer needs more time in the minors, as his splits against LH are horrendous. His defense is supposed to be "gold glove" calibur right now though.

Frenchy in the 4 hole...geez, I dont care what Chip said...the guy was the worst everyday RF'r in baseball last year. I see Schaefer starting in AAA because Anderson is out of options and he'll get 1st crack at the job

smoltz' beard,

what's your take on Francoeur's slump? Was he pressing too hard for the "hometown" fans? or did he overachieve in previous years. A lot has been made of him being from the area and wonder (as an outsider) how much if anything played a part in that.

philswschamps, its Frenchy not being able to adjust and trying to make everything so complicated. he's thinking too much. Swinging at bad pitches and not swinging at strikes. He doesnt have a plan and I think he's already decided to swing before the pitcher releases the pitch

I'm confused why everyone thinks he is a better defensive player. Wasn't he a DH last year, if his defense was that good why didn't LA resign him?

I don't think there is much difference in their defense and Griffey will have a better offensive year.

Just my opinion.

Frenchy in the 4 hole! Frenchy in the 4 hole!!! Gawd, I can't believe my fellow Braves fans. Frenchy is not and never has been a good Major League hitter. He can hit fastballs out over the plate. Pitchers won't throw him those anymore. He'll be signing minor league deals for the rest of his career. And you guys want to hit him fourth.

Burrell played until the late innings and was switched for defense. I can see Atlanta doing the same with Griffey.

Anyone know what number Jr is gonna wear?

I think Smoltz's Beard has it right when he said "It's hard to determine which is the real Francouer...". I think Jeff hasn't figured it out either. Is he the lower average power/RBI guy, or is he the less power higher average guy? 2006, when he had .260/29/100+ RBI, is what he should aim for. He tried to bulk up after 2007, when he hit for less power, and it backfired. Horribly. Anyhoo, off topic...

I'm thrilled with the Griffey signing. Short of Manny, no free agent would've made a significant difference over Junior. Anderson/Abreu/Dunn are good players for sure, but they're not going to sell tickets. If Griffey can stay healthy, which hopefully he will with more rest and less defensive pressure, I think he will be a perfect fit.

If line-ups don't matter, why don't teams just do this? Seems like they could cut a lot of payroll by getting rid of the managers.

Griffey? Oh snap. Gametime Baby. And on MJ's BDay. Love it.

Uh-oh... Griffey Furcaled us.

here we go again

"Note, this is the order of decending OBP, and research shows this is the most optimal lineup."

BS. There is more to optimizing a lineup than ordering your OBP. The ideal lineup puts the two best hitters in the #2 and #4 slots in the lineup, with the slugging player at 4 and the OBP guy at #2.

The lineup you listed is horrid and would cost your team wins. Use any of the readily available lineup analysis tools (Here's one: http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/LineupAnalysis.py ). You're also ignoring simple things like GB rates. Yunel Escobar is best utilized in the leadoff spot because he produces Derek Lowe-like groundball rates.

DOH!!!

Why is DOB constantly reporting false facts? First Rafy Furcal now it appears as if he jumped the gun on Griffey...

DOB does a great job stating active and is passionate about his job, he just need to be a little more careful.

"O'Brien sucks, he's always wrong. He might be the worst hot stove reporter around. "

Yeh, I hate how he always gets the scoop (Lowe, Kawakami). And don't get me started on how annoying it is that he brings in players to liveblog. Man, he sucks... He's not wrong yet. And if he is, it's cause his source was wrong.

Now lets get Furcaled by Glavine

You know, no matter how any of this shakes out I am just so damned happy to get to use "Furcal" as a verb.

Please explain why you believe Bonds' numbers would decline ten-fold if he bats first. Please bear in mind that he would get a few dozen extra at-bats over the course of a season.

While you are at it, try explaining the logic in having Francouer batting 4th!

If he's telling his friends he'll choose the Braves, then get this sh&& done, so we can get this done with Glavine.

Why would you want Chipper batting clean up. He is such a better 3 hitter. He is the best hitter in the line up and by batting him 3rd you know he will get a chance to hit in the first inning and there are better odds of his spot rolling over again in the line up. Here's how I see the line up.

vs. RHP
Anderson/Blanco
Escobar
Jones
McCann
Griffey
Francoeur
Johnson
Kotchman

vs. LHP
Anderson/Blanco
Escobar
Jones
McCann
Diaz
Francoeur
Kotchman
Johnson

This makes the most scene. I don't see Schaffer making the team out of camp. You have good speed at the top of the order. Chipper to set the table. Then you have decent power with McCann Griffey and Francoeur. Then you have Kotchman and Johnson who says he would rather bat at the bottom of the order anyways and try to knock runs in rather then trying to get on base. All and all its a pretty decent line up. It's still lacking a little power but maybe the speed can cover that up.

I don't think you can take just power numbers and say that a player is a better hitter.

As far as career numbers go, you win, Griffey is a lot better of a hitter than Anderson.

But judging by last year's stats Anderson's bat is a lot better than Griffey's right now. You can't just take power numbers and say KGJ is a better hitter. And if you want to argue power numbers, last year Garret had a higher slugging percentage than Griffey. And somethings wrong with your bat when you can only hit 3 HRs in 40 games on a HR hitting team. Granted that Garret doesn't get many walks at all and can be very impatient.

Anderson is a more consistent hitting threat and less injury prone. He hits for a higher average and can still steal a couple of bases.

Again if you want to talk about career numbers than KGJ is by far the better hitter but if you want a player that can still get a .295 average and over 160 hits then there is no doubt that Anderson is a better player today.

Posted by: YesWeCan02 | February 17, 2009 at 02:37 PM

First off, strictly looking at last season and saying that Anderson is better than Griffey is just dumb. Plain and simple. But, since you choose to focus on last season here we go.

I'm not simply looking at power numbers and saying that Griffey is a better hitter. I'm looking at the BB% (13.7 to 4.9) and saying Griffey is a better hitter. I'm looking at the BB/K (0.88 to 0.38) and saying Griffey is a better hitter. I'm looking at the OBP (.353 to .325) and saying Griffey is the better hitter. I'm looking at the ISO (.176 to .140) and saying Griffey is the better hitter. What you're doing is quoting BA, which is an outdated method of evaluation, and a .009 difference in SLG and trying to say Anderson is a better hitter. If you want to hang your hat on that...be my guest.

It's also funny that you admit how impatient Anderson is, but still claim him to be a better hitter. You're also completely refusing to acknowledge that Griffey is most likely going to be used in a strictly platoon role against RH. If you want I can bring up the splits stats against RH for both Griffey and Anderson, but you won't like the results.

I agree with Smoltz's Beard, thinking that Anderson is a better hitter by judging just last years injury riddled stats is ridiculous. It was the first year under .480 slugging in the last 5 years while Anderson has only one year over .480 in the last 5 years. Judging everything off just one year would make me believe that anyone who had a good year last year is bound to be good again this year. I would rather look at he collective stats over the course of a few years.

You weakened a country today, son. That's all you did.

Why do the Braves have to steal free agents from the teams everyone thought the FA would land? It doesn't make much sense adding Jr. to the Braves. In Seattle he will definitely increase ticket sales