Griffey traded to the White Sox

Originally posted by whodey
Perhaps you can understand the viewpoints of the fans once I explain a few things to you.

As it has been stated earlier, KGJ was viewed as the "Messiah" of this team. In addition, he cost so much it was near impossible to build a decent team around him. If you then add to the fact that he became injured consistently and repeatidly throughout the year, th ...[text shortened]... they would ride the "Griffey train" in order to appease the fans instead of trying to win?

I'm sorry, booing a player off the field due to injury is something that I can never understand. People deriving pleasure out of another's misfortune is about as low as it can get. I lose respect for people who a.) treat others in this manner or b.) support/excuse this sort of behavior. I don't care how much you pay a person, cheering him when he gets injured is rude and inexcusable.

I understand perfectly well that Cincy is a small market, making it tough to have several big-money contracts on the roster at once. IMO it is the GM who the fans should be booing and not KGJ. It was their stupidity in taking up his contract in the first place and not looking to the future to build around him. Nobody forced them to pick him up. Taking out frustrations on KGJ when he gets injured is misplaced, and a player can only take so much before he starts to feel rather unappreciated. One player cannot rebuild a franchise. Any WS contending team has a whole bunch of decent to above average to star players. You need a lot of young talent with veteran leadership. You do not get this from one player alone, and he has never been surrounded with talent.

Maybe Cincy should look to Minneapolis on how to keep an above-average team moderately successful over the years on a small budget. Johann Santana leaves for more money? No problem. Torii Hunter leaves for more money? No problem. Their farm system is strong enough and their GM makes wise enough decisions they can let big-ticket players go and still have enough talent left over to make a post-season run. The Reds need to think twice before doing something that stupid again.

np

Originally posted by no1marauder
Booing a player for getting injured is about as bush league as you can get.

I am not defeding them I am merely trying to explain their motivation. I am in no way defending them.

Originally posted by neonpeon41
I'm sorry, booing a player off the field due to injury is something that I can never understand. People deriving pleasure out of another's misfortune is about as low as it can get. I lose respect for people who a.) treat others in this manner or b.) support/excuse this sort of behavior. I don't care how much you pay a person, cheering him when he gets ...[text shortened]... ost-season run. The Reds need to think twice before doing something that stupid again.

np

I agree with everything you have said. The fans should be booing the ownership and not the players. Unfortunatly, however, the owners don't run out on the field so that they can be boo'd so it is the players who must endure the fans wrath and frustration. Case in point is a relief pitcher by the name of Danny Graves who used to pitch for Cincinnati. Without fail, they would run him out in the 9th inning no matter the situation and without fail he would struggle. He steadily got worse and worse, however, until it was apparent he could no longer pitch at the major league level. It got so bad that the fans would begin to boo in the 9th inning before he ever set foot on the field. The climax came when he blew yet another save oppurtunity and was pulled off the field after blowing a 5 run lead. As he was walking off the field while drowning in a myriad of booing he looked up into the stands and flipped the fans the bird. He was then subsequently released from the team the next day and exited major league baseball for the last time because he simply could not pitch any more at that level.

Ironically, KGJ recently did something similar. About a week before he was traded he too shouted obscenities at the fans and made a throat slashing gesture to the announcering booth who were the Reds announcers. Apparently, this is what motivates management in Cincinnati to make changes. If so, it is then up to the fans to boo players they want rid of in the hopes of them retaliating in such a way so that management will do what they should be doing which is getting rid of players that need to leave town.

Of course, I am not comparing Danny Graves to KGJ because KGJ still belongs in the major leagues. All I am saying is that like Danny Graves he was not the right fit for this team to help them win and needed to leave long ago.

As for following the Twins model of a small market team, I would encourage the Reds management to follow just about any team out their other than their own. It can only lead towards improvement. Just don't get me started on the whole small market mentality. The Reds adopted this mentality on their own because Cincinnati is a small city compared to say LA. However, what they don't take into consideration is the fan base they have at their disposal which includes Kentucky and Indiana which have NO major league teams. Also of note is the nation wide following of the Big Red Machine that developed in the 1970's. After that decade the Reds had a national wide following that they simply let evaporate into thin air. In short, their small minds adopted a small market mentality. They in no way needed to embrace this concept.