MySports Today

The Chicago White Sox declined to exercise the $16.5 million option on outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. for the 2009 MLB season. Griffey is now eligible to file for free agency. The White Sox acquired Griffey on July 31st right before the trade deadline. The Griffey experiment was largely unimpressive in the 41 games he played with the White Sox. Griffey hit .260 with 3 home runs and 18 RBI’s. Although the White Sox did make the playoffs, the Rays ousted the White Sox in 4 games in the ALDS. Griffey got 2 hits in 10 at-bats in the ALDS. Griffey received arthroscopic surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus and torn cartilage in his left knee. He is hoping that the surgery will help him regain some of his power numbers that left him in 2008.

Griffey will sign on with some team in 2009. He is currently 5th on the all-time home run list with 611 home runs. He is also 18th on the all-time RBI list with 1,772 RBI’s.

The New York Mets exercised the 2009 club option on 1st baseman Carlos Delgado. Delgado started off the season in a major slump, but redeemed himself through the final 3 months of the season to finish with 38 home runs and 115 RBI’s. Delgado even got his average up to .271. In the final 84 games of the 2008 season, Delgado clubbed 27 home runs and drive in 80 runners, while hitting a torrid .308. The Mets hope they see more of the 2008 2nd half of the season Delgado when they open play in their new stadium, CITI Field, in April 2009.

The New York Mets also inked 33-year old clutch hitter Fernando Tatis to a 1-year contract worth $1.7 million. Tatis was out of baseball in 2004 and 2005, and found himself in the Mets minor league system in May 2008. When injuries struck the Mets outfield, Tatis got the call delivered clutch hit after clutch hit all season long. For the season, Tatis hit 11 home runs, drove in 47 RBI’s and compiled a .297 batting average. He missed the last 2 weeks of the season after he separated his right shoulder in a 1-0 loss to the Washington Nationals. The Mets rewarded Tatis with the big contract, and do not expect the late-season injury to hamper Tatis at all in 2009.