Nine for now

Nine For Now

The sudden yet welcome retirement of Ken Griffey Jr. after 22 years in the big leagues on Wednesday ended one of the most successful yet agonizing careers any slugger ever experienced. He bows out with 630 home runs (fifth all-time) as part of 1,192 extra base hits, 1,836 runs batted in and 10 Gold Gloves. Never suspected of indulging in the pharmaceutical arts, Griffey is a lock to be enshrined in Cooperstown sometime in the middle of this decade, but this year his fantasy value ranked dead last among those who, in my estimation, have already punched their tickets to the Hall of Fame. Here are nine more and where they rank in current fantasy relevance, with the understanding that some viable candidates (Vladimir Guerrero, Todd Helton, Andy Pettitte, Pudge Rodriguez) are on the fence for the Hall. For more insights, follow SI's fantasy expert David Sabino on Twitter at SI_DavidSabino.